Three steps to winning the confidence game in Asia

Only 17 percent of Asian consumers expressed confidence in financial providers in Q2 based on the Corporate Executive Board’s (CEB) quarterly poll of 5,000 consumers in six Asia-Pacific countries. With markets exhibiting roller coaster like volatility, it is no surprise tha wealth management firms across Asia Pacific see an opportunity to rebuild client trust by demonstrating the value of their advice. Indeed, wealth management firms know they will struggle to meet their aggressive revenue growth goals without client confidence in their advisory propositions.

The CEB’s recent research on designing and delivering a high-net-worth client experience uncovered three critical and sequential actions required to deliver a confidence-building client experience. First, firms pave the way to confidence by using service moments to build rapport with clients. Second, tailor advice to their client’s unique situation to build trust. And finally, teach clients the relevance and rationale behind their advice to foster confident decision-making. Research shows that these three actions when performed together can triple a firm’s number of highly loyal clients and can double revenue per client.

In order to execute a confidence-building client experience, here are some tips for the Asian wealth executives:

• Foster employee ownership of the client experience: Wealth management firms should increase accountability for the client experience by tying its delivery to performance management outcomes. The phrase “everyone wants to own the client but nobody wants to own the client experience” needs to be reversed so that the firm owns the client and all employees are responsible for the experience;
• Equip advisors with hard tactics to achieve emotional outcomes: With markets in flux, it is increasingly difficult to rely on investment performance and technical competence to demonstrate value. Leading firms equip their advisors with tailored relationship management tactics and minimum standards around contact quality and frequency to ensure consistently high-quality advisor-client interactions that forge emotional connections; and
• Educate clients on the rationale behind advice: Leading firms recognize that expanding share-of-wallet across the relationship lifecycle requires firms to not only create customized solutions for clients but also to teach clients the science behind their solutions from day one of the relationship.

Market conditions remain volatile and clients are wary of a global recovery. Firms must engage their wary, demanding, and often emotional clients if they wish to build clients’ confidence and their bottom lines.