A lot of advisors send handwritten thank-you notes. The benefit is obvious; handwritten letters are a rarity these days, and it goes a long way to show appreciation.
What about sending a handwritten note for almost no reason at all?
“I’ve been told they were about to fire me, but then they got my postcard,” said James Anthony Savage, an eight-year MDRT member from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who often picks up cards when he travels. It might be deliberately targeted to a client who he was talking to about retirement — Savage was recently at MDRT headquarters as part of the Retirement Income Task Force — or something broader, like connecting a city with a relevant hockey team to a client who is a hockey fan.
Simple investment
Frequently, clients will call Savage soon after receiving the card and say, “I’ve been meaning to meet with you.” Of course, this does not happen with everyone. But Savage, who does not send Thanksgiving, Christmas or birthday cards, recognizes that it takes very little time and costs very little money to extend this gesture, which has the potential to have far greater returns in terms of client relationships and the financial benefits for all involved.
If interested, it’s also an opportunity to showcase a different side of your personality. That client who was going to fire Savage? The postcard he received was from sunny Phuket, Thailand, sent because the client liked Thailand and Savage was thinking of him as he sat on the beach, drinking a Tequila Sunrise.
“The client called me and was like, ‘You’re rubbing it in my face?’” Savage said with a laugh. “It was January in Canada, and a cold front had just come in when he got the card. So there’s a bit of humor in there, with a human element.”
Read more communication advice in the Round the Table article “Be a better listener.”
We started this concept about 15 years ago and over tripled our client base in 3 years, was able to purchase an existing agency, then open our own, now we just acquired a machine shop and became a large stakeholder in a coal mine located in OH and WEST VA.. My opinion, this concept played a major role in our tremendous growth.