Highlights:
- A changing landscape means prospecting is more challenging for investment advisors
- Prospects want flexible communication channels and a deeper connection with advisors
- A financial services communications platform offers multiple channels and makes it easy to connect with prospects
When you think about prospecting for new clients, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? In today’s climate, you should be thinking about communicating digitally with new clients and the value digital communication capabilities bring.
Read on to learn how a digital communications platform helps investment advisors attract and retain new clients.
A changing landscape
The world in which investment advisors operate has changed dramatically. There are a few reasons:
- Client demographics have changed
- Clients want deeper engagement
- Social media marketing rules are looser
- Robo-advisors are becoming more popular
Client demographics have changed
Baby Boomers, previously the largest demographic of investors, are aging. Their Millennial children have begun to inherit their wealth. Investment advisors can’t assume that Millennials will stick with their parents’ advisors. In fact, analysts estimate that at least 65% of clients’ children fire their parents’ advisors because the advisor took it for granted that they needed to build a relationship with their clients’ children.
With that in mind, advisors must understand what Millennials want out of their relationship with financial advisors. According to a November 2020 report from the Spectrem Group:
- 24% of Millennials prefer phone calls
- 14% of Millennials want video conferencing
- 7% of Millennials want a text message containing a link to more information
- 7% of Millennials prefer webinars
This data shows that Millennials aren’t monolithic; they’re a diverse group with more than one preference. To reach them, advisors must invest in technology that offers flexible investment advisory communications options.
Clients want deeper engagement
How often do you proactively communicate with clients? Do you only reach out to them once a year with an annual report on their portfolios? That might not be enough for new clients.
Take the year 2020, for example. Even if clients weren’t directly affected by the global health crisis, they still felt fear and uncertainty, especially regarding their investment portfolio. They wanted their advisor to understand those feelings, and how those sentiments would impact investment decisions.
To attract new clients, advisors must show they understand clients’ needs and their unique situations. Providing communication channels that meet your clients’ needs sends potential clients the message that you’re ready to listen.
Social media marketing rules are looser
The SEC’s ruling in early 2021 on social media marketing was welcome news to advisors because it gave advisors expanded opportunities to reach out to clients through their social media platform of choice. Investors feel comfortable receiving communications from advisors on social media, too: 44% of Gen Zers and 66% of Millennials feel comfortable with reading investment advisory communications on Facebook, while 36% of Gen Zers and 34% of Millennials find it acceptable to read those messages on Twitter.
Advisors can capitalize on social media by making it easier for prospects to initiate conversations with them through those channels. A financial services communications platform with a social media chat function allows advisors to easily connect with prospects.
Robo-advisors are becoming more popular
Since 2008, clients’ trust in their advisors has eroded. They don’t always feel that their advisors have their best interests at heart and, in consequence, are frequently turning to robo-advisors.
Experts in the investment advisory space believe the robo-advisor market will finally exceed the $1 trillion mark in AUM. That’s bad news for advisors. How can they attract new clients as robo-advisors’ popularity continues to soar?
Advisors must show they can build solid relationships in which the clients’ interests come first. One step toward building trust is investing in the right communications technology.
What is the right communications technology for your investment advisory?
Investing in the right financial services communications platform helps you reach new clients. Here’s how:
- It offers a variety of communications channels
- It lets you respond quickly to market shifts and crises
- You can respond in a timely fashion to investor queries
- Add value through sharing your knowledge and expertise
A financial services communications platform offers a variety of channels
For years, clients didn’t have many options when it came to communicating with their advisor; it was either over the phone or in person. Technological changes have changed that. Now, clients can reach out to their advisors through social media, text, or video conference in addition to email.
Investing in a financial services communications platform gives your clients and prospects options to communicate with you. These platforms support a variety of communications channels, including telephony, text, and video conference.
A financial services communications platform lets you respond quickly to changing situations
Let’s say flooding strikes the Midwestern US. Crops are ruined. Clients panic. What will happen to their investments?
You don’t have to wait to be in the office to send out an update. Financial services communications platforms run in the cloud, so you can access them on any device. Even if you’re at home, you can send out a mass message to clients to let them know what’s going on and what next steps they should take.
Respond in a timely fashion to investor queries
Because a financial services communications platform runs in the cloud, you can respond to client queries wherever you are. You don’t have to wait to be in the office to answer a text, and you can hold a video conference from anywhere with internet access.
Add value through sharing your knowledge and expertise
Research from Vanguard shows that clients and prospects want investment advisors to educate them about markets so they make the right decisions. A financial services communications platform makes that simple.
When a new article comes out on a topic you think will resonate with investors, share the link through a text message or through social media chat. Video conferencing capabilities make it simple to hold educational webinars.
RingCentral helps you grow your investment advisory with a financial services communications platform
RingCentral’s financial services communications platform features the capabilities you need to transform prospects into long-term clients. It’s simple to communicate through multiple channels. To learn more, get a demo today.
Originally published Sep 14, 2021, updated Sep 02, 2021