Gratitude is the glue of all relationships. For advisors seeking to grow their assets, it can also be a gift that keeps on giving.
But many advisors are focused on keeping their largest accounts happy and forget to invest time into expressing thoughtful thankfulness for all their clients around this time of year, according to Jeff Jackel, co-founder of Client Giant.
“The problem in this industry is that people are just too busy to actually keep up with [clients] on a real personal level,” Jackel said of financial advisors.
His firm offers corporate gifting services to aid in business retention for firms, and it’s seen the fastest growth among financial advisors in the past two years as a customer base, he said. LPL Financial in June announced that it would offer Client Giant services to all of its advisors.
Systematic gifting to all clients doesn’t only help keep their existing assets with an advisor, Jackel said — it can also bring in new assets. Happy clients may refer the advisor to their friends and family, and sometimes they also open up about assets they hadn’t disclosed to the advisor in the past.
“These gifts start showing up at people’s doorsteps. … And your clients reach out to you. And they say, ‘Hey, thank you so much, this is really thoughtful. Thanks for taking care of me.'”
Clients then might continue, Jackel said: “‘Hey, I got this money. What do you think I should do with it?’ Or, ‘I’ve been looking for a life insurance policy,’ or, ‘I just had a kid; should I be doing a 529?’ There’s a million different things. If you get them to reach out to you, you’ve just solidified the relationship.”
Below, Financial Planning shares several ways that advisors have found success in expressing gratitude to clients around this time of year.