You want clients to use the Web to check their accounts and get portfolio reports because it is a better medium for communicating. It’s faster than mailing them this information, less expensive, and easier to organize into a strategic file cabinet for them and their loved ones. Trouble is, many of your clients may not be so great with computers and you are not in the technology business. So here are 10 tips for approaching the issue.

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An Opportunity. You could just leave clients to fend for themselves and navigate the Internet on their own, but you could also see this situation as an opportunity. The Web understandably can be a scary place for a 70-year old Internet-novice to be looking up her personal financial information. Clients typically don’t have personal technology consultants they can call upon for help with these issues, and the typical IT consultant doesn't have a CFP designation anyway. If you agree that all good business ideas start with helping people, taking on this responsibility will appeal to you. And if you can help older people access their financial information securely and handle their financial digital lives securely, you’re doing good work that’s important and valuable and that no one else is in a better position to do. It's a value-added service and it will bring you closer to clients. This is an opportunity for you to help someone, and as so often happens in volunteer-work, you'll often get more out of it than the person you're helping.

 

Take It Seriously. Acting as your clients’ digital bodyguard carries responsibility you should not take lightly. Giving clients financial technology support means talking with them about their estate plans and helping them share information about their most personal financial and medical information with the people they trust most in this world. If you want to delegate this task to staff or an outside consultant, realize that you are passing up an opportunity to spend time with a client and teach him to guard his digital financial life.

 

Know Your Client. According to Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project, 67% of Americans age 65 to 74, and 54% of those 75 and older, use the Internet to get news; 44% of those age 64 to 74, and 30% of those 75 and older, use the Internet to get financial information, Pew data shows. Don’t assume that all over-65 clients or prospects are Internet know-nothings.

 

Are They Tablet Users? About of fifth of Americans 65 and older own a tablet, according to Pew. Tablets and mobile apps have made financial management online much easier. Mobile and tablet interfaces are stripped down, easy-to-use versions of more complicated software of a bygone era. Helping clients on apps they can access on tablets and smartphones is likely to make digital access to their accounts much easier.

 

There’s Not An App For Everything. Even if the apps you give clients access are easy to use, underlying issues related to online access of sensitive financial data complicated matters will still need to be addressed. Giving clients even the easiest-to- use apps carries with it a responsibility to teach your clients about essential rules and tools necessary for Internet security.  

 

Security Essentials. Giving your clients access to their financial accounts may seem as simple as providing them a link from your website, or to a client portal. It’s not. Setting up clients with a password manager for easier, more secure access to their financial apps can help make clients less susceptible to getting hacked. Teaching them about how to create strong passwords, avoid phishing scams, and keeping them shilded from key-logging programs is integral to helping a client manage her digital financial life. As a fiduciary, you should have security policies and procedures in place for all of this, and you personally should already be using a password manager like LastPass or Roboform. You should be using an encrypted wireless Internet connection in your office, and you should be able to share what you know about these essential security issues. Please keep in mind, rarely use "should" in a sentence because I don't much like telling you what to do. But this is important.

 

Choose Wisely. Before offering all of your clients help with accessing their financial information online, choose a few clients to begin with first. Launch a pilot program for six months or a year before rolling out your digital guardian service to all your clients. No good deed goes unpunished. No matter how good your intentions, some people will find a way to punish you for it. Trust me. So you really need a pilot progrm with a small group of clients to know what you're in for.

 

Allocate Resources. Decide how you’re going to offer to set up clients. Will you do it? Will you have a staff person do it? How many clients can you set up and teach about safe digital financial access each week?

 

Level Two. The minute you put your hands on a client’s computers, you take on a responsibility that could backfire on you. If you do something as simple as bookmark a site for a client on his computer and he later cannot connect to his wireless network, you could be blamed. The chances that this will happen are pretty remote, but you never know. Have an expert on-call who can provide “level 2” support when it is needed.

 

Check It. Once you make a change to a client’s computer, no matter how small, show the person what you did and that they can still get their email and browse the Web. Just to avoid you’re being blamed for anything later.

 

Outsource It. While you may want to handle the initial set up of your clients’ access to their financial data online, you’ll want to be able to support the ongoing service economically. You or your support staff can log into a client’s computer remotely to fix any problems. Think about whether this is the best set up for you.

 

Arms Length. One way to help clients with setting up their computers for online access to their financial data is to refer them to a trusted technology consultant that you work with. Perhaps you want to give clients a one-on-one session to help get them set up and teach them security essentials, but then introduce a consultant to follow up with keeping their computers running properly and free from malicious programs. This could actually be a good solution for advisors: You fulfill your obligation to get clients up and running securely and give them a way to pay separately for an ongoing tech service that makes sure their computers stay healthy and that can handle problems that are bound to come up in the future.

 

These 12 tips are by no means comprehensive, but I'm hoping they help advisors think about ways to approach the issue. Please let me know if you think I'm mamking sense. Tell me what you’re doing to help clients manage their digital financial lives and whether these ideas have been helpful.

News Corporation, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, is poised to launch a new social network that is targeted at readers of WSJ and Barron’s.

 

For advisors, such a social network could pose competition becuase it will hook investors up with information about investing and markets. However, for advisors who are engaged in social media, it could be a good place to connect with potential clients.

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According to Social Times, the new social network was described in The Times of London as a “platform for ‘like-minded people’ to meet online and share ideas,” the network that will launch in a few months is not exactly the next LinkedIn.

 

“It really is more of a forum to talk about finance,” explained Colleen Schwartz, director of corporate communications at Dow Jones, although members will create their WSJ profiles using their real names.

 

The network will complement an existing product, WSJ Portfolio, which aggregates all of the user’s accounts into one consolidated view and weaves in business headlines from Barron’s and WSJ for the clients to read while they monitor their investments. Since its launch, the portfolio tool has synced and loaded $12 billion worth of assets.

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What do you do for a living? Many Advisors fumble over their answer to this question. But having a clear, client-oriented, benefits-laced statement of what you do and who you do it for is the critical first step in developing new client relationships.

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In the client’s mind, all Financial Advisors start out looking alike, and that’s not a compliment. Whether your call it your elevator speech or mission statement, it’s best to avoid settling for labels such as, “I’m a Financial Advisor.”

 

If you don’t, potential client may be thinking, “Yeah, right…So is the guy down the street who called me five years ago, took $500,000 of my money, and hasn’t been heard from since. In fact, he won’t even take my call! And he called himself a Financial Advisor. You mean you’re a Financial Advisor like that?”  Focus on the benefits of what you do, not on a label or title. 

Furthermore, no one wants another great hot stock tip, mutual fund or insurance policy. They don’t even want another great financial plan. What they want are the benefits. They want to find ways to protect what they’ve built, to retire early, to pay off debt, become financially independent or support a favorite charity…or any of the other multitude of benefits you provide.

 

Next, describe who you do it for. What are primary groups of clients you work with? Who are your target markets? Go beyond mere income and occupation to the level of common values. Income and occupation are actually disqualifiers. You may want to do business with someone because she’s a doctor worth $5 million, but she does not necessarily want to do business with you because she’s a doctor worth $5 million.

 

We all know that people do business with people whom they like and trust, and I would suggest that likeability and trust is based primarily upon perceived common values. Why do you naturally get along with doctors? What do you have in common? These are the keys you’re looking for.

 

If you don’t know, ask. You should have a good enough relationship with your clients to inquire, “What do you enjoy most about us doing business together?” Try to steer away from personal compliments, towards the more professional aspects of your relationship, drilling down to  common values. You’ve got to give potential clients something to hang their hat on.

 

With a little creativity you can come up with a clear, client-oriented, benefits-laced statement of what you do and who you do it for that naturally compels a potential client to follow up with, “That sounds interesting. How do you do that?” Below are some ideas to get you started:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can customize your statement to fit the primary benefit you provide, your particular style and personality, and the market(s) you serve. Most of all, make it authentic.