Importance of Trust in Finance
Trust & Finance:
Finance is very important for each individual and when it comes to having someone handle your finance, the trust on that person's abilities and character is also important.
That's why I think that any financial services firm needs to establish the credibility and rapport with their clients. It's essential to have not only qualified individuals but also having good ethics and moral values.
According to the Economic Times, 71% Indian investors trust their financial advisers. While according to the Motley Fool website , most of the Americans don't trust their financial advisers.
So, how can a client know that their advisers are trustworthy? Is it possible to establish a good client-financial firm relationship? Yes, besides the observation by Investopedia, here are some of the essential things which I observed myself while being an intern for an insurance company-
1. License:
Each employee of a firm acting as a financial adviser must be a holder of licenses to sell those from and should not redirect the client to someone who actually holds the license. This means that the sales person must be able to execute the deal immediately and without another colleague or senior's help. This makes the client think that since the person who sold the financial product is the agent whose name is on the insurance policy, then I am safe and there's no confusion.
2. Brand:
You do have to create some credibility about your firm's brand. It is through good customer service, promotion, and of course through the history of the firm. Older your firm, the better. More happy customers mean more word-of-mouth publicity. Tie-ups with big media or financial companies mean widening of your customer base.
3. Communication:
The soul of the service sector is clear communication. Misunderstandings need to be avoided. A small misstep can be an end of the relationship and rust.
4. No controversies:
As far as possible, each employee of the financial firm need to avoid controversy, whether online or offline. Yes, the twitter makes anyone prone to saying things we ought not to say but with some practice and patience, the art of tweeting can be mastered.
5. Additional qualifications:
If the sales person has additional qualifications like CFP , CFA, NISM certificates (8, 11, in particular), etc. can help make the decisions better and help clients to know that the adviser knows what's actually needed.
6. Physical presence:
Yes, the e-commerce world we live in makes it unnecessary to have physical branches but having branches in the main cities of a country can help establish trust and also reach the local clients who may not be having the Internet access or prefer to meet in person.
7. Empathy:
Financial firms need to understand the issues affecting the clients and provide solutions suitable to the client. Firms need to have emotions and cold blooded responses won't do any help to the firm.
8. Follow-up and care:
Calling, emailing and messaging to know the well being of the clients and also during holidays help to establish good relations. However, there's a fine line between irritating sales calls and friendly follow ups. Just remind them of your presence and offer help without pushing the sales pitch at every point of contact or occasion.
9. Ethics:
Employees, top management and each and every communication must show the reflection of good ethics of the organization. Nobody wants to deal with unethical organizations.
10. Win-Win:
Firms need to have not just their profit in their mind but also the profit and benefits of their customers and employees. A holistic approach to the business goals helps a firm to have a very long standing tin the global market and in the mind of your customer and employees.
So, putting people first is the best way for any firm to be among the best choices for their customers!
© Copyright to DarshD 2018,
Please comment or mail at darshd555@gmail.com for any feedback or suggestions. This text can be published or reused with my permission or at least by mentioning of my name (DarshD) and providing a link to this blog. So, feel free to share!
Finance is very important for each individual and when it comes to having someone handle your finance, the trust on that person's abilities and character is also important.
That's why I think that any financial services firm needs to establish the credibility and rapport with their clients. It's essential to have not only qualified individuals but also having good ethics and moral values.
According to the Economic Times, 71% Indian investors trust their financial advisers. While according to the Motley Fool website , most of the Americans don't trust their financial advisers.
So, how can a client know that their advisers are trustworthy? Is it possible to establish a good client-financial firm relationship? Yes, besides the observation by Investopedia, here are some of the essential things which I observed myself while being an intern for an insurance company-
1. License:
Each employee of a firm acting as a financial adviser must be a holder of licenses to sell those from and should not redirect the client to someone who actually holds the license. This means that the sales person must be able to execute the deal immediately and without another colleague or senior's help. This makes the client think that since the person who sold the financial product is the agent whose name is on the insurance policy, then I am safe and there's no confusion.
2. Brand:
You do have to create some credibility about your firm's brand. It is through good customer service, promotion, and of course through the history of the firm. Older your firm, the better. More happy customers mean more word-of-mouth publicity. Tie-ups with big media or financial companies mean widening of your customer base.
3. Communication:
The soul of the service sector is clear communication. Misunderstandings need to be avoided. A small misstep can be an end of the relationship and rust.
4. No controversies:
As far as possible, each employee of the financial firm need to avoid controversy, whether online or offline. Yes, the twitter makes anyone prone to saying things we ought not to say but with some practice and patience, the art of tweeting can be mastered.
5. Additional qualifications:
If the sales person has additional qualifications like CFP , CFA, NISM certificates (8, 11, in particular), etc. can help make the decisions better and help clients to know that the adviser knows what's actually needed.
6. Physical presence:
Yes, the e-commerce world we live in makes it unnecessary to have physical branches but having branches in the main cities of a country can help establish trust and also reach the local clients who may not be having the Internet access or prefer to meet in person.
7. Empathy:
Financial firms need to understand the issues affecting the clients and provide solutions suitable to the client. Firms need to have emotions and cold blooded responses won't do any help to the firm.
8. Follow-up and care:
Calling, emailing and messaging to know the well being of the clients and also during holidays help to establish good relations. However, there's a fine line between irritating sales calls and friendly follow ups. Just remind them of your presence and offer help without pushing the sales pitch at every point of contact or occasion.
9. Ethics:
Employees, top management and each and every communication must show the reflection of good ethics of the organization. Nobody wants to deal with unethical organizations.
10. Win-Win:
Firms need to have not just their profit in their mind but also the profit and benefits of their customers and employees. A holistic approach to the business goals helps a firm to have a very long standing tin the global market and in the mind of your customer and employees.
So, putting people first is the best way for any firm to be among the best choices for their customers!
© Copyright to DarshD 2018,
Please comment or mail at darshd555@gmail.com for any feedback or suggestions. This text can be published or reused with my permission or at least by mentioning of my name (DarshD) and providing a link to this blog. So, feel free to share!
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