Earn trust through accountability after a mistake

No matter how much any of us try to forget it, we are all human, and we all make mistakes. For advisors, how these mistakes are handled can be the difference between losing a client and earning newfound appreciation from them.

This was evident when Douglas B. Miller, CLU, CFP, discovered that his office had deposited a client’s rollover in the wrong account. “Having to correct the situation was one thing, but repairing the relationship with the client was another,” said the eight-year MDRT member from San Jose, California. “We must have done an OK job in how we handled that because that client had never referred us to anyone before that, and they have referred us to a few people since that.”

Positive results

How did Miller achieve this successful resolution? Simple: He explained to the client what happened, how it would be fixed, what it meant to him and how he’d ensure the error would not happen again. This may be done over the phone or in person, but the important thing is, as the leader of an organization, to take charge of these incidents and put the client at ease.

“People really want that accountability and to be able to trust somebody, and I think when you go through something that’s not ideal, how you come out of that can be a trust-building opportunity,” he said. “Sometimes you just take your lumps. You know if you screwed up. Don’t make excuses, work through it, and hopefully, if nothing else, your organization is better on the other end.

“Though I’m not proud of what happened, I’m proud of how we handled it.”

Hear more about communication with clients and staff in the July episode of the MDRT Podcast:

[soundcloud id=’330720617′ height=’false’]

Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist