10 Reasons Your Clients Need New Friends (and You Need New Clients)

(Related: 15 Phrases That Win Clients and Prospects Over)

Have you ever felt like part of your job as financial advisor is being a life coach to your clients? Do you ever feel like their therapist? When you have a good client relationship, they share more and more personal details. This strengthens the relationship.

Does this sound familiar? You have an older client. They see the glass as half-empty. On a bright sunny day, they remark: “But it will get dark soon.” When the stock market has a good day, they say: “It can’t keep going up forever.” They have a circle of friends, all their own age. They are gradually moving away or dying off. You try to cheer them up, but they remain miserable.

Your client needs to refresh their “address book” with new friends. If they don’t, eventually they will all disappear and they will be the “last man standing.” Guess what? Advisors make these same mistakes. We get comfortable with a group of clients using fee-based accounts. We make a comfortable living. Your client base is a shrinking asset unless you add new accounts.

In the gallery above, think through the logic to impart to clients on why they need to expand their social circle. It’s also advice advisors should take regarding their client base. Clients shouldn’t assume their best years are behind them. Advisors shouldn’t stop building up their business either.

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