Behavioral Segmentation of Your Clients

by Hugh Massie 7/21/2010 1:44:00 PM

Traditionally many advisors segment their clients based on tangible factors such as the type of service they will provide to clients (eg executives, family business, life planning etc) and assets under management minimums. There is business sense in this as it focuses the business to some degree. However, segmenting your clients based on their DNA Behavioral style will further increase your marketing and service delivery performance.

Behavioral segmentation will enable you to direct your communication and marketing to specific types of clients based on who they are. For instance, a Stability Need person needs to have communication which reflects safety and security. A Lifestyle Desire client needs to hear about how your solution will grow the fun side of life for them. When you segment your clients the emotional engagement with them will increase which leads to a longer term relationship with a greater share of the wallet.

Recently I was helping one of our Wealth Mentors with his client segmentation. He had all of his clients complete their Communication DNA profile. This enabled us to divide the client base into 4 quadrants of DNA style. Interestingly, because he is a Lifestyle Desire advisor this was the largest segment category. The Wealth Mentor knows having clients of a similar style to his makes relating to them easier.

However, the other key part about segmenting clients is addressing their values and life interests. The more that the clients values and life interests are similar to the Wealth Mentor’s the greater the chance of a sustained connection. The values are foundational as they will be at the core of every discussion and will be important when key decisions are being made. Having similar life interests eg sports or arts gives you something in common to relate to. In the case of our Wealth Mentor, he wanted clients who shared similar spiritual beliefs and also his interest in tennis. In his practice, other advisors wanted clients who were interested in environmental issues and football. What they found was that their relationships were much stronger with clients in these zones.

Once there are common values and interests, then whether you keep the relationship with the client will depend on natural DNA behavior. This gets back to segmentation based on behavioral style.

To learn more and to get started with implementing DNA Behavior Solutions to segment your clients, click here.

Advisors Can Differentiate By Integrating Behavioral Finance Strategies

by Hugh Massie 7/7/2010 6:41:00 AM

Recently, Merrill Lynch and Capgemini have issued a very important research study which demonstrates how much investors confidence has been eroded by the turbulent markets. Investors are still very wary of the future. Click Here to read the article.
The article points out that the following:

  1. Investors want a more active relationship with their advisors, including a deeper understanding of their investments and how they are aligned to their goals, based on their actual risk profile.
  2. Many investors are being driven by their emotions when making investment decisions which is increasing the need for advisors to engage in greater dialogue with their clients.
  3. Clients are now demanding fundamental changes in how they are served, and are favoring firms which can understand both their emotional and intellectual needs. This is increasing the need for advisors to incorporate a behavioral finance approach towards portfolio management. Advisors need to be able to incorporate the emotional factors into stronger portfolio management and risk management capabilities. A behavioral finance approach of this nature can be a big differentiator among firms.

This research is very consistent with other research, such as from Gallup, which demonstrates the need to emotionally engage with clients at a much deeper level. This is the new “behavioral economy”.

About


Hugh Massie’s blog uses cutting edge research and behavioral insights to give you powerful solutions for client centered financial planning, building enhanced client relationships and practical ideas for managing the human side of your business and improving ROI.

Author

Name of authorHugh Massie

Hugh is the President and Founder of Financial DNA Resources, a leading international Financial Behavior Consulting firm. He has 22 years of unique and diverse financial and business advisory experience. Hugh has worked with financial advisors, professionals, and coaches from all over the world to provide client centric solutions. His educational programs and services are internationally recognized and centered on client discovery, business and personal development, practice management and improving human performance to increase ROI.



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