They say business from existing clients is far more profitable than from new ones. The trick is to retain them by delivering a superior client experience based on ease and simplicity of investing.
Here are some ways to it simple for clients to invest and stay connected to you.
Create multiple touchpoints to stay in touch with clients
To build a long-term relationship with clients, it is crucial to meet them on a regular basis. Developing relationships takes consistent effort over time but through creative engagement like inviting them to lunch or discussing about taxes or sending a gift basket on special occasions like birthday and anniversary, you can make the relationships special.
Pradeep Ranjan Tripathi from Kanpur of Smooth Relations has developed a solid relationship with clients while also making them enthusiastic towards additional investments. He started a ‘premium crorepati MF club’. This club consists of 100 investors who are halfway to their Rs.1 crore investment. To encourage clients to reach the target Rs.1 crore corpus soon, Pradeep messages the portfolio valuation to clients every week. The message shows the client how far they are from their target and how to reach there quickly.
“The club helped us divert the investor's concern from a highly volatile market to raising their investment corpus. Moreover, the response from this activity is positive as investors respond by asking about the attractive investment options to meet their target,” said Pradeep.
Meanwhile, for some advisors, regular communication on social media platforms with clients is very important. Communication networks like WhatsApp, Facebook and Telegram provide a great platform for advisors to keep their clients updated and know their client’s personal opinion, interests and motivations.
Conducting regular meetings with clients is another way to remain in touch with clients and gain their confidence. For M S Shabbir, President of Association of Professional Independent Financial Advisers (APIFA), meeting clients every month is very important. “Clients don’t usually take out time to read and understand their portfolio reports. Therefore, my aim is to make them read the report and listen to their queries in the meeting. This way the meeting will be more productive and there will be learnings on both sides,” said Shabbir.
Shabbir also makes an educational video on the impact of various events on the market and shares it with clients.
Ease of investment
Technology has transformed client expectations all around –your investors expect similar ease in the investment process.
“Today investors like to independently research new investment options. On the days when the market witnesses big news, investors want to see the impact of such news on their portfolio. In such times, it is important to provide them access to their portfolio through an application,” said Vishal Dhawan of Plan Ahead Financial Planners, Mumbai.
This way, advisors can make a client's life easy by introducing them to an application that helps in monitoring the portfolio and transacting.
Provide multiple products
Your clients need a diversified portfolio comprising multiple investment assets. In addition, investors learn about various investment ideas every day.
“Investors tend to pick up the trend in investment industry quickly through news reports and hence enquire for new products. It is therefore important for an advisor to keep them updated with new investment options. IPOs, ETFs, international products, innovative products in health insurance space are some products that have caught a lot of client attention,” said Vishal Dhawan.