by Being upfront from the very beginning is key to managing client expectations. Set out your rules of play before you take on any work, and agree on your process together. If you can’t guarantee something, be clear about it it’s always better to under promise and overdeliver. Remember that many clients don’t actually know much about the creative process at all, so take this chance to be clear about what you can and cannot promise, e.g. writing a great promotional article doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to get a great placement.
Managing client expectations is one of the most difficult and often frustrating aspects of the financial planning business. Although many clients can be quite reasonable when they lose money in their investments, there will invariably be a few who are determined to vent their frustrations at you, either via telephone, other correspondence, or in person.
The wealth management landscape is constantly evolving. Today’s investors have high expectations, demanding anytime, anywhere access to accounts and information, while expecting frictionless speed of updates and requiring greater transparency.
However, there are a number of things that advisors can do to help prevent most of these outbursts; and that’s by helping clients create expectations within the bounds of reality. It sounds almost too simple, but when clients are better educated about what they can expect from their investments and their relationship with their financial planners they are less likely to be outraged by things that are beyond the planner’s control.
Client Profiling
Customer profiling is the practice of organizing customers into specific groups possessing similar goals or characteristics. A customer profile can be based on a number of identifiers including demographics, location, hobbies, preferred social media channels, likes/dislikes, buying patterns, psychographics and credit background. Assigning every customer, a profile allows organizations to target products, services and communications in a consistent manner that resonates to a group of customers.
Client profiling is a useful concept that helps in establishing a relationship with the client. It helps in figuring out the financial personality of the client. While clients within each profile may be dissimilar, they can be broadly identified as following types:
Relationship clients
These people want to form a bond with someone whom they trust. They tend to be easy to talk to at the initial meeting. Much of the interaction is informal and conversational. Getting to know these clients as individuals is of utmost importance. They want to feel comfortable. They tend to be very good, long-term clients and very nice to work with.
Fear-based clients
These people tend to have very little financial experience or have had bad financial experiences. These clients are also reliant upon financial advisors. They often need educating, although they may seemingly not want it. The job of the financial advisor is not to take care of them but rather to work with them. They have to be helped in gaining confidence in the money arena.
Curious clients
They are working with financial advisors because of time constraints. They take a great interest in what a financial advisor does. These clients would have formed their opinions through what they have read or heard. They often will continue to focus on items that validate their thinking and they are knowledgeable.
Greedy clients
These are often the clients who are only interested in some in-articulated and ever-changing objectives, usually measured by short-term results. They may appear to be charming initially because they are often marked by high energy and a quick mind.
Benefits of customer profiling
- The ability to tailor marketing efforts to relevant audiences.
- Personalization of customer experiences to increase brand loyalty.
- Can provide a more holistic view of market potential.
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Increased response, click or open rates.
- More potential customers, prospects and customer types are identified.
- Increased sales and revenue.
