The power of keeping in touch

Would you believe that the success or failure of a business may come down to the humble newsletter?

Don’t believe us? Read on!

As a new financial year began, many business owners and managers took time to review the previous year and catch up on what they let slip. Some told us they actually asked themselves “why are we doing this?” Hearing this sparked a related question we wanted to ask you.

The “why question” should evoke a heartfelt and honest answer. It helps to recreate focus, which could be the catalyst for a very big – and hopefully good – change.

Your business might be on track, or you may be loving your job, yet something is still missing. How will you know what it is if you don't ask, "why are we doing this"?

“This is the way we’ve always done it”

Once you have the big picture answer to this question, take a bit more time to drill down to the details – the various tasks that you have been just “doing, doing, doing” on a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly basis.

When life is good, some of us tend towards complacency; finding comfort in the routine of doing the same thing over and over, never stopping to question if it is still effective or not. (Does “This is the way we’ve always done it,” sound familiar?) Reviewing your practices at the very least every new financial year is a crucial aspect of management (just like regular financial plan reviews are for your clients).

Let's use your newsletter as an example

Given that it’s our specialty, we're going to focus on client communication and ask if what you’ve been doing is working for you. For example, when was the last time you questioned the purpose of your client newsletter?

Is it because you're constantly told that you "should" have a newsletter? (Not a good start...)

Is it to stay in touch with your clients, so they know they’re being looked after? (That's better!)

Is it to educate your clients to help them make more informed decisions, turning them into better clients? (Aaahh, now that's an excellent purpose!)

But go one step further - if you get down to basics, your newsletter is primarily a relationship-building tool. And when done well and consistently, it can weave pure magic for your business.

No, we're not getting “airy fairy”! There is a proven process

Your newsletter will first attract interest to what you do and how you do it. As you continue this contact, sharing your expert knowledge will start to build sound relationships with your prospects until they become your clients. But it doesn’t end there, the next stage, which is probably your newsletter’s most important role, is to build trust with your clients to maintain long-term relationships.

Your newsletter is a key tool in building and maintaining relationships, which is fundamental to the long-term success of any business.

Is it really that important?

Not convinced? Heard all that before? Okay, let us put it another way. Get ready, we're going to be bold...

In addition to client work, you are constantly bombarded with service offerings from people: investment products, research, software, etc. Dealing with all these has to fit into your busy schedule - a schedule which usually includes publishing a monthly or quarterly newsletter - but there's too many "more important" tasks so you miss one or two editions (or a whole year of them!).

When your clients stop hearing from you, (particularly when markets are jittery), they forget the value of your wonderful financial advice and think they can do it better themselves. So they leave.

Without regular communication you lose clients.

Without clients you don’t need products, research, software, etc.

Without clients you don’t have a business or a job!

So you see, communication is just as important as all of those other services. If you think that's a bold statement, take another moment to chew on it.

Whoever would have thought the humble newsletter was so vital to your success?

Financial Writers Australia has based its life on helping financial advisers stay in regular contact with their clients and potential clients. And over 20 years we have witnessed one consistent pattern – those advisers who give their clients interesting and relevant information on a regular basis, are the ones who succeed. That is a fact.

Now you know the real point of your newsletter, how's your next edition coming along?

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