Are you sending the right message to your clients?

It is a Thursday evening. You have mailed out your quarterly update the previous day to your key clients. It is raining. Your most important client, someone who regularly refers other good clients to you has had a terrible day at work. The traffic is horrendous. At 7pm he finally arrives home hungry and tired and scans the mail. This is your moment of truth — what reaction will he have to your correspondence?

Every time a client has contact with a business, that experience alters their view, satisfaction and beliefs about that business. It can therefore also alter the likelihood of repeat business or referrals.

Yet many advisers do not put much thought into the way they communicate with their clients. Every contact, every touch with the client, needs to be managed to ensure it occurs in a way that positively impacts the relationship and client satisfaction.

Every time a client opens an envelope from you they make a judgement about your business and subconsciously, satisfaction is either increased or decreased. What messages are you sending? Are you focused on investment-related matters that are out of your control or are you focused on the client, their goals and aspirations?

Indeed, it is not just written communication that needs to be managed. How your clients are greeted on the phone and how they are treated when they come into your office also needs to be planned and managed to ensure the communication is effective.

What you communicate and how you do so is crucial to setting and managing client expectations. It positions your practice and should reinforce the value you provide to clients.

Here are a few tips for managing a quality ‘client experience’.

* First of all understand what your‘client experience’is.List or flow chart every single time your practice makes contact with a client. You cannot manage what you do not understand, so spend the time to assess when judgements are being made by clients from contact with your business.

* Audit each piece of written communication that physically goes out to clients during these contacts.Are they consistent? Are they setting the right expectations as to your value proposition and positioning? Do they send the positive messages about you and your business that you want clients to remember you by?

For example, for potential new clients prior to the first meeting, do you send them a Financial Services Guide as required by the Corporation Act 2001 or do you include this document as part of a comprehensive and professionally presented ‘welcome kit’?

This kit should include an overview of your business, what you offer, what process the client will undertake with you, an agenda for the first meeting, details of how you get paid and an introduction to your team.

* Ensure you reinforce the value you add to clients at every opportunity.A benefit is not a benefit until it has been provided and you tell the client it has been provided. Clients often do not understand all the great work you do for them. Often benefits are taken for granted. Ensure your communications educate clients about the value you add and continually remind them of the ongoing benefits you are providing as part of the relationship. For example, do you send a personalised cover letter with any standard report or newsletter, demonstrating how your business remains focused on providing them with valuable information and meeting their needs?

In addition to consideration of the quality of communication, an appropriate quantity should also be managed.

Various studies and sales programs indicate that in a business relationship, valued clients expect and should receive 18 to 20 quality contacts per year. Some of these will be transactional, such as the quarterly report, but most should be personal, interesting and of value to the client, to keep your business top of mind and to ensure the relationship is managed and maintained.

Most advisers can achieve 10 to 12 contacts pretty easily — annual review meeting, a couple of mid-year phone calls, quarterly reports and maybe a quarterly newsletter. However, in most cases, the quarterly reports and newsletters are fairly standard and generic. They also become quite routine and lose their impact over time. They neither satisfy nor dissatisfy — they are just there. What you want are contacts that are remembered as interesting, that are different, that surprise. Contacts that put a smile on your client’s face.

To ensure your communications are valued by your clients, here are some guidelines.

* Ensure you thank clients personally for their loyalty.For example, once a year send a handwritten note, for no reason other than thanking the client for their support. This may be along the lines of: “Dear Bill, we have not spoken for a while, but I thought I’d just drop you a quick note to say thank you for your ongoing loyalty to our business. We look forward to continuing to meet your needs into the future.”

* Mix up the communication medium.Occasionally send an e-mail or SMS message to show clients you are thinking of them. Did their football team win? Is it their child’s birthday? Find a reason and send them a message to show you are committed to a great relationship. For example, you may send an SMS: “Bill, congrats on John’s graduation. Hi to Betty. Have a great day.”

* Celebrate milestones.Whether it is the anniversary of the commencement of your business or when you achieve a certain financial milestone (for example, $100 million in funds under management), contact your clients to thank them for their loyalty and express your ongoing commitment to meeting their needs.

For example: “Dear Bill, you may not know it, but we commenced business in September 1995, so this month represents our eighth birthday! We would not be here today without great clients like yourself, so thanks for your support and we look forward to continuing to meet your needs for at least the next eight years.”

* Be different and interesting.If your business is all about helping clients achieve their lifestyle goals, why not include travel, restaurant and theatre reviews in your newsletter?

More powerfully, get your clients to write the reviews, especially those who go on overseas trips, highlighting how your clients are actually achieving their lifestyle goals, not just dreaming about them.

* Rather than economic or investment-related seminars, why not arrange an education seminar on some health or travel-related topic?Or you could personally invite your clients to attend, at a particular time when you will also be present, one of those public travel or lifestyle expos that are often held around the country. Maybe even arrange a special speaker, activity or lunch to coincide with the expo.

* Look out for interesting or useful articles in the general media, either for all clients or particular clients.Scan the article and e-mail it — it is cheap, easy and will be welcomed by your clients. Make sure you seek copyright approval and ensure you attribute the source for all significant distributions. For example: “Dear Bill, saw this great article and thought you may be interested in it. I hope you enjoy reading it and find some of the points useful.”

To protect, maintain and enhance relationships you must stay top of mind and continually remind clients of the value you add. They want to hear from you at least 18 times per year and these contacts should be interesting and valuable. They should be different, setting you apart from other service providers as someone worth maintaining a relationship with, and who is continually looking after your clients’ interests.

Your communication should make your clients smile — even after a difficult, rainy day.

Richard Rasker is manager, adviser services,Zurich Financial Services Australia .