Your Date with Data
In thinking about what we do in the financial planning industry, data is key. We take numbers and see how it translates into our client’s lifestyle, their future, and their generosity with their family and community. We help them protect, invest and make smarter decisions about their giving and retirement.
Will they have enough to fund their future, their bucket list, and leave their children an inheritance? We can understand how numbers tell a story and how much more the clients like to hear the story than look at the numbers.
Right now, people are making a lot of assumptions (many wrong) about the story behind the numbers. Things like, “Now I’ll never be able to retire,” or “I’ll have to go back to work,”, or “My children won’t get anything.”
Perhaps that will be true, but I see many people projecting even worse than the worst. Don’t accept that and don’t throw it back at them either. It’s not their fault, but we all will have to live with whatever reality this ends up creating for us financially.
Getting a grip on that reality for your clients is important. And the reality as it relates to our practices is that we need to be in growth mode to sustain our practices. We want to help you do so with grace and care.
Let’s think about collecting more data and using it to tell us how we can help more people.
I’ve seen some advisors treat prospects like second-class citizens. Or, if they pay them any attention at all, they tend to hammer them with too many calls and emails and expect them to make a decision about turning their life savings over to invest.
This is an equivalent social move of asking the girl to get married on the first date—not an attractive or successful move.
Relationship building is big business and can be personally fulfilling. People want to be known.
In a survey of investors with $2 mil or more in the Scottsdale, Arizona area, prospects identified having someone understand and relate to them as a key factor in deciding whether or not to use them as a financial advisor.
Sure, your designations, experience, team, and compliance record all matter, but they don’t matter more than knowing your prospect in a manner that displays high SI (social intelligence). Here’s a little more info on SI.
Ameriprise CRM can be a great tool in building your awareness and understanding. I like to think of our CRM as “small data” and how putting small pieces of people’s lives together bonds us to them and allows us to understand how we can play a meaningful part in their lives. It is what big data is to big business.
We are personal, we are relational, and we have a stake in the success of our clients. We can understand what it means to them when the markets are in turmoil and help them through difficult times.
Small data is built on genuine curiosity and cemented in systems to make recall easy—like Ameriprise CRM.
Show people how much you care by using your ears more than your mouth and remembering what they have shared with you and what has transpired between you. Make it easy to keep this top of mind and share it with your team by keeping it in your CRM.
Collect data about who they are and what they care about most. Being naturally inquisitive, coupled with a cadence around when and how often you ask them questions inspires them to share more and builds trust.
A solid business development program is built around knowing who you are most equipped to help and learning more about them. This will allow you to share ideas on how you can help them clarify their vision for the future and help them get there.
That is why we exist as an industry and lots of people need this kind of help.
Given the current crisis, I’m afraid many advisors will disengage from their clients, and many people will become disenchanted with their once rock-solid financial planning relationships.
Don’t let this be you. Be the one who is exploring how you can help more people. Make it your goal each day to learn more about how people are doing and how you can help. Complete everything you possibly can in the CRM system for anyone you know that might be able to benefit from what you do.
Our organic growth strategy is not to chase after people, but to attract them and care for them. Let them know you know them. Use your tools to input more information so we can use smart data mining and create easy connections as ideas and opportunities arise.
If you would like to learn more about how to use the Ameriprise CRM for capturing more relationship-building data, contact Dana Pettipiece or Ally Sellner.
About the Author
Bernie DeLaRosa, CFP®, ChFC®, CRPC®, CLU®, APMA®, CASL®, BFA™
Managing Business Consultant
- Mergers/Acquisitions/Practice Sales
- Legal Agreement Definition
- Advisor Leadership Skills
- Initial Practice Assessment