Client Communication and Fireside Chats

In times like these, communication with clients and business partners is more important than ever. Early into the onset of the pandemic, I noticed how active our wholesaler partners were with advisors in our office. Nearly every day, we were receiving phone calls and emails from these investment companies, bombarded with content that we could use with our clientele. It was incredible how swift they were in creating a game plan with advisors like us, and their diligence and dedication in supporting our practices was exemplary.

 

I thought to myself—is this a model that we can duplicate with clients of our firm? Considering that the news outlets make their money by attracting eyeballs with negative and inflammatory content, could we get out in front of this global panic and help de-clutter the messaging that is bombarding the American public?

 

The wholesalers excelled at providing factual pieces that enabled advisors to piece together real data, so could we do the same for our clients?

 

Then I was fortunate enough to hop onto a national conference call with a top advisor; and he shared with us some pearls of wisdom on how he was helping clients navigate this storm. The underlying principle of his entire presentation centered around this: Client communication should be the main focus of his firm from sunup to sundown.

 

Of course, the immediate thing that we implemented was a personal phone call to all of our top-tier clients. This was met with gratitude and relief, and many households expressed how happy they were just to hear my voice.

 

But what about all of our other households?  What about those families who also needed to hear “my voice,” but for whom I simply didn’t have the time to connect with on a 1-1 basis?

 

I thought about what the wholesalers were doing—they were casting a wide net by delivering information to the masses of financial advisors, all in one fell swoop. And we as advisors were hungrily consuming the data they were providing, while further strengthening the partnerships that we have with these investment companies.

 

So we decided to do the same.

 

We thought that our clients would be seeking communication from us, and that the best way to connect with them would be via national “broadcasts.” 

 

In the spirit of FDR’s Fireside Chats during the Great Depression and WWII, we began running weekly Friday conference calls. All of our households were invited to dial in, and the content would be 15-30 minutes in length.

 

We are continuing to do run these Friday calls even now. The purpose of the calls is to provide a calming and objective voice for our clients to listen to. The first 5-10 minutes are a recap of what happened in the markets during that week, as well as any legislative updates. Then the remainder of the call simply features the speaker’s observations on what investors should be thinking about.

 

There is no formalized presentation/webinar, nor is there a sales pitch. This is simply a way for our team to connect with the masses, and to assure them that we are here from them—only a phone call away.

 

What began with 15 or so attendees, peaked at close to 100 participants at the height of the panic in March. The feedback has been incredible, as our clients have expressed their thanks for putting these calls on.

 

We will continue to do these Fireside Chats for as long as we have an audience; and it may be that we have stumbled onto a regular thing that might last longer than the pandemic.

 

Here is what we have learned—we continue to be caught in a period of crisis and panic, when people need information rather than noise. They can either receive that information from the media, in which case there is no control over how their own personal opinions will form. Or they can receive it from you in a controlled environment—where the message is honest, uncluttered and relevant.

 

Best of health to you and your loved ones—