Anthony Lam

A business that does not have an organized system of checks and balances can suffer. Without oversight of employee activities, one-time errors can grow to become bad habits that taint the company's reputation or bring on far-reaching consequences. One need look no further than the financial crisis of 2008, when unscrupulous activities of several major banks contributed to a global economic collapse. While I'm not insinuating that failing to...

Entrepreneurs may be more focused on business building than they are employee development, but learning how to manage a team and help individuals grow is at the heart of creating a strong, skilled organization. Conducting periodic performance reviews is a major part of overseeing a group of employees and ensuring they continue to improve and acquire skills. My colleagues have shared tips on how to assess employees' work and offer guidance so they can...

Building a business is a lot like juggling. Small team operations force entrepreneurs to juggle a lot of small items. These may be tasks that are not difficult, but are time consuming and distract the owner from bigger-picture pursuits such as mapping out an infrastructure or setting one-, three- and 10-year goals. As your organization grows and you add support staff who take on the lower-stratum functions and activities, you may find yourself juggling fewer,...

Companies that aim to make client relationship management one of their differentiating characteristics may develop grand plans of responding to customer complaints via social media and tracking big data for insights into client needs and demands. However, before these organizations adopt complex service delivery models, they must learn the basic elements of high-quality client relationship management . Regardless of whether you as the business builder will...

Clients, for better or worse, are constantly evolving. They will change their priorities, their preferences and their expectations. Because they develop new demands on your company, you need to adjust to continue providing the value-added service that won their loyalty in the first place. Businesses that fail to be flexible risk losing client capital and falling behind competitors. Don't get caught off-guard by change.  The only reason an...

Some people may see big brands as out-of-touch with their clients, or think that major corporations are incapable of catering to individual needs. However, it's possible for a firm to enjoy widespread success and still maintain a degree of closeness with the people or companies it serves. By making clients one of the greatest priorities and creating processes that ensure they are treated as such, a business may achieve higher level of popularity. In an age...

If you have happy employees, you're much more likely to have happy clients. This may seem like common knowledge, but it appears to be missing from many managers' and business builders' playbooks. Consider Starbucks for a moment. It is one of the most-recognized brands in the world, and the company prides itself on providing a consistent customer experience. For the most part, it succeeds in this effort because of the culture of client service and...

Many businesses pay lip service to the idea of putting their clients at the center of everything they do. But how many actually follow through with that concept? As a business builder , it is your job to not only dream big and create a company mission that prioritizes client relationship management, but to put the processes in place to achieve that goal. Doing so will require paying attention to the small details, such as whether your team responds to client...

Client relationship management could be likened to baking - without the correct amounts of all the basic ingredients, the final product will be unsatisfactory. In the world of business, even if you have a willing staff who strives to deliver upon client expectations, not having the raw materials for CRM - attitude, training, tools, rules - will doom you before you even begin. Pick people who show promise Certain skills can be learned with training and time,...

Small companies often run on shoestring budgets, and do not have the same client relationship management resources available to multinational corporations. But that does not mean they are doomed to have poorly run service systems and dissatisfied clients. Instilling a client-centric attitude among your team and enabling them to meet customer demands with standardized processes and technology. Creating this kind of system requires collaboration from your clients...

In the past, client relationship management was treated by some companies as a process that was inflicted upon the client, rather than something that involved input from all involved parties. Yet this setup is not a good way to foster closeness or lay the foundation for a long-lasting relationship. It is better for organizations to strive for interactions with clients that represent a two-way dialogue. The old model of businesses dictating to their clients is...

Most entrepreneurs understand that there are (sometimes conflicting) scientific and emotional elements to running a business. Blending the uniform components of running a company - administrative, sales, marketing - with the more artistic, subjective ones - client relationships, engaging prospects - can be a challenge. To strike a balance between the two, it's important to first create a client service scaffolding that ensures the basic parts of running...

Richard Branson, the infamous founder of the Virgin Group,  shared a post on LinkedIn about the dangers of conformity in business. He recounted his interaction with a group of bankers before his address at the BAI conference in Washington, D.C. and explained why the company had gotten involved in banking, "a very un-Virgin industry to be in." Branson said the fact that banking was uncharacteristic for Virgin was part of the reason the company...

Many entrepreneurs want to become business builders as their companies grow from small, one-person operations to organizations with multiple locations and employees. However, that vision is often as far as they get - they have no idea how to advance their firms to the next level. It's tempting to believe that all you need for success is a great marketing message and a team of ambitious sales people. However, those are merely two components of a complex...

In a hyperconnected world, we're in danger of using technology as a crutch and an excuse not to connect with clients in the meaningful ways we once did. At The Covenant Group, we all discuss the importance of delegating to technology - researching online to learn more about prospects,  using software to track client information and send regular communications to clients or prospects . But that is not to suggest that these tools can be used in lieu of...

There are bound to be instances when a client is unhappy with the product, service or experience when interacting with a business. Yet when clients voice their displeasure with your company, that does not mean the relationship is doomed to end entirely or continue with a sour tone. There are a lot of components that make up a client relationship - the marketing and sales work that went into attaining the client, the quality of service you deliver, the potential for...

Like any relationship, the connection between an organization and its clients is enriched by common interests and the differences of the two groups. To foster long-term client relationships, we need to be able to recognize the common interests we share with clients and identify how we can leverage them to deepen our relationship with them. In The Entrepreneurial Journey , Norm Trainor talks about the three types of common interests that will serve as the...

It should be a company goal to strive for ubiquitous client service. There should be a subliminal message that underlies every team member's management of client relationships. I've talked before about how every employee should have "client representative" included in his or her role in the company. It is so essential to demonstrating a genuine and consistent commitment to client service. Taking stock of client-facing elements Make an...

How would you rate your client relationship strategy? Is there anything about how your employees work with clients that would make those people remember their interactions? If not, it may be time to think about how you can inspire your team members to add their own ideas and personalities to client relationship management while delivering a top-notch experience that differentiates you from the competition. Foundational knowledge enables higher-level of...

While it's the mission of virtually every entrepreneur to grow his or her business, getting bigger doesn't mean you have to abandon some of the best characteristics of smaller organizations. Do you frequent any small, independent businesses? What's the source of your loyalty - the product offerings or the level of service and the way the owners and employees make you feel? Most likely, it's the latter. Why? Because the majority of...

In addition to providing a solution to a client's personal or financial problem, how do you think your company's products and services impact that person? You may think that a friendly demeanor or taking the time to meet with a client face-to-face is insignificant, but the effort can actually resonate with him or her on an emotional level. Additionally, being able to make a client's day can have a positive effect on your employees as well. In a SAGE publication...

A common discussion in the world of customer service is how to build a narrative for your clients. Some of the biggest brands have achieved lifelong loyalty from consumers and continue to draw in more customers. This is because they have focused not only on the quality of their products, but also on the experience clients have when interacting with their brands. When assessing your own company's customer experience, consider several factors; including how you...

Managing client relations is a juggling act. Not only must you take care of all the details behind the scenes to ensure they receive their products - by facilitating services and keeping operations running smoothly - but you must also tend to the details and presentation to satisfy the client. Many entrepreneurs and client-facing employees have struggled to balance all of this. Although mistakes are bound to happen, here are a few common errors that you should...

As the head of program delivery and client relationships here at The Covenant Group, I spend a lot of time thinking about how we support our clients, and in turn, the service lessons that our program participants can learn from us. Which is one reason why I think it is so important that entrepreneurs who want to address their companies' client service models first reflect on their own experiences as a client or customer. When calling a utility, airline or...

What defines a successful entrepreneur? It is the business builder who realizes that he or she is not only selling a product or service to clients, but is also delivering an experience. Client relationship management lasts long after the sales process is over. To maintain a consistently high level of service, business owners need to address several points beyond the quality and variety of the products they offer. I was recently reading a blog post about...

Apple's attention to detail is the stuff of legend. The technology itself is designed to be intuitive, with clean lines and a futuristic look. But the corporate obsession with user experience also reveals itself in how Apple packages its products and presents its wares in retail stores. Previously, I've discussed how financial services and other organizations can improve their operations by emulating some of the key characteristics of Apple's customer service and...

Although they may not realize it, the majority of companies are actually in the industry of client service - in comparison, their product offerings and sectors are minor details. The level of service that is offered in the forms of product quality, presentation, availability and client support is what usually makes someone choose to work with one organization over another. Essentially, the services and products you offer matter less than delivery, which carries much...

Today, I'll be discussing the second topic in a series about how financial services organizations can emulate Apple, which boasts high customer loyalty and continually impressive sales. While Apple's retail locations and customer support strategy are major factors in its success, I would argue that its product offering is its true differentiating factor. The design, the operating system and the way the products seamlessly integrate with each other have all been...

The written word can be a powerful tool, but it also creates plenty of opportunities for misunderstandings. For better or worse, email has become critical to business operations. While it can be a highly efficient method of keeping in touch with clients, employees and strategic partners, email has sometimes been used to circumvent meaningful interactions. Since the channel does not carry the same nuances of tone that face-to-face or phone conversations provide,...

For its products, for its service, for the customer experience it delivers, Apple and its retail stores have been the subject of countless case studies, articles and blog posts. This is the first in a series about how financial service organizations can emulate all the best features of the Apple corporation. Today I'll be discussing client service and relationship management, and in future we will explore the topics of product offerings, presentation/packaging and...

As I have said many times before in my blog posts, every interaction you have with a client is a new opportunity to build personal capital and earn that person's trust. With that in mind, it is important to always be prepared for a meeting. How do you prepare for client meetings? Do you feel you rush from one engagement to the next, sometimes getting confused about the purpose of a specific meeting? Have you forgotten an important point, only to remember it hours...

My colleagues and I often discuss the importance of trust and friendliness in creating long-term client relationships, and today I'd like to talk about the dynamic between financial services professionals and the people they serve. In building trust, listening to your clients and talking to them in a familiar, warm manner, you will often get to know them personally and develop a friendly rapport. But can you be a friend to your clients as well? Finding a balance...

When you're conversing with a close friend or significant other, it's easy to tell when the other person is not really listening or processing what you are saying. Perhaps they respond too quickly after you finish talking or interrupt you. Maybe their answer has little to do with what you were discussing. Think about how you feel when this happens. Now ask yourself, have you ever made a client feel that way? Generally, you meet with clients or talk to them over...

Think about all the times that you have stayed at a hotel or dined at a restaurant. Which experiences stand out in your memory? What establishments have you decided to frequent again and again because of the quality of service? Most likely, they were the ones where the staff worked to make you feel at home and put you at ease, right? In the office environment, it is easy to get swept up in the daily tasks associated with managing your clients' accounts and...

Staff resources can be tight, particularly in financial advisory firms that are just getting underway. Employees are charged with many different responsibilities and may have several different titles in a startup. Although that arrangement can lead to chaos in an organization, the spirit of collaboration and doing whatever is necessary to satisfy clients and boost revenues can also be extremely motivating. Having everyone - no matter what their position in the...

  The airline industry touches hundreds of thousands of consumers, from the high-flying executive to the person traveling standby or coach to visit family. And I bet that every one of them has a few stories of delayed flights, lost baggage or a grumpy seat mate. But what differentiates one airline from another is the quality of service they offer, especially when customers are faced with stressful situations such as the ones I just mentioned. Allow me to...

In any business, it's important to accept that there will be times when you or your employees will have a dissatisfied client. But the way you manage disgruntled clients and how you come out on the other end is what differentiates you from other firms in the industry. Your employees' ability to manage challenging client situations is based on your hiring decisions and how you manage your team. Having a genuine client-centric attitude is an important component of...

Some customer service schools of thought suggest that a company should never say "I'm sorry" to an upset client, instead advising representatives to merely acknowledge the problem and work to fix it. While that may be appropriate in some instances, apologizing can sometimes be the difference between saving the relationship or having a disgruntled client - a dangerous thing indeed. After you have extended your apologies, what will you do to make sure the...

Every time you meet with a client in person, send an email or speak on the phone, you have an opportunity to impress. How do you continually build client capital? Are you constantly on the lookout for the needs and demands that your clients feel but have yet to voice? Delivering excellent, value-added customer service requires not only the talent to produce strong financial results, but also the listening skills and compassion that can deepen the relationship from...

Financial services professionals and organizations have been reticent to reach out to and engage their clients through social media platforms. This may be partly due to compliance fears, although a lack of familiarity with the channel could also be to blame.The Covenant Group blog is working to squash any fears that exist.  A driving aspect of high-quality client service is doing whatever it takes to satisfy your clients. Trends indicate that people of every...

Communication is the focal point of customer service, and a failure to talk with the clients you serve is essentially a guarantee that the relationship will be shallow and short-lived. Research has indicated that people are integrating more technology when they reach out to the businesses that serve them. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and online customer service chats are just a few of the means consumers can use to request additional help or...

Trust is the foundation of a financial advisor's relationship with his or her clients. Without it, how can you build a long-lasting connection and deliver advice and guidance that will help people achieve their personal and financial goals? The recently released John Hancock Trust Survey sheds some light on the close bond that people share with their advisors. Among a list of professionals, including accountants, contractors, real estate agents, bosses,...

It's a common theme in sales industries: No one likes to be sold, but everyone likes to buy. As a financial advisor, how can you be successful in acquiring clients without making meetings feel like a sales pitch? Make yourself relatable, listen to the prospect and strive to be genuine in every interaction. I recently came across a conversation on LinkedIn discussing the best practices of sales, and I think a lot of what was discussed can also apply to client...

Actively managing relationships with clients is essential to keeping them. It can also aid in your sales efforts by building the reputation that your company takes care of those who do business with it. But customer service does not have inertia - without active engagement and constant improvements, it will lose direction and speed. In order to keep moving forward and delivering value-added service to your clients, it may be wise to give your business a customer...

Technological developments and globalization have enabled every industry, especially financial services, to expand beyond its regions and acquire clients across the world. Yet long-distance relationships can be trying, making the challenge of maintaining loyalty even more difficult. Recently I was doing some research on client loyalty, and found a piece on the Harvard Business Review blog written by Dorie Clark, a strategy consultant. She addressed the...

At The Covenant Group, we work with financial advisors to teach them how to build trust and client capital at every stage of the relationship. This is needed not just during the business development and sales cycles - which include setting your mindset, targeting prospects, engaging them, committing to ongoing service and expanding your operations - but also throughout the time the person is your client. After passing the buying stage, it's now necessary to...

Gradually, the financial services industry is starting to warm up to social media and its applications for marketing. However, the social media platforms that you use to connect with prospects can also be applied later in the sales cycle, when they are your clients and you are offering them ongoing service and support. Now there is a greater push for financial advisors and other organizations to use social media to gather client feedback and gain insight on...

One of the Covenant Group's teachings is about the importance of developing a service plan to maintain a strong relationship with your clients after you have made the initial sale. Often, financial advisors are stuck in the mode of salesperson. As an entrepreneur, you also have to be a customer service master, working with the client for many years as their needs change. A study from U.K.-based consulting and research firm MDRC found that wealth managers' client...

Delegating to technology is a central feature in The Covenant Group's financial advisor coaching programs . Ongoing investments in your business are necessary to help it expand and grow. One of the newest tech trends promising to revolutionize the way many industries process and act upon information is Big Data. The flood of emails, digital interactions and other data that companies receive on a daily basis constitutes the large volume of information that makes...

With financial services, success usually means a series of steadily increasing numbers. Gauging a financial advisor's performance when it comes to client satisfaction can be much more difficult. Nurturing relationships can prove challenging for entrepreneurs who have worked as salespeople - now they must not only close the sale, but work to foster trust and establish client capital. While a few aspects of customer service may be based on intuition, FAs can take...

Social media websites have given consumers a voice and power previously limited to corporate public relations departments and major news organizations. Now, anyone with an internet connection can share a positive or negative consumer experience with the entire world. This transformation has impacted customers' expectations for how companies serve them and respond to their needs. But do not view technology and social media tools as things that have made doing...

Do not view a sale as the end of the service process. As soon as someone agrees to become your client, you must transition from the role of salesperson to customer service manager. The sale of a single product is just the beginning of a long-term relationship, and keeping that connection healthy and profitable requires not only a commitment to ongoing service, but the ongoing delivery of added value. How do you build client capital? When speaking with clients, do...

Financial advisors have several titles at their firms - not only are they salespeople, they are often in charge of marketing and customer service as well. After the sale is closed, it's necessary to nurture the relationship and deepen client trust by not only delivering the services promised, but going a step beyond to meet even the needs the client may not have expressed. Entrepreneurs may need financial advisor training to learn how to take a strategic...

As you continue to build your business and gather more clients, it becomes necessary to add more people and delegate tasks to create the best structure for the firm. However, while you develop your own and your employees' skills in delivering top-notch service to your customers, it's also vital to spend some time drafting a strategy for how you will deliver on individual clients' demands. Have you ever stopped to think about your clients' development? In addition...

Sometimes, you or your employees will make mistakes. When a client feels his or her needs have not been met or have been ignored, it's important to make an effort to restore their confidence in your services and reset the tone of the relationship. Taking the time to contact an unhappy client and say "I'm sorry" can go a long way in doing that. Writing for Inc. magazine , Glen Blickenstaff says harboring the concern that apologizing would open up a...

Never underestimate the power of a client recommendation. When the people with whom you've built business agreements trust you enough to not only continue the relationship, but suggest that their friends and associates do the same, entirely new markets and groups of prospects can become accessible. How do you get to the point in the relationship that your clients feel comfortable telling their friends and associates about your services? Do you have a system in...

Have you instilled in your employees how vital it is to make the client feel valued and satisfied after every business interaction? Going a step further, have you given them the tools and the freedom to go the extra mile in client relationship management, and supported them when they do so?  In a column for Entrepreneur magazine , Virgin Group founder Richard Branson promotes the importance of catching "people doing something right."...

In an industry such as financial services, customer relationships and trust between advisors and their clients serve as the foundation of doing business. Establishing client intimacy can also be a strategy for differentiating yourself from the competition. A person is unlikely to take your advice if he or she doesn't believe you have their best interests at heart. That said, managing your firm's reputation and delivering customer service that goes above and...

Think back on your own experiences as a consumer, a client, a patient or a restaurant patron. Which establishments and companies stick out in your memory? Why do you remember them? Was it because their employees went the extra mile or added a small touch to make you feel important and valued? As a financial advisor, you can create that same feeling for your clients by going beyond what's expected of you. Basic customer service means delivering the product or...

In business, staying the same in terms of services offered, who you market to and how you operate doesn't enable you to maintain your position - it only means you'll get left behind. When it comes to customer service, constantly striving to improve is a central tenant of growing the company and maintaining your existing client base as you seek to expand it. Reassessing the current services that you offer and participating in financial advisor training are...

Customer service is important in many industries, but for financial advisors, having the trust of your clients is vital. Without a strong customer-advisor relationship, how can you build your client capital and expand the business? The foundation of that relationship is based on the level of service that an FA and his or her firm can provide. However, advisors who are born salespeople sometimes need a little bit of help with what happens after the deal is done -...

Acquiring new clients is a key part of building your business, but that should not come at the expense of retaining and deepening ties with the clients you already have. These existing connections are often the secret to networking - people who can vouch for your performance and character and introduce you to their inner circles. But how can you establish loyalty and prevent clients from straying? Learning to determine your customer service blind spots is an...