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    • What Is The Optimal Number Of Clients For A Financial Advisor? (My Answer May Surprise You...)
    • Will Financial Advisors Become Obsolete? (Future Outlook For Financial Advisors)
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    • An Open Letter To Financial Advisors With Imposter Syndrome (Plus 4 Tips For Overcoming It)
    • How To Overcome Objections As A Financial Advisor (The Right And Wrong Way)
    • 7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A "Lifestyle" Practice
    • 9 Research-Backed Stress Management Tips For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 3 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients
    • 10 Catastrophic Ways Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Own Success
    • These 5 "Weird" Tips Can Help Financial Advisors Form Better Habits
    • 5 Financial Advisor Follow-Up Tips (That Won't Annoy Prospects)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Write A Book (And Use It To Get Clients)
    • 7 Ways To Make Your Financial Planning Firm More Profitable
    • 7 Actionable Goal Setting Tips For Financial Advisors
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    • How Financial Advisors Can Make A Phenomenal First Impression
    • 3 Reasons Financial Advisors Should (And Shouldn't) Start A Podcast
    • Financial Advisors: 4 Reasons Why Buying Leads Is Like Burning Money
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    • 6 Common Financial Advisor Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Know Before Buying A Book Of Business
    • Looking For A Financial Advisor Internship? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know...
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    • 11 Lucrative Cold Calling Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Things I Wish All Entry Level Financial Advisors Knew
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    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Sales Training Completely Fails
    • Pros and Cons of Financial Advisor Coaching - Should Financial Advisors Hire a Coach?
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    • A Day In The Life of a Financial Advisor: 7 Things You Can Expect
    • 7 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Services
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    • 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Financial Advisor
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    • 5 Things People Really Want From Financial Advisors
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    • 8 Tips for Attracting UHNW Clients (With Proof That They Work)
    • Top 10 Best Books for Insurance Agents (2020)
    • 15 Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas & Techniques That Work!
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    • 5 Tips for How to Sell Insurance Over the Phone
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    • How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor: Your First Year
    • Top 10 Best Books for Financial Advisors
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5 Things Financial Advisors Should NEVER Do With Their Clients

Angry financial advisor dealing with clients
​​​One of the biggest revelations of my life was that while I might not be able to directly control certain events, I could influence them.

As with a lot of things in life, being a financial advisor is more or less about doing things that shift the odds in your favor. I figure that if you can avoid making mistakes, you can greatly increase your chance of success.

Without further ado, here are five things financial advisors should never do with their clients...

1. Let Them Go Uncontacted

One of the biggest reasons clients leave their financial advisor is because of a lack of communication. Knowing this, you should make a concerted effort to stay in touch.

Years ago, financial advisors could only stay in touch with clients through direct mail, meetings, and phone conversations. Today there are so many other options – email, social media, etc. You have so many more ways to stay in front of clients (and prospects) that you have no excuse for not using them.

Also, don’t let your outreach be based on negative news. A study done by Pershing (The Second Annual Study of Advisory Success) showed that 58% of advisors reach out when markets are down and 68% reach out when the client’s personal investments are down.

Think about it… if you only reach out with bad news, what type of association does this make for you? Clients will soon associate you and everything about you with bad news. You don’t want this!

Ask your clients how they want to stay in touch and how often they want to be contacted. The mere act of asking what they want speaks volumes about your character. Some might not want a monthly phone call – some just might want a summary every quarter. But you will instantly separate yourself from your competition because you will be the only one who offered to not only keep in touch but keep in touch the way they want.

ALSO READ: Here's Why Clients Fire Financial Advisors

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2. Take On Anyone And Everyone As A Client

Imagine that you’re Elvis Presley in his heyday. You’re the most popular, most respected music artist on the planet. You have an agent who you think works with nothing but the biggest names in entertainment. He wines and dines you, impresses you with everything he has to offer and gets you to sign on the dotted line.

Then you find out that he’s also working with seventeen other garage bands within a 50-mile radius. Oh yeah, and he’s also managing a fast food chain at night. How would that make you feel?

I know it seems corny, but you want to treat your clients like they’re a really big deal. They deserve to get the best version of you, and if you’re spreading yourself thin with several different types of client profiles, you can’t possibly give it to them.

There’s a quote by Bruce Lee that says:

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

You want to get to the point where you’re practicing the same “kick” over and over again. You do this by choosing an ideal client and sticking to it. Before you know it, you will become an expert in your ideal client’s problems, challenges, and worries. Which means your effectiveness will skyrocket, and so will your ability to serve them.

ALSO READ: 5 Best Niches for Financial Advisors

Unimpressed financial advisor client monkey
My face when financial advisors try to work with anyone and everyone.

3. Neglect to Take Notes About Them

Let’s continue with my illustrative example about Elvis, but let’s switch the roles. You are now the agent, and your goal is to earn Elvis’s business. Elvis is the hottest act in the world, selling out concerts everywhere he goes.

You’ve got agents on your left, right, front, and back all vying to earn his business. Presley eventually decides to spend time with each of you to figure out whom he wants to work with. How could you make sure that you were the one he kept?

You would want to know Elvis almost as well as he knew himself. You would want to know how he likes his dry cleaning, what his favorite restaurants are, what type of medication he takes, and even the fact that he likes his beverages chilled at 37 degrees – not a degree more or less!

Okay, that’s an extreme example, but hopefully, you see the point. You should at least know a few things about your clients – birthdays, children’s names, workplace, favorite restaurants, etc. Keep this information in your CRM and never get rid of it. As you learn more, add to your notes and use them to tailor how you build the relationship.

I’ve found that when you keep detailed notes about a client, you’re able to deliver impressive personalized service. And when people get good service, they’re more likely to stay.

ALSO READ: Best CRM for Financial Advisors

4. Make Them Feel Stupid

Ouch, kind of harsh. But when clients (and prospects) watch you explain things, they’re mentally grading you. They’re asking “How well can I understand this person?”

And here’s the thing – people almost NEVER come right out and say that they don’t understand what’s going on. They’ll nod, smile, and look thoughtful….which makes you think you’re doing a good job. Then when they don’t move forward or leave you entirely, it’s difficult to figure out what went wrong.

It’s critical to make your concepts easy to understand.  Use analogies, metaphors, and stories to get your points across. Make your clients play back what they hear to make sure you’re both on the same page.

When you make a complex topic simple, you make people feel smart. When you make people feel smart, they like you, and liking someone makes it a whole lot easier to do business together.

ALSO READ: 12 Best Financial Planning Questions to Ask Clients

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5. Fail to Manage Client Expectations

Here’s the mentality I recommend you have as a financial advisor: you are not here to make your client’s supremely wealthy, but instead prudently manage their investments and make sure they meet their goals.

Your job also isn’t about managing money. It’s about managing your client’s behavior and expectations. If you can manage clients’ expectations, you can keep them for the long haul. A good way to do this is to educate clients about the unavoidable volatility of the markets.

Doing this will help to cut down on all the noise that your client hears on a daily basis from the internet, the media, co-workers, family, friends, etc. While you can’t control the market itself, you can influence your client’s reaction to what happens. If you can do that, you’ll keep them longer, which improves their odds of meeting their long-term financial goals. 


P.S. If you're a financial advisor who wants to get more clients from LinkedIn, make sure you check out How to Get Clients With LinkedIn: How Financial Advisors Can Set Appointments and Convert Prospects With LinkedIn
​
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  • Home
  • About Me
  • Get Clients With LinkedIn
  • New Advisors
  • Products
  • Inner Circle
  • Blog
    • 50 Things I Wish Financial Advisors Knew About Marketing
    • What's A Good Financial Advisor Marketing Budget? Here's What I've Found...
    • 5 Reasons Why Hiring A Financial Advisor Marketing Agency Is A Bad Idea...
    • 5 Elements of High-Converting Landing Pages For Financial Advisors (With Examples)
    • Why "Branding" Is A Terrible Idea For Financial Advisors
    • 9 Inbound Marketing Strategies For Financial Advisors That Are Working Right Now... (With Proof)
    • Financial Advisors: Here's How To Get 3 New Clients In The Next 30 Days...
    • I Analyzed The Websites Of Barron’s Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors: Here’s What They Do Differently…
    • 4 Things I've Learned From Testing 3.2 Million Financial Advisor Emails
    • What Is The Optimal Number Of Clients For A Financial Advisor? (My Answer May Surprise You...)
    • Will Financial Advisors Become Obsolete? (Future Outlook For Financial Advisors)
    • How To Become A Virtual Financial Advisor (Plus Traits And Tools To Help You Work Remotely)
    • An Open Letter To Financial Advisors With Imposter Syndrome (Plus 4 Tips For Overcoming It)
    • How To Overcome Objections As A Financial Advisor (The Right And Wrong Way)
    • 7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A "Lifestyle" Practice
    • 9 Research-Backed Stress Management Tips For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 3 Powerful Ways Financial Advisors Can Use Webinars To Get More Clients
    • 10 Catastrophic Ways Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Own Success
    • These 5 "Weird" Tips Can Help Financial Advisors Form Better Habits
    • 5 Financial Advisor Follow-Up Tips (That Won't Annoy Prospects)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Write A Book (And Use It To Get Clients)
    • 7 Ways To Make Your Financial Planning Firm More Profitable
    • 7 Actionable Goal Setting Tips For Financial Advisors
    • 10 Of My Favorite Productivity Tools For Financial Advisors
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make A Phenomenal First Impression
    • 3 Reasons Financial Advisors Should (And Shouldn't) Start A Podcast
    • Financial Advisors: 4 Reasons Why Buying Leads Is Like Burning Money
    • 11 Tips For Writing A Stellar Financial Advisor Bio (With Examples)
    • 7 Traits Successful Financial Advisors Have (From Someone Who Has Worked With Thousands Of Advisors)
    • 6 Common Financial Advisor Interview Questions (And How To Answer Them)
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Know Before Buying A Book Of Business
    • Looking For A Financial Advisor Internship? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know...
    • How Hard Is The CFP® Exam? (Plus 5 Of My Favorite Tips To Help You Pass)
    • 10 Insurance Marketing Tips, Ideas, and Strategies (That Actually Work)
    • How to Become a Financial Advisor In 5 (Not So Easy) Steps
    • How To Make Six Figures As A Financial Advisor
    • 11 Lucrative Cold Calling Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Things I Wish All Entry Level Financial Advisors Knew
    • 6 Video Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors: Why Video Marketing Is So Powerful
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Sales Training Completely Fails
    • Pros and Cons of Financial Advisor Coaching - Should Financial Advisors Hire a Coach?
    • 9 Elevator Speech Tips for Financial Advisors
    • A Day In The Life of a Financial Advisor: 7 Things You Can Expect
    • 7 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Services
    • Pros and Cons of Being a Financial Advisor: The Dirty Details Nobody Tells You
    • 8 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor
    • 10 Things Financial Advisors Wish They Could Do Differently
    • 10 Awesome Content Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 12 Best Financial Planning Questions to Ask Clients
    • 5 Online Reputation Management Tips for Financial Advisors
    • Here's Why Clients Fire Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things Financial Advisors Should Never Do With Their Clients
    • 9 Cold Email Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Tips for Avoiding Burnout as a Financial Advisor
    • 9 Tips for Creating a Financial Advisor Business Plan
    • 7 Must-Know Google Ads Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Awesome Tech Tools for Financial Advisors
    • 10 Insurance Email Marketing Mistakes You Need to Avoid
    • 12 Facebook Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 3 Lessons From An Advisor Losing $1,000 Every Day
    • 7 Easy & Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Door-to-Door and Cold Knocking Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 5 Things People Really Want From Financial Advisors
    • 5 Client Loyalty Strategies to Help You Retain More Clients
    • 7 Client Referral Ideas to Help You Get More Referrals
    • 8 Tips for Attracting UHNW Clients (With Proof That They Work)
    • Top 10 Best Books for Insurance Agents (2020)
    • 15 Financial Advisor Prospecting Ideas & Techniques That Work!
    • 11 Awesome Client Appreciation Event Ideas for Financial Advisors
    • Life Insurance Leads - Should You Buy Them?
    • 5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Improve Direct Mail Marketing Results
    • 7 Reasons You'll Fail as an Insurance Agent
    • 7 Horrible Insurance Marketing Ideas
    • 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • Social Media Tips for Financial Advisors: Experts Weigh In
    • The Secret Behind Awesome Financial Advisor Value Propositions (Plus Examples)
    • 5 Tips for How to Sell Insurance Over the Phone
    • 15-Step Client Onboarding Checklist: Onboarding Process for Financial Services
    • The Best CRM for Financial Advisors (CRM Software for Financial Services)
    • 10 Actionable Seminar Marketing Tips for Financial Advisors (That Actually Work)
    • 9 Effective Appointment Setting Tips for Financial Advisors
    • 19 Financial Advisor Email Marketing Tips
    • 5 Ways to Overcome Call Reluctance
    • How to Handle Rejection In Sales: Overcoming Your Fear of Rejection
    • 7 Reasons Why Most Financial Advisor Websites Are Terrible
    • 27 Financial Advisor Marketing Ideas & Strategies That Work!
    • How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor: Your First Year
    • Top 10 Best Books for Financial Advisors
    • 7 Fatal Prospecting Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make
    • 5 Ways to Generate Leads Without Cold Calling
    • 7 Ways Prospecting Is Like Dating
    • 5 Reasons Why You're Not Getting Referrals
    • 5 LinkedIn Tips for Financial Advisors (Plus 3 Things They Should Be Tracking...)
    • How Financial Advisors Can Build Client Trust
    • 11 Reasons You'll Fail as a Financial Advisor
    • How Financial Advisors Can Make More Money
    • 5 Best Niches for Financial Advisors
    • How to Sell Without Being Pushy
    • How Advisors Can Get Out of Their Comfort Zone
    • 5 Characteristics of Successful Insurance Agents
  • Contact