Teach Your Clients Well – Episode 18
As an advisor, your expertise and the ability to communicate that expertise to your clients are some of the biggest areas of value you bring to the table. In fact, one CEG Insights survey found that more than 90% of clients say that getting educated on financial topics by their advisor is valuable or beneficial.
With that in mind, here’s a look at what advisors’ affluent clients want to know more about—and how they want those insights delivered.
Key Takeaways:
- Phone calls and in-person meetings remain popular.
- Clients want education around topics such as tax mitigation, asset protection and estate planning..
- If relevant, include specialized experts in your client education initiatives.
FACE THE FACTS
CEG Insights recently surveyed more than 1,500 households—all with more than $100,000 of net worth* and most with a net worth of more than $1 million—about how they prefer to get educational information from their advisors, as well as their perceptions of how their advisors are communicating with them.
Given how deeply most of us have integrated technology into our lives, it might surprise you to learn that the two most effective education and learning methods in the eyes of your affluent clients are decidedly old school:
- Phone calls (89.9% of clients said picking up the phone is a highly effective or somewhat effective educational method)
- In-person meetings (89.1% like the effectiveness of face-to-face interactions).
That said, using emails to educate on financial topics is seen as effective by 85.8% of investors—while videos, webinars and texts are more likely to be embraced by younger affluent clients.
What type of information do clients want from you? Our research found that investors are most interested in seeing that your website includes educational information on general market reports and income tax savings, followed by estate planning and asset protection (see the chart). This tracks with our previous research showing that fluent investors’ top concerns include mitigating taxes, taking care of their heirs and safeguarding their wealth.
Educational Topics Investors Want on Advisors’ Website (by total)
INSIGHTS INTO ACTION
These responses from actual affluent clients can help you build and hone your approach to client education. Some action steps to consider:
- Ask clients about their communication preferences. Part of your discovery meetings with prospective clients (or re-discovery meetings with existing ones) should focus on understanding how clients want to receive educational information from you. Yes, older investors generally tend to prefer in-person meetings while younger one are relatively open to webinars and the like. But that dynamic isn’t always the case. Rather than assume you know how your various clients prefer to get information, ask them—and adjust your approach accordingly.
- Provide relevant, timely insights. Regardless of whether you’re picking up the phone or doing podcasts and videos, make sure your topics are highly interesting to your clients. The research above can help you decide what to focus on—but again, one of the best ways to ensure you give clients information they want is to understand their goals, concerns, fears and other issues on a deep level.
- Offer expert collaboration. If you educate via webinars, videos or podcasts, consider inviting guest professionals who can offer specialized insights. For instance, you might feature a tax attorney with expertise relevant to your target market’s specific needs. This strategy not only enriches the content for existing clients but also has the potential to draw in new clientele by showing that you have relationships with specialists who can add value to clients’ lives.
- Include a call to action. When sharing insights with clients, include a call to action asking or encouraging that they take the next step with you. Your call to action could be anything from scheduling a complimentary consultation to downloading a related resource. Advisors can maximize the value of their educational efforts by ensuring they give their audience a clear idea of what their next step should be.
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