You will be able to describe the moments that build or damage an adviser's reputation.
Ask a client who has been with an adviser for ten years why they stayed, and they rarely mention a product. They talk about the time the adviser came to the hospital, or told them not to buy something, or called back within the hour when they were panicking about a letter. Ask someone who left, and they usually describe a single moment too. Reputation in this job is built and lost in moments, and most of them happen long after the sale.
There are a handful of moments that clients remember and retell. Three come up more than any others.
The claim. How you behaved when something went wrong in their life, as lesson 7.2, Supporting a claim when it counts, described. Clients and families remember who answered the phone, who helped with the forms and who kept them informed. They also remember who disappeared.
The honest no. The time you told them not to buy something, or to keep the policy they had, or that their existing cover was enough. These moments surprise people, because they expected to be sold to.
The fast reply. The call you returned the same day when they were worried, the question you answered properly when it would have been easier to brush it off. Clients judge how much you care by how quickly you respond when they need you, and they notice when you are quicker to reply about a new policy than about their problem.
Notice what is missing from that list: the product itself. Clients rarely tell friends about the features of their policy. They tell them about how they were treated.
Of all the moments, telling a client not to buy something is one of the strongest signals of trust you can send. It is also one of the hardest, because it costs you a sale in the short term.
When Wei Ling told Siew Lan to keep her old critical illness policy, in lesson 4.3, Replacing an existing policy without hurting the client, she gave up a case. A year later Siew Lan sent her sister. When she told Ravi that his parents' cover and his emergency fund should come before the retirement investing he had come in to discuss, he was surprised, and he told his colleagues about it.
Lesson 7.1 of Sales foundations, Sell what the buyer needs, even when it pays you less, makes the same point for sales in general. In financial advice it carries more weight, because clients expect the opposite. An adviser who says no when no is right becomes the one people trust when the answer is yes.
Reputation does not build and fall at the same speed. A mishandled claim or an unjustified switch can travel through a whole family, an office or a WhatsApp group in days.
Think about how it happens. A client whose claim was badly handled tells their spouse, their siblings and their colleagues. A client who was switched out of an old policy and then found a pre-existing condition excluded tells everyone who asks them about insurance for years. Each of those people already knows your name. Some of them were going to be clients.
This is one more reason to take the earlier modules seriously. The replacement process in lesson 4.3, the disclosure habits in lesson 4.2 and the claims preparation in lesson 7.2 are not only about compliance. They are what stops the moments that cost a reputation from happening.
Clients and prospects now look you up before meeting you. Your social posts, your LinkedIn profile, reviews people leave and comments on your posts are all part of how they judge you.
That online presence also falls under your firm's rules. As lesson 6.2, Social posts, ads and roadshows need approval, covered, posts that mention products, returns or the firm need approval, and testimonials get extra checks. A glowing client review that mentions a specific claim outcome or product may be something your firm does not allow you to share, even if the client wrote it freely. Check before you repost, pin or reply to one.
The safest online reputation is built the same way as the offline one: by being consistently clear, honest and helpful in general education, and saving product talk for proper meetings. People who see that pattern over months come to you already trusting you.
You cannot control what clients say about you, but you can decide which moments you want them to talk about and make sure those moments happen. A representative who wants to be known for claims support prepares a claims guide for every insurer. One who wants to be known for honest advice makes "keep what you have" a normal outcome of reviews. One who wants to be known for responding fast sets a rule for same-day replies and keeps it.
In the activity below you name the three moments with your clients that you most want them to talk about, and what you do, or will do, to make each one happen.
List the three moments with your clients that you most want them to talk about, and what you do to make each one happen.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).