The News: According to a recent report, 78% of surveyed advisors now maintain an optimistic outlook on capital markets over the next three years. However, only 18% of advisors said their clients share the same optimistic outlook.

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The News: While more than two thirds of high-net-worth individuals say it is important or very important for their advisor to know all their goals to be successful, just over a quarter say their advisor actually has that depth of knowledge.

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The News: According to a PWC survey, over the next two years, nearly 50% of private banks expect to use mobile technologies to interact with clients.

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The News: According to Spectrem, more than 60% of the investors surveyed said the primary reason they would leave an advisor is “not returning phone calls in a timely manner.” Fifty-two percent said they would leave an advisor for “not being proactive in contacting me.”

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In recent discussions with VIP Forum members, we’ve heard that today’s high-net-worth clients demand more information, require more hand-holding, and want to feel confident their advisor is looking out for them. These increased demands require advisors to spend significantly more time understanding clients’ needs and delivering tailored service and advice. To address the industry’s new normal, firms must support advisors with tactical and scalable strategies to build deeper relationships with clients.

One leading firm, McClellan Bank, recognizes the need to deliver more frequent and meaningful contact to their clients. The firm equips advisors with substantive content suggestions and defines minimum contact standards for each client segment, driving an increase in both the frequency and quality of client contact.

Forum members, learn more about this firm’s strategy to foster substantive client-advisor interactions through firm-crafted, proactive communication.

Summer, for most of us, is a time to recharge our batteries, to relax, to enjoy some calm before the demands of life pick up again.  Unfortunately, investors have made that a good deal harder recently as they collectively removed over a trillion dollars in value from financial markets over the course of a few days.

Why the sudden volatility?  Consumers haven’t suddenly changed spending behaviors, nor have business customers. And suppliers look healthier than in some time, beating earnings estimates and sitting on plenty of cash. Credit availability has drastically improved. Inflation is hardly threatening.

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Market volatility often prompts clients to reassess their financial situations, and in turn, their financial advisors. As such, it is a crucial time for advisors to be in touch with anxious clients—not only to calm clients’ fears but also to identify any potential attrition risks.

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The News: An InvestmentNews survey conducted at the end of last week finds that 41% of advisors believe a downturn is coming.

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The News: A recent study conducted by JD Power and Associates reveals that whether advisors are held to the fiduciary or suitability standard is insignificant to clients, with 85% of investors not understanding the difference between the two. Clients are most concerned with advisors’ service and communication skills. Read More »

Clients notice when you listen to what they’re saying. Fifty-five percent of clients who are surveyed quarterly strongly agree that their firm values their feedback, while only 23% of clients who are never surveyed say the same. Yet VIP Forum research reveals that firms fail to adequately capture client voice, given the disconnects  between how advisors perceive clients’ investment attitudes, risk tolerance, and key value drivers and clients’ actual feelings.

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