No one likes feeling abandoned.
Hemel Shah (pictured), sales director at Eligible
Put yourself in your client’s shoes for a moment. They’ve committed their time and energy to an adviser about their specific mortgage requirements. They’ve gone away happy with the right mortgage, only to return at remortgage time to find that their trusted adviser has moved on. No one thought to tell them, no one thought to get in touch offering a new point of contact.
No one likes feeling abandoned.
This client is now faced with a choice: stay and build a relationship with a new adviser - or vote with their feet and move on.
This scenario is borne out in firms up and down the country, particularly larger organisations, where adviser turnover is greater. Time and time again existing clients are left orphaned when their original contact leaves. Firms and advisers are choosing to chase after new leads rather than retaining existing customers.
How are orphan clients created?
The issue comes down to a lack of direct relationship between brokerage and client. Far too many brokerages place the responsibility for maintaining client relationships firmly at the feet of individual advisers - and (literally) pay the price in lost revenue when that advisor moves on to pastures new. This is avoidable, but too few brokerages take the necessary action to keep hold of their orphan clients.
It might be that your company has been busy and as a result, too little is done too late or in some cases, nothing is done at all. Your new clients being your focus might seem to make sense. But the numbers just don’t stack up. We’ve talked at length about why retention should be on your radar, in other blogs here and here.
How to keep hold of orphaned clients
If you’re coming around to the idea that keeping hold of existing clients is just as important as scouting for new, then we can help. The good news is that with some small adjustments to your business processes, you can make a significant impact on your client relationships.
In short, we’re talking about communication and relationships. Let’s be clear though - we understand that no adviser will call hundreds of orphaned clients. It’s not realistic or feasible. Instead, we can utilise technology to maintain and enhance your client relationships.
Firstly, to minimise the chances of losing an orphaned client, your business should be focused on retaining them as soon as the adviser leaves. Instead of waiting until they are due to roll off and transact again, you need to be proactive. Contact the client immediately and introduce them to their new adviser. Make sure this new advisor has access to the client’s information to ensure a smooth transition.
However, contacting the client out of the blue is not the best client experience. To engender loyalty and increase your chances of retaining the client, your business should be in regular contact - providing relevant and informative content that constantly demonstrates your expertise and value. By doing so, you become synonymous with their mortgage and home.
The take-away here is connection through consistent communication. Building bridges that stay in place throughout the life of that client's mortgage term.
Make it personal
Why? Because recognising that each client is an individual with their own interests and preferences is key to making sure they read and value your communication.
The days of mass distribution of generic content is over. Whilst these practices still exist, the reality is that such content has low engagement and even if a client does engage with your email, you don’t know what they found interesting.
The good news is that the technology now exists to create hyper-personalised, relevant content that caters for your clients' specific needs. We can now understand client behaviour and gain significant insights into clients as individuals - and your book as a whole.
Tools such as Retain by Eligible.ai can make these insights accessible to you whilst automating the communication process - so you gain all the benefits without the significant effort this would have taken in the past.
Clients past, present and future
Maintaining an active relationship with existing clients isn’t just good practice, it’s essential. It’s time to revamp your old client communication processes - or automate them using Retain by Eligible.ai to have it all effortlessly managed for you. You already know how fierce the competition is out there and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier any time soon. It’s time to scoop those orphaned clients back up and bring them back into the fold.
They’ve been drifting for far too long.
