A Client Contact Resource File can make your “Touch Base” Calls More Effective

The 12-4-2 client contact system includes eight “Touch Base” phone calls during the year. One of the questions we are frequently asked by the advisors we coach is, “What do you talk about?”

Here is one valuable answer.

In every city there is at least one newspaper that will have a financial section, a section on health, community activities, charity work and other items of interest. Plus, there is a Wall Street Journal in your office, if not in your mailbox.

Every newspaper has items of interest and topics of discussion. The Wall Street Journal is especially relevant. For example, the front page of the last section of The Wall Street Journal of Monday, June 11, had a series of helpful statistics. It listed the highest priorities among affluent investors. Don’t you think that would be something you would want to know as you work your centers of influence and mastermind group? Don’t you think this would be an ideal topic to discuss?

What are the highest priorities of affluent investors?

  • 79% said the highest priority was rising healthcare costs
  • 60% said insuring retirement assets will last a lifetime
  • 55% said being able to afford a desired lifestyle in retirement
  • 41% said preserving an inheritance for children or grandchildren

There is a warning here. If you make preservation of an inheritance for children a priority for your client you are missing the mark according to these statistics. However, you may want to say to your client, “According to the Wall Street Journal, 41% of affluent investors said that preserving an inheritance for children was a priority. That means 59% didn’t think it was all that important. How important is that to you”?

There are great discussion topics to be found everywhere. Now save them in a Client Contact Resource file.

• Save articles that relates to your clients’ interests. Look for local news articles but especially in the personal sections of the Wall Street Journal.

  • Use these as conversation starters on your phone call or in your client meetings.
  • Paper clip a client contact list on each article so you do not repeat yourself to the same client.
  • Have the discussions that are relevant to you and your practice as well as to the clients’ interests, especially where they are intersected.

A Client Contact Resource file can make all of your conversations not only easier but relevant to your clients and your practice.

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