While I was away on holidays, we went to a Chinese restaurant (in Scotland of all places) and at the end of the meal we all got a fortune cookie.
While some of the fortunes were hilarious ( my son famously got one that said “you are cool!”) my fortune was eerily on message.
“You are going to have a very comfortable old age”
Now, maybe its my age (45) but this cookie gave me a special feeling. “Phew!” I thought, “That’s good”. Now, I could say that I don’t need a fortune cookie to tell me that – that I have a financial planner and a structured financial plan to make sure I do.
But despite all that, the assurance of a cookie made me feel good about the future.
Why? Of all people, someone who spends their time educating on saving and investing for the future shouldn’t care about a message from a cookie or any other platitude going around.
However, I realised at that moment, that no matter how much we educate ourselves, and put a plan in place, we all need reassurance when it comes to doing the right thing for your financial future.
I know plenty of my friends who continuously bring up super and retirement at our weekend BBQs and kids sports. And they are worried. I also know friends who are angry at their financial adviser because they have not heard from them in a long time. The current market conditions mean a lot of people I know are sitting and watching their super balances go down – significantly.
Now is the time for you, the advice community, to get out your own words of reassurance and comfort. I know this can be time consuming, but a message as simple as the fortune cookie may well be the thing that helps your clients sleep at night, and stay with you.
I believe communicating via SMS is the future for organisations who want to reach people immediately and don’t expect a response. For advisers, and fund managers with direct investors, there is the ability to send short, sharp messages to the phones of their client base en masse at the touch of a button,
There is an interesting website called Capterra, where you can look at the pros and cons of each SMS and text software to see what could work for your business.
Because if you sent out a monthly text to clients with your reassuring words to keep in touch, you might just find your client satisfaction levels, and their demand for services increases too.
If my hairdresser texts me with news and updates, then I certainly would not mind hearing from my adviser the same way!
While I understand the rigours of changing education standards and that just keeping your head above water is tough. I also know that as market conditions continue to be volatile, people are getting more and more nervous. A simple marketing campaign might just be the solution they need to stay the course for the long term and stick to their financial plan. Your voice of reason is the most reassuring message of all.
Until next time,
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