Encouragement is a wonderful thing. Spontaneous and unsolicited encouragement is beyond wonderful. It’s fantastic! Here’s my story of such a gift.
Charles G.Read (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Charles+G./Read) read an article I’d written on reaching women clients published recently in a financial journal and promptly bought The $14 Trillion Woman. Upon reading the book, he sent out an email to all 500 advisors in his financial network urging them to get the book. He even embedded a link to me, to Amazon and a copy of the article The Women’s Market: Bridging the Gap. This started a great connection…..
When I reached out to thank him, I discovered Charles is an experienced advisor and leader in providing financial education to consumers through their employers. We had a wonderful conversation and among other things, talked about consumer trust in wake of the financial crisis. As I work with advisors I want them to be totally successful at reaching women clients. Equally, I want women consumers to find outstanding advisors. Women are vigorous net-workers and their reviews (good and bad) spread like wildfire. It benefits everyone for women to find the best advisors. The more they trust the industry, the faster we will bridge the giant gap between women clients and quality financial services.
So, I asked Charles what advice he gives the consumers he educates. Here’s what he tells them: “Ask the advisor to provide a list of former clients to find out why these clients left. If the advisor is unwilling to provide this, run away!” I thought this was brilliant and got me to thinking…..What would my clients say about me?
Fortunately, in my own review of clients I discovered no unpleasant surprises. They don’t leave because of dissatisfaction. They pause for external reasons like budget limitations or a change in direction. Clients also “graduate” out for happy reasons like a project successfully completed. Even better, clients are well-served and loyal.
Fact of the Day
Who leaves you and why says a lot about your reputation. Consumer research shows that people are much more likely to spread bad news than good news when sharing reviews (estimated between 3 and 9 times more likely to share negative reviews than positive).
Tip of the Day
Many of you have developed a list of clients who are willing to offer references. Now, consider a compelling twist based on Charles’ advice to consumers. Develop a few former clients to include on your list. Then when you offer the list to a prospective client share the following:
“I want you to have complete confidence in our work together. I think the comments of former clients are equally important as those of current clients. Please feel free to contact any of these current and former clients to share their experience.”
Imagine the level of confidence that portrays in your stellar reputation. You’re saying that even people who no longer work with you, still have great things to say. It feels risky and (of course) it would be foolish to include any former client that was dissatisfied. But consider how powerful it will be when a former client says how much they loved working with you and were so sorry to leave because of ….(whatever circumstances led them to change).
That’s incredibly powerful! It also communicates level of openness, transparency and trustworthiness that’s truly compelling.
Resource of the Day
Contact me at www.barbarakaycoaching.com and I will email you a copy of the journal article The Women’s Market: Bridging the Gap.
