Since putting huge investments into their websites, asset management and wealth advisory firms have made great strides in what they’re able to offer clients and prospects online. But in the process, are they creating problems for their advisors?
Yes, they are. The question is what asset management firms should do about it.
The topic came up during a recent conversation with a senior marketing executive at a large asset management firm who said, “Our clients get a more personalized experience from our website than they do in meetings with our advisors.”
That’s a problem for wealth advisory and asset management shops. They reap major benefits when their advisors can build trusted, long-term relationships with their clients. So the last thing these firms want is for prospects or clients to go from very positive web experiences to in-person meetings with advisors that fall flat.
Firms are trying to do more to help their advisors deliver high-quality, personalized experiences for clients and prospects. But advisors are busy people and it’s a noisy market, so getting mindshare attention is often challenging. This difficulty was spotlighted in a recent study by the market research firm Practical Perspectives: according to the nearly 600 advisors polled, the main problem is information overload. They simply get too much marketing and sales material. Following are some of the study’s key findings:
- Advisors typically receive between 10 and 25 different marketing or sales communications every day. A third of the respondents said they get many more pieces than that.
- Advisors say that their heaviest inflows of marketing and sales materials come from asset management companies – from firms they work with and ones they don’t.
- Their email inboxes are overflowing. Over 50% of the marketing and sales communications advisors receive come in the form of emails.
These advisors also said the best way for firms to cut through the clutter is with relevant material. That means firms need to focus their communications on relevant topics, and tailor the message to individual advisors and the types of clients they serve. It follows that firms also need to give advisors faster and easier ways to access materials they need to make their client meetings successful.
This all sounds good in theory, but these aren’t easy tasks for asset management companies. Legacy systems, siloed functions, manual processes, and turf battles are just some of the stumbling blocks. But firms must get past them if they want to give their advisors the personalized, timely and tailored materials they need to have winning meetings with clients and prospects.
