When you were young, did you dream of becoming a rock star, firefighter, astronaut, or ballerina? Some dreamt of becoming a chef, or maybe the president of a big company. It’s likely that few ever entertained the notion that their dream job would become obsolete or replaced by AI.
At best, it would be a world much like it was portrayed in the cartoon, The Jetsons, with flying cars, teleportation devices, and robotic maids. The Jetsons accurately foretold the use of Zoom for meetings, but the similarities end there. Technology is outpacing many of our wildest imaginings and continues to accelerate every year. Yet, there are manifold benefits to using technology to grow your firm.
Excellent client services are the backbone of any business that relies on customers to survive. Most will argue that technology is making it easier to service those clients (more on how later) and adopting those advances can streamline your customer care. Keeping in touch with your clients is easy, thanks to multiple communication channels.
Innovation offers instant answers, 24/7 access to information, and even AI to tell us what to make for dinner and how to do it. Chat this and Bot that, and soon our human connections will diminish.
Therefore, it is essential to keep meeting face-to-face, practice active listening, and make personal connections. In other words, be a human. As a Financial Services Professional, your goals include building trust and confidence. Here are a few quick tips for keeping engagement and active listening in your advisor toolkit.
Stay Connected: Staying in touch has never been easier. You no longer have to use a desktop to answer emails or wait by the phone for it to ring. Answering questions or servicing clients can be accomplished with a quick call while driving the family to the beach.
Better yet, keeping your clients up to date on the markets and offering your expertise can be automated through newsletters, webinars, quick videos, market commentary, podcasts, and educational blog posts. Investing in a good CRM can even automate these tasks by sending out templated emails on a predetermined schedule. You won’t even have to push the send button.
Embrace Tech: You can use tech and still provide personalized support. This starts with good data supported by excellent data management. Again, an awesome CRM (we love HubSpot) can put your clients into the proper categories in seconds—no rifling through files while speaking to them. The automated information and notes from your last phone call will be at your fingertips.
Nothing is worse than sitting on a video call with a multi-tasker trying to find their notes or accomplish other tasks while “listening” to you. Using tech correctly will enable active listening and asking follow-up questions for deeper understanding. Use the tech to enhance those human connections.
Many apps generate real-time call transcriptions, while AI-driven recommendations like live sentiment analysis provide unique insight into customer emotions based on voice tones.
Earn Trust: Accountability is a massive reinforcer of trust. Schedule face-to-face meetings and show up with your full attention. Send a birthday or anniversary card to your clients.. Value their time and follow through with actions discussed in meetings.
Plan, be prepared, and ask open-ended questions that encourage elaboration to learn more. Check for understanding and explain without using financial lingo. Schedule touchpoints beyond quarterly reviews. Plan events the whole family can attend and make connections reinforcing people before profit.
Your younger self didn’t have dreams of becoming a robotic taskmaster because, deep down, we all want to feel like we are making a difference to someone and, in some way, making the world a little friendlier. Using technology and its extraordinary abilities can help your financial services practice by streamlining tasks.
However, keep it in check because no amount of predictive text can replace humanity. Show up, follow up, and follow through. Be accountable and make connections. Also, let’s find a way to make that Jetson teleportation device a reality.
Speak with Vineyard Global Advisors about which risk managed SMA strategies are right for your investment needs.
You Might Also Like:
