Segmentation of clients is no longer optional

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Thankfully there are very few financial advice firms remaining who see segmentation as one of those tasks to be done “when they find the time”. Which in other words is never.  There are now so many compelling reasons for segmentation of clients to be seen as one of the most important tasks a broker needs to do on an ongoing basis. Why?

Because at the end of the day, are you able to (and should you) provide a top-drawer service to every one of your clients? The answer to this most often is no. After all, you derive hugely varying levels of income from each of those clients so surely the clients that are driving very high levels of income to your business deserve a higher level of service?

Of course this is not at all a novel concept! Every time you step on a long haul flight, it’s immediately obvious. Turn right for the cheap seats in Economy or turn left to be pampered in Business Class or 1st Class. And then when you book a hotel, you can pay less for a standard room or pay more for a suite with all of the bells and whistles that come with that.

Now let’s take this concept into the financial advice space where many Financial Brokers see their future remuneration model as centred around trail commission. If I come to you with €100,000 to invest, your trail commission might be €750 p.a. (assuming you charge 0.75% of assets). All sounds good.

But what happens if I’m singing your praises and my sister rocks up to your door with €500,000 to invest? Now your earnings are €3,750 p.a. from her. This is perfectly justifiable if your proposition stacks up. But she is also justified in asking what she is getting for this €3,750 and you need to be able to demonstrate additional value to her. And if there is no difference between the services offered in each of these situations, I suggest you’ve got a challenge on your hands… Simply adding trail commission to policies without thinking through your various client propositions is fraught with danger.

And not completing a robust segmentation of your clients is also very dangerous. Even without doing a segmentation exercise, I’ve no doubt that a small number of your high value clients get your best service at all times. But inevitably what happens is that there are other high value clients that slip off your radar. Either you don’t realise that they are high value or they just aren’t demanding. And then some low value clients who are constantly on the phone get a huge amount of attention. That’s hardly fair, is it?

So what do you do?

 

Segment your clients

For starters, do a proper segmentation exercise. Know who is valuable to your business and who is not. Don’t be put off from doing this work with the excuse of “it doesn’t capture the full picture”. Yes, there will always be exceptions within your segmentation – for example a client with very little business with you, but who constantly refers other clients to you is actually a high value client to you and should be treated as such. But don’t start with the exceptions; work out how to deal with them later on a case-by-case basis.

 

Develop your service packages

Develop service packages for your business that reward clients depending on their value to your business. Make your high value clients feel really special, reward them for trusting you with their money by giving them a truly rewarding client experience. Build a moat around them and pull up the drawbridge from your competitors by providing a second to none service.

Let your mid-tier clients feel valued by your business, while at the same time making them aware that there is lots more you can do for them (if they are willing to pay for it).

And of course your no/low value clients will begin to realise that it’s a business you are running and that they don’t have 24/7 access to you. If they want access to superior service (ongoing advice from you), they pay. The same as when they book a flight or a hotel room.

 

Don’t be afraid to say no

Yes, your lower value clients may want a better service possibly than you are offering and might try to demand it from you, without paying for it. Don’t be afraid to say no or insist they move to a higher value service package with greater remuneration for you. You’ll only be doing this with your no/low value clients… And they are not of much value to your business. Put your time into those clients that are of value to you – this is what your clients deserve and what your capacity allows.

The days of a “one size fits all” approach are over. Give your clients a service that they want and deserve.

Annual Meetings are your most important client interactions

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Annual Review meetings are so important in the eyes of many clients. And if they are not, they should be. And it’s your job to convince clients of the importance of these meetings. This is particularly important as we see the news of Vanguard offering fund admin services in the UK for 0.15% and fund fees from as low as 0.07%! In the US, they offer financial advice (delivered by CFPs) for an additional 0.30%. So they will offer an “all-in” fee for advice and investment management for a little over 0.5%.

If this arrived on our shores, how would you compete and how would you justify your ongoing remuneration, on top of the investment management fees?

I shudder when I talk to some financial advisers and hear the haphazard approach that is taken to review meetings. They see it as a win when the client says they are happy not to meet! Could you compete with Vanguard on this basis?

The importance of developing an engaging Client Value Proposition has been picked up and acted upon by many Financial Brokers in the Irish market over the last year or so. A lot of time and effort has gone into identifying where clients are experiencing value, the advice process that is being used, the client services that are provided and indeed how all of this should be paid for by clients.

I can tell you as the client of a financial planner that I can’t at this stage really remember our initial interaction. But I remember clearly our last review meeting, and I’m also very clear about what we will discuss at our next meeting. And that’s the way it should be. The initial advice stage set me off on the right path; the review meetings keep me on it.

With some advisers, the focus is almost exclusively on attracting new clients, at the expense of minding the existing ones.  However having a brilliant review meeting is the means by which you’ll lock in those clients year after year, and as a result enjoy an ongoing income stream from the clients.

As a core part of your initial engagement with a new client, it makes sense to explain to them in detail what will happen every year into the future. It’s not enough for review meetings to be positioned as a “by the way” 10-second conversation at the end of the initial product implementation.

And what should a review meeting include? Well of course there is the standard (and necessary) tasks of reviewing a client’s portfolio, getting up to date values and potentially even writing a short review report. And of course you want to explore further protection needs based on changing circumstances etc.

However the real opportunity to demonstrate your value on an ongoing basis to clients rests outside of the traditional review meeting agenda. Why not take a little extra time and set out for your clients some financial benefits that you’ve delivered to them such as;

  • The growth in actual euros of their investment portfolio
  • The tax saved as a result of their pension plan and any other tax efficient policies in actual euros.
  • The actual money saved in euros as a result of a protection review you carried out previously.

Now your ongoing fee / trail commission starts to look very small! However there’s still a lot more you can do at these review meetings to demonstrate further value to you clients.

  • Help your clients with their household budgeting. This is an area that many clients continue to struggle with. By getting clients on the right path here and reviewing it with them, you can add enormous value to them.
  • Obviously if you carry out future cashflow planning using Voyant with your clients, this is an exceptionally valuable exercise every year. This can completely change the conversation, enable you to look at “what if” scenarios and approach the client’s financial affairs in a very engaging and collaborative way.
  • Talk to them about their broader financial needs where you don’t provide the solutions. You can add value by tapping them into your network of solicitors (for their will or enduring power of attorney), tax advisers (tax advice) or accountants. Now you’re the person centred right at the hub of their financial affairs.

Review meetings are also the opportunity to remind your clients of the work and interactions you’ve had with them throughout the year – the rebalancing of their portfolio that you carried out, the interim meetings you had, seminars you invited them to, the content you sent them etc. How can a client question your ongoing fees when they realise that you are actually providing value to them right throughout the year?

So place review meetings at the heart of your proposition. Make them memorable and ensure your clients come back to you year after year.