The Million Dollar Roundtable (MDRT) annual conference is a unique opportunity to hear from top producers who’ve built substantial businesses. Some of their advice is unconventional. Other aspects of it are likely a just-in-time nudge that other producers listening to those presenters need to hear to advance their own practices in a meaningful way.

Two top producers presenting at the 93rd annual MDRT conference included Brad Myers, founding partner of Utah-based Granite Canyon Wealth Management, and Austyn A. Smith, CEO of Austyn Smith Associates in the United Kingdom. Each discussed their own processes and practices for the benefit of those gathered for the virtual presentations. In them, they encourage agents and advisors to set high and clear expectations with clients, to be a tangible resource and to systemically get feedback and use it effectively to understand what you should be saying to clients. (Smith even provides his process for doing this.)

Set expectations  

In Myers case, he says in the very first meeting he has with prospective clients he is upfront about what they should expect. Not only does he actually disclose to clients that he has a system for segmenting clients, he shares with them exactly what each category or classification means and how clients move from one category to another.

More, he says client advocacy is one expectation he also sets at the outset. “We expect you to become an advocate for our firm. We expect you to refer us,” he told those gathered for his virtual presentation.” You don’t have to do it today, but in the future you may want to think about it. That’s all we ask.”

Itemize your offering  

The next thing he shares with clients is a summary of the programs and different options available to them. “I normally refer to it as a library,” he says. “Not all of our clients are going to use all 85 of the different options that we have available because they just don’t fit. But we want them to know what services we do offer.”

Making such information available, he says makes it easier for clients to provide you with more quality introductions. “Start sharing with your clients all of the services that you offer. As you do it, they’re going to start thinking of other people that may be out there that could use your services.”

Be a tangible resource  

Different advisors have different ways of being a resource for their clients, but Myers and Smith each take it to a notable level. In Myers’s case, he says the firm offers a sounding board service that offers problem solving advice to clients, their family and their friends. “It’s a service to our clients that they can use for whatever reason they want to use it for,” he says. While the majority of the advice he gives is investment or insurance related, he has even fielded calls from top clients looking for help with broken water heaters.

“You’re going to be getting some of their children calling you. I encourage you to take these calls. I encourage you to make the time to help them. At first you may not be compensated in anyway whatsoever,” he says. “We’re on our third generation of clients right now. The only way you’re going to get there is to get to know the children and get to know the grandchildren. When these children call you, they may not fit your ideal profile as a client, but I promise you, if you take the time and help them, you’re building that relationship.”

Not only will the process help you retain assets as your clients pass away, the act of providing service in this way also makes you more referrable. “You’ve helped their (your client’s) son or daughter, their grandchildren,” he points out. “They feel it’s their duty to introduce us.”

In Smith’s office, meanwhile, he says a simple 10-minute video produced weekly for his clientele has been instrumental in maintaining connection with existing and prospective clients. “These were little snippets of reassurance. We did it for a few weeks thinking that would be it, but the feedback from clients was absolutely amazing. Even today, a year on, they won’t let use stop doing it.” He says the videos are simply a distillation of the 10 or 15 minutes that is often spent when meeting clients face to face – a discussion about family and friends and a talk about what is in the headlines that week. “If you share your story, you’re going to have deeper conversations that matter,” he concludes.

Reward referrals  

A handwritten note and a great big chocolate chip cookie, meanwhile, are really all that’s needed to reward clients and thank them for their referrals. “We actually give cookies in our office. We have a local bakery here that makes wonderful chocolate chip cookies. They’re big,” Myers says. “I’m not telling you to get into the gift-giving business, but I am telling you to reward your clients.”

Systemically get feedback  

Finally, Smith says one practice which has radically changed how things are done in his office, is the simple act of asking clients for feedback at the end of every client meeting. “Ask the client why they deal with you,” he says. “Why do you deal with us? Is there anything that makes us a little bit different and a little bit special? And then just be quiet and let them answer the question. Say goodbye, and go into the next room, get one of those big sticky charts and scroll out what they just said in their own words, which is really, really important.”

Before long, once he started this practice, he says his back office was covered in these sheets of paper when the penny dropped: “Why would we pay thousands to a marketing department to tell us what we should be saying to clients when the people who are paying the checks are actually telling us what they value?” he says. “Just going through that exercise, it really radically changed what we do.”

This Advisor Coach article was first published in the October 2021 edition of Insurance Journal magazine