After Jovin Yeo from Singapore worked on the medical planning and coverage for a client’s family, it enabled the client to claim for her mother’s medical bills when she was diagnosed with a severe critical illness. Fortunately, her mother’s treatment was successful and the bills, which came up to about $150,000 at that time, were fully paid for.  

It was all just another day at work as a financial advisor for the 18-year MDRT member. Fast forward few years later, Yeo gave birth to her son and she felt very touched when that very client personally called her to show care and concern for Yeo as a struggling young mother.  

“She told me how grateful their family is towards me for helping their parents with their mother’s claims,” Yeo recalls.  

At that time, she had trouble breastfeeding her son. “After learning about my ordeal, what she offered next totally surprised me. She volunteered her breastmilk for two months to help me. I was so touched that my tears started streaming down. That was a moment of truth and that moment was so precious and priceless,” Yeo says.  

As financial advisors, relationships with clients play a crucial part of the practice. As Yeo illustrated, sometimes the strong bonds with them in business naturally spills over into personal lives as well. 

It shows that relationship building is as important, if not more important, as the business aspects of the practice when financial professionals service their clients. It often goes beyond closing a sale or giving financial advice and it is crucial to keep the door to communication open with clients.  

Communication is key 

The constant communication as part of continuous client servicing involves asking the right questions to get updates and making room for changes if necessary. It is only natural that people might want to make adjustments to their path in life along the journey. They might change their mind about the type of property they want to live in, having kids, or even consider a totally new job altogether. Making a mid-career switch in Singapore seems to be an upward trend based on Workforce Singapore’s (WSG)'s data. Under the Professional Conversion Programme (PCP), there were 4,500 job placements in 2019, compared to 1,300 in 2016. In some unfortunate circumstances, they even might find themselves out of a job.  

These incidents and decisions impact clients’ financial health and being proactively involved and communicative with your clients will keep you on par with their developments in life and give a clear picture of the services needed. This often involves a simple call or meet up from time to time. Even if you are not planning to discuss policies and products or offer strategic solutions to their financial concerns, meeting up offers an indispensable human touch to the relationship and it demonstrates your genuine interest in your client.  

At the same time, it is also important to keep the communication lines flexible to clients. As Singapore relaxed some social distancing measures earlier this year, 17-year MDRT member Laura Hoi, ChFC, found herself scheduling more in-person meet ups with her clients. She explains: “I am now going back to meet my clients face-to-face, especially clients who have not met me for a long time.”  

However, she acknowledges that some clients might prefer to do a Zoom call instead for various reasons and she is happy to oblige. “Sometimes it’s about giving clients choices and showing them that we are open to giving them options to make their lives easier,” Hoi concludes.  

Contact: MDRTeditorial@teamlewis.com