Hanging on to clients in tough markets
The model client letter to reassure clients posted a couple of weeks back received an overwhelming response - almost 3000 advisors visited the site on the day it went up, many downloading the model letter.While reminding clients of your guiding principles and providing a mid-term outlook will be sufficient for many clients, others are looking for more concrete recommendations and a more proactive stance.
One business owner in his 50s I talked to last week put it this way: “I’m tired of the usual mantra I get every time markets take a dive … don’t panic …. stocks give the best return over the long run …. It’s all about having a balanced portfolio … blah blah blah.
“Meantime, as one of the so called ” typical investors ” sitting on the sidelines taking a beating and missing all the action, I’m tired of being part of the stand pat crowd.
“I’m paying my advisor for personalized advice. I want a phone call or email saying ‘Interesting times. Do you want to talk about how this will impact your portfolio and explore how to take advantage of the current situation, in line with your investment objectives?’ “
While this investor’s views are more strongly felt than most, they are not unique. Many investors are frustrated at the sense that their portfolios are inert while market conditions are changing and their investments are being hammered.
Five suggestions:
1 If you rely on third party managers and mutual funds, make a special point of letting clients know what their managers are doing – where they’re deploying cash, where they’re focusing more dollars and lightening up, even down to the level of individual stocks being purchased if this information is available. Fund companies have become much better at providing this information on a proactive basis – and knowing that things are happening will be reassuring to some clients, even if they aren’t going to do anything with that information.
If you have one particular fund that you strongly support, consider inviting a wholesaler or a manager to participate in a short conference call to talk about what they’re doing. In some cases, you may also wish to give clients the outlook or commentary from a fund’s manager, being careful not to send anything that is for internal use.
2 Even if the fundamental course of action you’re recommending hasn’t changed, it’s still worth having a conversation with clients about the alternatives you’ve looked at and why you’re suggesting staying the course. Ensure that clients know you’re actively monitoring their portfolio; If you don’t tell clients what you’ve done to look at alternatives, there’s a substantial likelihood they’ll believe you’re taking them for granted and pursuing the easy way out.
One way to let clients know you’re exploring options: Talk to clients about all the due diligence meetings and workshops you attend and what your firm’s research department does to look at new alternatives.
3 This may be the time to discuss rebalancing and reallocating funds to particularly beaten down sectors. Bear in mind that unless you’ve done this in the past or got client buy in to the concept of rebalancing previously, shifting funds from areas that have done well to those that have underperformed may be a tough sell – so come armed with clear examples of how this has paid off historically.
Focus as well on strategies for redeploying cash coming from dividends, interest, maturing bonds and acquisitions. This cash can be allocated either defensively or opportunistically, depending on the client’s needs and psyche. Especially for your biggest clients, you want them to know you’re always thinking about them and looking for ways to improve their situation.
4 In light of recent volatility, this may be an opportune time to crystallize losses, replacing them with similar funds or stocks and offsetting recent capital gains in the process, triggering tax recovery as a result. Clearly, you don’t want to make changes for the sake of changes – but bear in mind the risk if clients see their portfolios suffering without any apparent effort on your part to deal with the damage.
In markets like these, with many clients your key objective is to keep them invested with you so that they will benefit from the next upturn – and anything within reason to achieve to keep them on board is worth looking at.
5 Finally, for clients with both the right mindset and financial makeup to act in a more aggressive fashion, it might make sense to talk about some of the conservative dividend mutual funds with a strong track record or solid stocks whose dividends provide a margin of safety.
If you want to further reduce risk, you might exclude financials and commodity driven companies; some stocks currently yielding north of 6% include Pfizer, New York Times and CBS and the ADRs of Deutsche Telekom and Tate and Lyle. Even if you and your client decide not to proceed after talking about this, the very fact that you have brought forward a new idea will stand in your favour.
A final thought for your consideration: If you find yourself dealing with a client like the business owner mentioned above who appears to be looking for an aggressive approach to investing, ask yourself whether this client is a fit for the way you do business. The answer may be yes or no – but at a minimum the questions is worth asking.
Market conditions like the ones we’ve seen over the past while put us all to the test. As you think about your business going forward, consider whether you need to be more proactive in initiating suggestions for client portfolios.
 Email This Post
|
 Print This Post
|
