COVID forced us to take a lot of actions and change our method of doing business; however, we have had over five years of preparation as events such as modest snowstorms close schools and wreak havoc from time to time. As our company began to grow five years ago, we realized we needed to make contingency plans to deal with potentially longer absences from the office. In 2009, we had four blizzards over the course of a winter and each one shut us down and made travel virtually impossible for a week at a time.
About a year and a half ago, Jody Detillier from our study group expressed interest in beginning to do remote meetings with clients. I agreed with his idea and thought it was a great idea and promised myself that within the next three months of that meeting in May 2019, I would begin doing remote meetings as well.
The downside was I never got around to it, but once the schools closed in mid-March due to COVID-19 I knew that remote meetings had to happen quickly. I immediately wrote my clients a three-page essay of my history and experiences as a financial planner who had gone through four bear markets. I felt I could give my advice based upon prior historical data that markets recover. I sent this email to 100% of our client bases early on in the crisis.
I have no doubt this email calmed the fears of many clients, and to date I only received calls from two of 1,247 clients to make substantial changes to their accounts during the course of this pandemic. Despite the distribution of this email to our client base early, I realized at that moment I was going to have to make some dramatic changes in my habits as an advisor.
For instance, I’m a big believer in face-to-face meetings and typically travel five to 600 miles a week, every week of the year, so I immediately pivoted to Zoom and begin conducting two to four zoom meetings a day basically keeping up with my pre-COVID pace of about 15 client appointments per week. The tough part was changing my routine, and I realized that the amount of work I was putting into preparing and breaking down after meetings took more time and effort.
The next major idea was to implement what I refer to as a “Town Hall Meeting” at 11 o’clock on Friday mornings. My default calendar now included this meeting. If a client had replied to an email invite, we sent a Town Hall invitation link. We had a successful showing for two months using a couple different topics. These Town Halls resulted in some appointments with clients that I had been trying to bring in for appointments several months prior. There were other conversations that ensued that may not have had anything to do with their accounts such as a retired B-52 pilot client. He happened to be the only one to show up for a particular call and we talk about planes for an hour. I know it made him feel better that he got to tell some of his war stories and I certainly learned a lot more about him in the process. This new addition to my calendar also served as a networking opportunity among clients who did not know each other. During these sessions, I discussed pieces of literature from American Funds and The Hartford concerning market rebounds. Unfortunately, I had to give up the Town Halls the end of June for an upcoming surgery but I plan to restart in late August.
In closing, we followed the trinity:
1. maintain frequent communication;
2. make yourself available for virtual or face to face meetings (following CDC protocols) to address client needs; and
3. maintain visibility to your clients through virtual or live appointments.
The result: New business is up 60% since last year, and profits improved since travel and entertainment costs are down.
Bruce Allen is President of Old Dominion Insurance & Investments. He is a 2014 Elite Advisor.
Editor’s Note: This piece is part of the Business Insights Series in which NTSA Elite Advisors offer ideas and insights intended to offer members support and provide information concerning business opportunities.
Opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of NTSA or its members.
About the Elite Advisor Award
The NTSA Elite Advisor Awards focus on NTSA financial advisors' innovative, unique, profound and successful best practices for advocacy, leadership, practice management and legacy. More information about the Elite Advisor Awards is available here.
WOWcasts Available
Bruce Allen was featured in the 10th WOWcast Series. Part I is available here; Part II is available here; Part III is available here.
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