The Practice Doctor is IN

What You Should Know About Your Clients

Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH

Practice Management Consultant

In my consultations with advisors over the years, there are a number of best practice items that surface over and over again. In particular, the “Client Info-Card” is quite popular. It offers an index-card-sized (or larger if you wish) view of information that ought to be obtained about your top clients. From this information you can tailor a personalized contact protocol for each top tier client.

I developed this piece from my work in helping roll out Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Most CRMs have nearly endless potential to record client-specific information whether in dedicated fields, dropdown menus, open notes, or in the creation of groups. This potential is what is daunting and why many advisors under-utilize their CRMs. So let’s keep it as elementary as possible. What follows is a listing of what you ought to know about your A-clients and record in your CRM.

Names and nicknames of the client, family and other key relationships.  This may sound simplistic, but can carry a lot of weight. As an example, my full name, Albert, appears mostly on formal documents. So when I get a call that starts “Is Albert there?” I am suddenly not in. Be sensitive to names and your level of casualness when contacting top clients.

Dates of birth for these same key people.  Birthday recognition is a nice non-business, caring contact point whether it is by phone, text, note, post or card. The value of sending a top client’s children a gift card can’t be overestimated, either.

Know the client’s employer and job level.  If self-employed, what’s the nature of his business? Some advisors I know find the anniversary date of the business’ start or when the client joined a particular organization and send a note to congratulate them on another successful year (assuming it’s been one!). Important, too, is knowing the client’s household income and income potential. It’s also good to note the client’s net worth for an at-a-glance view.

Client addresses, phone numbers, e-mails, web sites.  Keeping these current is the main concern here as more and more people are going mobile and changing personal and professional contact preferences more frequently.

Referral history.  Who referred the client to you? Who has the client referred back to you? This referral “tree” will be useful in planning client appreciation events and discerning the financial value specific clients have brought to your practice.

Upcoming important personal/family/business events.  Most advisors collect this “life event” information but only record it in their heads where it can’t easily be acted upon. One of the advantages of using the Info-Card is to jot down events that can be celebrated, recognized, and/or scheduled for follow-up. Weddings, births, graduations, illnesses, and other transitional events can be excellent non-business contacts.

Unique personal/family/business circumstances. Are there any pertinent facts about the client that should be noted in the event another advisor might need to access the file? This could include a wide variety of things: disabilities, special needs, out-of-state decision makers and other information that should be known prior to contact or visitation.

Key fiscal advisers.  Who else is an important fiscal adviser to the client? Attorney, CPA, banker, broker, P&C agent, life agent and others who are influential to the client.  Also noted should be people the client has empowered to be executors, beneficiaries, trustees and/or powers-of-attorney.

Segmentation.  The Info-Card should include the current segment for the client: A, B, C or other method. I suggest the segmentation be revisited every annual review and adjusted as needed. Normally, each segment receives a service/contact protocol commensurate with their value to the practice. Again, revisiting this commitment each year is a best practice. Included in this is noting which newsletter the client is receiving––assuming you offer a choice or even use one.

“Intimate” knowledge base.  What sort of other information have you collected about your top clients? These are the data fields that can be used to coordinate targeted client appreciation events. Among the possibilities for the client and their family:

• Alumni affiliation
• Schools being attended
• Hobbies
• Pets
• Travel preferences
• Restaurant/Cuisine preferences
• Sports participation
• Charity involvement
• Volunteer activities
• Wine preferences
• Clubs
• Favorite retailer
• Artistic interests

“Next sale” opportunity.  Finally, where are you and the client going next? This can be a product, service, strategy or other concept that they have expressed an interest in pursuing. In a future column, we will flesh out this “opportunity inventory” piece. This is another one of those best practice items that is among the most popularly requested from my library.

If you are interested in a copy of the Client Info-card:  Client Information “At a Glance” Checklist, simply send me an e-mail: al@mitchanthony.com.

The Doctor is OUT.

Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH, a.k.a. “The Practice Doctor”, is MitchAnthony.com’s Business Practice Consultant. He is the creator of “The Practice Management Assessment” tool and materials and has authored numerous articles in professional publications on practice management, and author of the book, How to Build Your Financial Advisory Business and Sell It at a Profit, now available from McGraw Hill. Al combined his Liberal Arts studies with 10 years of management experience with McDonald’s Corporation to enter the financial services world 25 years ago. Since then, Al has evolved from an MDRT-level sales rep into a full-time consultant specializing in helping others engineer their business practices to the next level. Contact him at al@mitchanthony.com.

© 2009 Al Depman