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October 21, 2001 at 08:00 PM
Bank Reps Dilemma: Too Many New Clients
By Marcella De Simone
A broker working through a bank might have too much of a good thing, says Doug Jackson.
There are so many new clients to work with every day that a broker might find it difficult to go back and thoroughly service her existing clients, says Jackson, president of Irvine, Calif.-based Duer Financial Corporation.
“One of the plagues of being a bank broker is theres tremendous opportunity every day,” he says. “The challenge of meeting everyday business makes it harder to go back and profile and develop and expand ones existing customer base. Its easier to make new clients.”
Brokers who want to optimize the income potential from their existing clients might consider forgoing new clients or paring down the territory with which they work, Jackson says.
Even with these amendments, brokers can “still make a good living and meet sales expectations,” he says.
To develop ones existing book, Jackson advises brokers to schedule a client consultation, review his portfolio and, if his investments have decreased in value, encourage him to expand his account based on dollar-cost averaging.
“Or they may be able to add to a fixed contract,” Jackson says. “Or market conditions might necessitate diversification.”
Brokers can also look into rep-friendly software and online customer relationship management tools that help brokers maintain a rapport with clients and better understand their needs, he says.
Brokers who work through a bank “have an enormous asset with its customer base in the industry in which we work,” he says. “Brokers need to leverage those assets to increase business.”
