Nip It In The Bud
Let’s assume you have already contacted all your clients to remind them to come in for their annual or semi-annual check-up. Just like seeing the dentist for good oral health, it’s important to adhere to a regular plan to meet with the financial planner for good financial health. You can use postcards, emails or phone calls to remind your clients of the need to come back in for a check-up to ensure everything is on plan and working as it should be. You might also want to invite your clients to attend a special event and to bring a couple of friends.
For postcards, I have long liked Amazingmail because you can actually pull up the desired image/message for the front, add your pre-planned message to the back, select one or more clients for the postcard mailing, and then – and this is the cool part – select a date in the future for the card(s) to be produced and mailed. They go out like clockwork and, if colorful and well designed, these well-timed Amazingmail postcards will almost certainly stand out in a stack of mail.
I strongly encourage you to, as a routine part of your wrap-up in client meetings say, “I’d like to see you again in 6 months. Just like seeing a dentist for good oral health, it’s important that I see you for good financial health. How about I send you a postcard in 5 months to remind you to set up your appointment – or would you like to schedule it now and I’ll send you a postcard in 5 months to remind you of the day and time?”
Of course, you can also send an email or place phone calls. But you might want to consider automating the process and making it a bit more novel than a text message, an email or a regular phone call.
For phone calls that you need to do in bulk, consider VoiceShot; you upload your client information, record your message, select your time and day and the robo-calling service delivers your pre-recorded message at that time. Imagine you are a client hearing, “Hello, it’s Tom Smith from Smith Financial Planning. Spring is here and that means it’s time for you to come in for your financial check-up. Please call the office today to schedule your appointment. Much like seeing the dentist regularly for good oral health, I need to see you for good financial health. Hope to hear from you this week.”
Lou Stanasolovich, CFP®, president of Legend Financial, and publisher of the new information service Global Economic and Investment Analytics, told me in recent conversation that while his clients tend to be older, they respond well to the robo-call system; Lou typically uses the calling system to quickly convey important information about market changes and world events. Other planners I know use the robo-call system to remind clients and prospects about events such as the annual company picnic or a special town hall event.
You could also deliver the same types of messages via video email. All you need is a web cam or a camcorder to record yourself reminding clients to join you for the town hall meeting or to come in for their spring cleaning (think of it like a mental and financial housekeeping ritual every spring).
To learn more about an easy-to-use video email system that brands each video email message with your company’s template and can be set up to go our immediately or at some date in the future to one or more clients / prospects, visit http://www.impactproductionsgroup.com/.
