If you’ve been in this business for 10 years or more, you might remember the day when we used to send real newsletters to our clients. By real, I mean printed on paper and mailed in an envelope. Now we just send these electronic versions - hoping they don’t go immediately into our clients’ spam filter or junk mail. Don’t get me wrong: e-zines can provide some very helpful information. However, with everyone getting so many e-mails every day, many advisers are actually going back to mailing their newsletters - at least on a quarterly basis.
An effective newsletter should include personal information, in addition to business content, letting clients know who you are.
Doing the work you do, you learn a lot about your clients’ lives. They tell you things they don’t tell anyone else in their life. Sometimes they tell you things you don’t even want to hear. In this dynamic, you become a confidant - someone they trust and “tell all” to. Most clients (though not all), begin to see you as their “friend,” their “business friend.” They care about you. They, in turn, want to know about you, your family, and your hopes and dreams.
Are you letting them in - at least a little? Think about some of your relationships with your clients. Are you keeping them at arm’s length? I contend that letting them in to your life (at least some of it) creates important business friendships. It is a very critical component in building ironclad loyalty and increasing your Referability Factor™.
Let me tell you a quick story that will cement this concept for you:
Gary has been a financial adviser for more than 25 years. In the past, Gary sent a four-page (printed) newsletter to his clients every month. The newsletter devoted half of one page (or one eighth) to information about himself, his family, his hobbies, his passions, etc. It was clearly about him.
After several years, Gary decided that he shouldn’t have anything personal in his newsletter. He changed the format so that the content only informed his clients about the economy, the market, etc. - nothing about himself or his family.
The day his next newsletter started hitting his clients’ mailboxes, his phone started ringing off the hook. “Gary! Why did you take out that part about you and your family? It’s the only part I read!”
Your clients, at least most of them, want a business friendship with you! When you get together or send them correspondence, let them know what’s happening with you and your family. They care about you. Give them something to care about.