How helping the unemployed can help your practice

The challenge
At a recent workshop, advisers told me they are finding that a surprisingly high percentage of their clients are unemployed. Advisers found this out during client reviews, and they said the news surprised them — clients had never called to let them know about their new circumstances. Why? Many clients are too embarrassed to say anything, but many of them simply have not spoken with the adviser for so long that they had had no opportunity to say anything.

Aside from serving as a clarion call for advisers to reach out and talk to clients — and arrange client reviews — is there anything advisers can do to help their unemployed clients, and if so, what?

The opportunity
In addition to the ethical imperative to help, advisers can actually benefit in the long run by lending a hand to clients — and their friends and family members — who have lost their job. For one, it cements the adviser’s role as someone who cares about all things financial, not just investments, and it shows that the adviser cares about the individual, not just a sale.

On an immediate level, individuals who lose their jobs often have 401(k) plans and other job-related investments that may need special attention with rollovers. Aren’t they more likely to turn, now and in the future, to an adviser who has helped them when they need it most?

Of course, most advisers are not job counselors. Even if they want to help, advisers may not know how. Here’s one approach.

A Midwest advisory team holds monthly seminars with small groups of unemployed clients to help jump-start and support their employment search. The key to their success is to invite other clients and centers of influence to join the meetings. The results have produced successful employment for some. For those still on the hunt, the meetings give them the motivation they need to stay positive and proactive.

For the meetings, the team reserves a conference room at a local library for the first Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of each month. They have decided to keep this a business-focused effort, not a social event. The library doesn’t charge for the space and it provides a range of additional resources for the clients to tap into right after the meeting. The team has started with its top clients and invites small groups to join the job search meetings.

At each session the team brings in a job coach or a client with experience in job hunting. There has been no shortage of clients willing to help out. Some clients have even started one-on-one coaching with the clients who are unemployed. It has been very successful in building confidence and results.

In addition to helping clients find employment, the monthly meetings have turned into a client referral opportunity because the advisers invite their top clients to bring along a friend or colleague in the same situation.

The advisers have turned a negative situation for their clients into a positive experience and are building long-term client relationships. Once clients find employment, they offer to come to the seminars and help the advisers’ other clients.

If you have a strategy or idea that has worked to help unemployed clients, please e-mail me at [email protected].

Next week: Jump-start job searches for clients’ college-graduate children

Maureen Wilke has spent 20 years in marketing and wealth management with firms including Nuveen Investments and Sequoia System International. She has worked with thousands of advisers to increase the effectiveness of their practice and has developed The CONNECTED Advisor practice management system to help product distribution teams and advisers on practice management strategies. Sign up for the free Stay Connected newsletter at www.connectedadvisor.com.