What Financial Planners Clients Love

By

Philadelphia

When a presentation is entitled “: The Four Keys To Growing Your Business,” a financial professional would have to be pretty incurious not to attend. That was definitely not the case, however, at the opening general session of the annual meeting of the Financial Planning Association, which was packed to hear Harry Beckwith on this topic.

Many planners subscribe to the belief that clients are sensitive to the fees they charge, but Beckwith would have none of it. “Your fees indicate the value you assign to your services,” he said, “so the higher the fees” the more value a planner is perceived to have.

People are sensitive to low prices, not high prices, particularly in regard to services, Beckwith contended. As an example, he asked the audience how many would go to a surgeon who charged only a few dollars for a procedure such as lasik surgery. Price, he told the planners, is “the value you communicate to the client.”

Second, it pays for planners to establish a brand for themselves, he said, because “people experience what they think the brand promises they will experience.” As an example, he said, if we go to a very expensive, exclusive restaurant most of us will think the food is superb, even if it is not.

Next, he said, “we think with our eyes. We may know better, but we act illogically.” Were not rational, he said, which is why the power of packaging is so important.

Finally, he said, every service is a relationshipits the connection you make. “Youre not selling a product, youre selling you. Youre selling how important you make the client feel. Its about how the client feels about you.”

Beckwith said there were seven keys to establishing extraordinary relationships with clients.

First, he said, “our desire for speed has become so strong that its almost real time. So when you answer your phone on one ring, it shows clients they are important to you.”