As we enter a curious period in our history with the Coronavirus COVID 19 outbreak, we are all looking at how we can work differently to ensure we can help you provide certainty to clients during uncertain times.
As face to face contact is currently being discouraged, supporting your clients via alternative methods of communication will be extremely valuable and help you to maintain your business. Whilst things may be quite chaotic currently, as scenarios progress there will undoubtedly be many people with questions and queries regarding their financial situation, their options an dhow to plan going forward effectively.
Telephone contact will continue to be the most favoured remote approach but video calling can also offer benefits, and its an increasingly common communication tool in the modern world. We’ve put together a few hints and tips that you may find useful;
- Gain more non-verbal cues and insights from your clients
Video calls help you see how people are responding, improving the communication and understanding between you. You can adapt to the non-verbal cues you would usually notice at a traditional face-to-face meeting and be ready to change the course of the conversation if required. If your client is nodding and appearing attentive, you know you can continue with the conversation and be assured they have an understanding of what you’re saying.
- Create opportunity to have regular contact with your client
The flexibility of video calls means you can have more frequent contact with your client and a time that suits them. Less constraints and more flexibility will help build customer confidence and provide a personalised service.
- Select your video media
There are a number of video calling choices around, many of which don't have to incur a cost. See what your client prefers, perhaps give them a few options, but some common options include:
- Facetime
- Whats App
- Skype
- Google Hangouts
- Viber
- Zoom
There is a plethora of other communication platforms that are widely available, most of which can be used on your phone or laptop. Choose the right medium to suit your clients needs and make sure (as with any communications) that any communication is made in a secure way
- Set your location and appear professional
Take a look at the environment where you’ll be doing the video call to ensure all looks professional. Consider the lighting (make sure the room is not too light or too dark), eliminate any background noise and clear away any clutter of confidential materials.
The contact opportunity
Using video calling can help maintain that visual link with your clients, enable them to clearly communicate with you and provide a regular contact mechanism that is easy to use.
Creating these opportunities gives you the ability to maintain an income stream and ensure your clients can still access the service. Some people will be concerned about the future and will want to put their affairs in order as soon as possible for their loved ones but still need your help and guidance on how to do that as soon as possible.
All the ideas and systems suggested are fairly easy to access and operate but if you need help then just let us know
We’ll continue to support our clients and advisers as far as we can as we are very mindful that people will still need to access our services and our associates need to maintain their business.
We are operating a business as usual approach and you can read more about that here https://btwc.co.uk/coronavirus-covid19-business-statement/
We’ve also issued guidance on taking client instructions remotely which you can read here https://btwc.co.uk/taking-client-instructions-remotely/
If you have any questions please contact us on 01522 500823 or email enquiries@btwc.co.uk