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The Story of Lynne & Davediffering approaches to client newsletters by Glenn Harrington
Lynne and Dave were two successful retail investment advisors. Both issued a truly custom newsletter in partnership with Glenn R Harrington of Articulate Consultants. One remains a successful investment advisor.
contrasting outcomes Lynne issued a newsletter, custom-produced by Articulate Consultants, for five bull-market years. She stopped it when the stock market turned in a bear run. She retired a few months later.
Dave also issued a newsletter, custom-produced by Articulate Consultants. Dave’s story includes a rebound, though not of the stock market. Recognizing his newsletter as a medium for client relations, he found the source of resilience in client relationships – sincerity. Harrington says…
show your true colours “The Story of Lynne and Dave is a story of differing approaches or philosophies about newsletters and client relationships. It also reflects how people's characters show in their business practices. I believe that it’s always rewarding to let your character show in your business dealings – even if some people do not take to your true colours. By the end of the story, it ought to be clear what conclusions Lynne and Dave ought to have drawn.
Lynne, the achiever type When Lynne signed up with us, she was a high-volume, top-grossing investment advisor. She put on seminars regularly. She advertised steadily in local media. Her clients were pleased with their investment returns and her service. Accordingly, Lynne emphasised her stock-picking acumen when she presented herself to the world.
It’s a common principle in marketing to focus on what you’re best at, or what makes you unique. Lynne regarded this as the stock-picking performance that her clients enjoyed. So, she made that her sales promise.
Dave, the trustworthy guy Dave differed. He came to us a couple of years after Lynne did. He was more modest. He seldom made performance claims. In terms of what was important to Lynne, Dave did speak of getting good returns for his investors. Yet, he did not take great personal pride in his ability to generate competitive returns. Rather, he gave people confidence that he would make sure their money was well cared for, then he delivered on that.
seeking authenticity Lynne was a higher-profile investment advisor. The main reason why Lynne came to us was her rejection of the corporate newsletter. She did not to issue want a head-office newsletter that would include any stock-market commentary, with her name and photo pasted onto it. Stock picking she regarded as her own specialty.
It was important to Lynne that she had her own claims to make. She had a reputation to maintain and build upon. It was important to her that her newsletter was authentically her own. Her ideas were expressed through a truly custom newsletter, with value-add from Articulate Consultants.
Dave started dealing with us because he was issuing what’s sometimes called an “off-the-shelf” or “canned” newsletter from a newsletter service - not from his firm's head office. Though his firm's head office did encourage investment advisors to use newsletters, they did not offer one that he would consider for his clientele. The newsletter service would paste in his name, photo, and phone number with pre-written, pre-approved content plus his firm’s logo and disclaimer.
newsletter as true voice Even though Dave regarded the off-the-shelf service as better than the corporate newsletter, he came to us because, frankly, he felt embarrassed issuing a newsletter whose content was not really his. He felt uncomfortable about the lack of authenticity in the newsletters that his clients had received from him.
Specifically, Dave was concerned that someday, somebody could ask a question about a topic discussed in his newsletter; he might answer contradicting what the newsletter said, or he might discover that the newsletter had dealt with a topic out of sync with his sentiments. Dave came to us seeking authenticity and a more genuine connection with clients who would heed his newsletter as his voice.
cool professionalism & performance as brand Over the five years that we created newsletters for Lynne, I advised her several times that there was more to a client relationship than providing stock-trading advice and generating investment returns. She, as a woman in the investment business, considered it important to come across as professional rather than personal. Her philosophy: Why show a caring side when you deliver?
Lynne decided that the colours of her newsletter would be dark blue and black. She considered the blue to be professional. She would have her newsletter printed on standard white bond, an unnoticeable paper for any newsletter.
The combination of black and blue on white paper led to a somewhat cold newsletter. When I told Lynne this, she replied that professionalism is a little bit cold; it wasn't her responsibility to be personal or luxurious with her clients, but rather to make sure that they get good investment returns.
Lynne did follow my advice in a few issues. For example, she ran a little story about her son and a little story about her daughter. She also started a lending library of business books available to her clients, announced in two or three issues of her newsletter. Then, she told me that she decided to can person-to-person content, because it did not get the phone ringing or increase her income.
natural warmth & likeability as brand Dave, on the other hand, took the advice to include some personal content. We ran suitable stories about his family. We ran commentaries that reflected Dave’s personality, too. In photos from his client events, we let Dave’s character show. Dave’s involvement in the newsletter (collaboratively planning each issue, then supplying source material) made that easy.
clarified brand promises Lynne and Dave each had their character showing. By her choice, Lynne’s newsletter consistently presented her as a frankly conservative, results-focused star technician. Dave’s newsletter presented him consistently as a warm, intelligent, informed, conscientious guardian of people’s savings.
when Lynne eased back In time , Lynne's business remained strong enough that she continued to follow basically her own formula for her newsletter. We were mainly wordsmithing Lynne’s ideas and doing assembly work for layout. I was concerned that her approach took unnecessary risk for her reputation with transaction- and returns-based client relationships. It turned out that these concerns were justified.
client losses caused client losses When the stock market turned bearish in 1999-2000, Lynne lost clients. In fact, even though her stock-picking had saved many of her clients from suffering as badly as the stock indices, over years Lynne had created a reputation for herself as somebody who would get people high investment returns.
From the onset of the bear market, her clients were not getting high returns – nor were anybody else’s. Because Lynne implicitly promised that her clients would get high returns with her, when they did not get high stock returns, she lost clients. In fact, Lynne lost so many clients that, in 2001, she retired.
Lynne had just stopped issuing her newsletter, because she didn't think that the newsletter could make a difference on her main problem: client attrition. The attrition had continued to a point where she basically would have had to rebuild for years. Those years of rebuilding could only start after the stock market resumed an upward trend.
nice guy survives Lynne now spends much more time with her children. Dave, on the other hand, maintained normal attrition while other investment advisors (such as Lynne) endured haemorrhaging in their book. Not only did Dave maintain his clientele through periods of low investment returns, but he received new referrals. He continues to receive referrals.
when Dave eased back In fact, Dave’s business continued to grow so healthily after the bear market that he eventually declared, “My business is so successful that I don't need a newsletter anymore.” Dave stopped his newsletter in the summer of 2003.
connectedness interrupted After he stopped his newsletter, Dave’s clients became concerned that he was not successful. In truth, he was so successful that he didn't think he needed a newsletter anymore.
Dave’s clients, however, became concerned they had lost their connection with their liked and trusted investment advisor. By the summer of 2004, they were wondering aloud, “Is my portfolio so small that I don’t qualify to receive your newsletter anymore?” or “Are you not focused on people like me anymore?” or “Are you still in the business? What happened to you?” or “Have you been sick?” Dave received so many queries like this that he resumed his newsletter with us in 2005.
connection restored Dave found that attendance at client events became healthy again quickly. After his newsletter began again, in partnership with Articulate, his client attrition remained low and new referrals surged.
Dave soon brought on a partner to help manage his business. He has so many clients that he needs licensed help to serve them. He already had a full-time, licensed assistant with experience.
common-sense reasons In summary, we can say that both Lynne and Dave rejected the conventional idea that any decent newsletter sent regularly will work (in Lynne's case, the corporate newsletter; in Dave’s case, the off-the-shelf newsletter). They came to us wanting their own voice with the Articulate Consultants value-add (writing, layout, arranging printing, and delivery on schedule).
lessons learned In Lynne's case, her main show of character was her pride in her stock-market performance. Yet, Lynne's pride and her career performance both turned southward quickly when the stock market did, because she failed to develop more relationship with people, rather than relationship with their money. When her performance sucked by the high standard she had set, she lost clients.
Dave learned that when people like you and trust you, they stay with you and they bring more money to you.
some learn the hard way We have discovered with Dave, and learned the hard way with Lynne, that professionals who get involved and put heartfelt sincerity into their newsletter can enjoy a loyal clientele with good depth of relationship, low attrition, and good, steady referrals. Dave’s business stayed so healthy that he had to bring on a partner.”
What’s important to you? These contrasting stories each represent an approach to a newsletter and to client relations. Two successful investment advisors. One built resilience into client relationships with help from Glenn R Harrington and found resilience in his own career. One regarded client relationships as transactional, and so gave only passing attention to connectedness with investors in her client newsletter. She left her career.
Which would you rather be? Dave and Lynne each represent many other financial services professionals. Which type are you: a Dave or a Lynne?
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