Study after study has found that affluent clients, above all else, want three things from their advisers: comprehensive
financial planning, high-touch service and regular communications.
I know a successful and proven way you can deliver all three but you’ll probably think it’s too simplistic.
It involves conducting a beneficiary audit.
This month INPractice has focused on sharing best practices and ideas to help you deliver these to your affluent clients cost-effectively.
You can dedicate the next few weeks to calling or meeting with your best clients to be sure they have updated their beneficiaries on their wills, insurance policies, 401(k) and IRA plans, pensions and other investments.
The updating can take the form of its own meeting or be integrated with year-end reviews.
For your most affluent clients, I recommend that you set up the meeting to do the beneficiary review alone.
I say that because a separate meeting is a great opportunity to meet with top clients (it’s an extra in-person touch) and year-end reviews can be time-consuming in themselves, not permitting sufficient time for beneficiary updates.
One caveat: Before clients make any beneficiary changes, be sure they consult with their
estate planning attorney, insurance expert and accountant.
You might consider inviting these advisers to your top-client meetings to streamline the process and have a comprehensive update.
Affluent clients like the team approach.
Here are tips to streamline the beneficiary updates.
Outline the process with your team: Create a turnkey process including an e-mail with a pre-meeting checklist, agenda and follow-up plan. The goal is to identify outdated documents and consolidate clients' investments, as well as help you focus on your most valuable clients. Start with your top 20 to 40 clients (or a number you can realistically meet) and cover the rest by phone or e-mail.
We often hear from advisers who try to provide in-person meetings with all their clients, become overwhelmed and then never deliver the updates. The goal should be to cover as many top clients as you can without going crazy.
Use e-mail: One top adviser covers his least affluent 75 clients by e-mailing them a beneficiary checklist of the documents they should review. Then his licensed junior partner handles the follow-up. The adviser handles the updates on his most affluent clients himself.
What to look for: Be sure to ask your clients to review all their retirement plans, insurance policies and wills. This process will help make them aware of any policies or plans that have been terminated and whether they have updated our out-of-date copies of their wills.
Also ask them to look for stocks or stock options they may have forgotten about. A friend of mine recently found stocks in his dad's closet safely tucked away in an old envelope.
Your beneficiary updates will prompt clients to get their financial houses in order. They’ll appreciate you for that. By the way, check with your wholesalers for tools available to use with clients.
Create referrals from affluent clients: You have earned it. Once the follow-up is completed, simply ask your clients if they found the beneficiary update valuable and if they have any family, friends or colleagues who would benefit from an update meeting, too. That's it. You don't need lengthy scripts for this. You have proved your value with the beneficiary update and affluent clients know what you will be calling their friends and family about.
If you perform 25 beneficiary reviews with clients between now and the end of September, you are likely to generate as many as 25 to 50 referrals. This is a very cost-effective way to communicate with top clients and generate warm leads.
Stagger schedules: Alternate the days with three to four reviews on Tuesday and Thursday and then block the same time on Wednesday and Friday for the follow-up work.
Financial advisers always tell me that one of their biggest challenges with any review process is the follow-up.
By alternating “doing” and “follow-up” days, you prevent dreaded administrative backlogs from occurring.
Use a beneficiary update checklist: Before you conduct your reviews, make sure you have the names and contact information for your clients' CPAs, estate planning attorneys and insurance agents.
Also make sure to have information about their families, including addresses, phone numbers and birthdays/anniversaries, as well as updates on any life-changing events such as marriages, divorces, births, deaths, illnesses and employment changes.
Next week: Three strategies to retain affluent clients and automate referrals.
