Where has all the trust gone?

Opportunity awaits for investment and retirement services programs.

by: Gary A. Weuve, CLU, ChFC, RFC, CPRC, CFP

Does it feel to you as if no one trusts anyone any longer? Building trusting relationships with prospective and even existing members is not easy and it takes time. If your credit union offers investment or retirement services, here are a few tips to promote the process.

Help your advisors get outside the office with their best clients. The current trend in client events is smaller and more intimate, which makes it easier to connect. A deep personal relationship will lead to a trusting relationship. Providing small quarterly updates for clients in the form of a coffee clutch at a local breakfast place with a meeting room can accomplish the task as well.

Position your advisors as more than an investment advisor. It is going to be difficult to build trusting relationships if all your advisors are doing for their clients is building investment portfolios. Ask your advisors to spend more time understanding the concerns, desires and goals of their clients. Be sure to brand your program, and get the word out to your membership.

Communicate frequently. Touching the program’s best clients often is important. These clients want to know you are paying attention, on watch and protecting their important assets. The communication program you help your advisors create will include face-to-face educational and social events, outbound phone calls, e-newsletters and birthday/anniversary/holiday cards.

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