If your goal is to foster client relationships and enhance the life-time value of your clients, Canadian Michael Morrow, a recognised expert in fostering client loyalty, has a few ideas.
Speaking at the MDRT Virtual Global Conference he described how his company solves the craving for human interaction we all have.
He told the conference that before his company sends anything to a client, or a prospective client, they ask themselves four questions. Is it:
- Different and better?
- High impact and timely?
And does it:
- Have a long shelf life?
- Help establish the business as a credible source in the clients’ eyes?’
“We want it to be timely and to personally connect during this time of social distancing. High-touch ideas in a high-tech world that captialise on the ever-increasing need for human interaction that is slowly eroding,” he says.
Morrow, who has worked as a financial adviser for 30 years, says his business takes photos of clients and makes them into 500-piece jigsaw puzzles which he says means the business gets to be looked at in a very positive manner over the four to six hours it takes the client to do the puzzle of themselves.
In addition, once or twice a year they send a care package to their best clients.
He says they want the wow factor that shows they are paying attention to detail, that they genuinely care and appreciate doing business with their clients.
… when you look at the cost as a percentage of revenue it is really a small number – this is an investment in our business …
“We do all this stuff because we made a business decision and when you look at the cost as a percentage of revenue it is really a small number – this is an investment in our business,” he says.
For a care package during lockdown they included things such as locally made hand sanitiser, puzzles, crosswords, calendars, face masks, preserves and perhaps a bottle of wine and local cheeses to show they support local businesses. In turn they personalise each parcel, depending on the client’s interest or the time of year.
Morrow says: “We try to connect personally with our clients while we are social distancing and to make sure that that everything we do reflects quality.”
He says if he moved into another town or city, and wanted to work in the high net worth market he would investigate the 20 most influential people in the area; source their date of birth through LinkedIn and then purchase an original newspaper printed on the day they were born. He says these are not reprints, but the actual newspaper, and can be sourced online. They give them to clients for major birthdays and other major life milestones.
“You can’t play small with your decisions and big with your income,” he says. “When you consider the life-time value of a client the cost of this stuff is insignificant and the value is huge.
“Do these simple ideas and your clients will like you, trust you and think you are smart, and you get to show that you pay attention to detail and enhance the human connection,” he told the conference.
