Picking up from our theme of last year, this is the third of our 5 part series in which we drill down to specific actions which businesses just like yours can make – with the intention to inform and enhance.

There’s a lot of ‘stuff’’ happening in the lives of your clients, their times are changing. Do you know how they’re adapting, and do they know how you can help them?

What is of concern to us (and why we’ve included this in our 5 things to know) is that ‘Range of services’ has slowly been dropping in client ratings over recent times. In fact, this KPI has dropped from one of the highest rated KPIs to now sit as the third lowest of the nine areas we seek client feedback on through our client satisfaction survey.*

Many practices built their client base through accumulating baby boomers and now, according to the Business Health database, 55% of clients today are aged 60+, while 45% are already retired.*

Yes, their times are changing and new influences are now shaping their world; retirement, health, aged care, longevity and estate planning to name just a few. Bucket lists, giving back and leaving a legacy are now part of the conversation for many clients.

So, if you’re an adviser, how are your clients adjusting and adapting to this quickly changing world? And for your clients – do they know how you can help them in these areas?

Even if their adviser has the capability to provide or refer services such as estate planning, aged care and philanthropy for example, it seems many clients don’t know it! By way of example, according to our most recent analysis, 34% of advised clients report not having an up to date will, while just 15% of SME clients have a buy/sell agreement in place.*

Here are our top seven tips to getting your message across:

  1. Developing the necessary expertise and capability is obvious. And to this end we note that, as at our latest analysis, 35% of Australian practices are offering aged care support/service, while 42% purport expertise and solutions in estate planning. 52% promote their Centrelink expertise.* It seems that a significant % of practices are either not currently offering these services or are not communicating their ability to do so. Either way – an opportunity lost.
  2. Shaping your website, socials and ongoing communications to reflect your awareness and (hopefully) capability is a must. How else will clients (and their families) know?
  3. When preparing for your regular review or progress to plan meetings, do you provide a pre-meeting questionnaire which covers pertinent estate and/or aged areas?
  4. Do you have simple questionnaires, easy to complete calculators and useful tools ie. estate planning diagnostic, readily available for your clients?
  5. Target marketing – if you have clients aged over 60 for example, why not address specific communications to them on the importance of estate planning (things to consider, tips to appointing an executor etc.).
  6. A precursor to the above – your CRM must be comprehensive, contain up to date client data and intel. For example, do you hold a copy of the client’s will? Do you know their solicitor’s details?
  7. Webinars or in-person events, incorporating an external expert, will always be appreciated by clients. Informative and educative communication is pre-requisite.

*Unless otherwise stated, all figures have been derived from the Business Health Datawarehouse as at November 2024.