Clients and prospects want to engage and learn whenever and however it suits them.
Digital retirement planning tools will soon become the price to play for investment advisors. Anyone who has experienced online banking or played around with Mint.com understands the potential of online financial tools.
I can already hear the chorus from the investment advisory world, “Sure, those things are great, but they will never replace me as an advisor.” I agree. When people think about making decisions that affect their life savings, they want to talk with a real person. The problem is you may never get to that conversation if you ignore the importance of the digital tools.
Here is a good example. Validators represent some of the most desirable prospects for advisors. These folks engage. They seek guidance. And they value the expertise of an advisor. The validators consider the digital tools essential because the tools allow them to feel connected and involved. By their very nature, the digital tools allow validators to, well, validate.
You say you serve an older clientele and that the digital tools just don’t offer you much value? Consider this. After lagging in technology adoption, the older generations now represent some of the fastest growing groups for accepting the digital tools.
What about future prospects? The younger generations think they don’t have enough money for you to pay attention to them. Honestly, they probably don’t. But someday they will. The digital tools give you an efficient way to engage them today. As recent research shows, generations X and Y increasingly turn to online planning tools to learn about retirement planning.
Today, clients and prospects want to engage and learn whenever and however it suits them. No, the online technologies will not replace you. But your ability to leverage them may very well determine how much your clients help you succeed.
