Updated on: February 3, 2021

As medical and market turmoil disrupts your business, eMoney is here to support you in any way possible. While nobody could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve put in place a robust continuity plan and are well-equipped to carry on normal operations, helping people talk about money at an unprecedented time.

Several of our platform’s most commonly used features are already set up to help you speak with clients about their financial circumstances, now and in the future. Having the right conversations with clients, and using the right planning tools, can help you get through this uncertain time, so you can continue to cultivate a thriving, planning-led practice.

The Golden Opportunity to Double Down on Planning

You have your clients’ attention now more than ever. Take the reins and show them what to do, or not do, in the event of a sustained downturn in the markets.

There is a great opportunity now to show clients the resilience of their financial plan—to demonstrate the value of sticking to the charted course and exactly how they can still achieve their most important goals. You may get clients to engage with their plans more than before, and even deliver more financial plans.

Engaging with clients starts with reassuring them they’re not off track. Advisors are telling us that discussing long-term cash flow planning helps clients breathe a little easier. Seeing their plan in the broader context of their life goals lessens the urgency of current volatility. Talking about Monte Carlo simulations also eases client anxieties. When they know their plan has been subjected to 1,000 different market conditions, including scenarios worse than our current situation, and still has a high probability of success, they can feel confident in their current course of action.

While having these discussions with clients, it’s the perfect time to stop and consider what other data you could use to create better plans for your clients. This could be any type of assets held away, accounts, documentation, or beneficiaries. Asking for this information now while your clients are engaged with you can help you create more informed plans. Or, for clients that don’t have a financial plan in place, it’s also the perfect time to request this information and demonstrate how valuable a plan can be in these uncertain times to grow your planning revenue.

It’s a tough time for the whole industry. Take a few minutes to learn how you can continue building your planning-led practice by watching our on-demand webinar “Maintaining Business Continuity: What You Can Do Today to Solidify Client Relationships Tomorrow.” The first in our 3-part series on planning through disruption, eMoney’s CEO, Ed O’Brien, along with Jess Liberi, Head of Product, and Matt Schulte, Head of Financial Planning, discuss the current state of the industry and how you can leverage eMoney to keep growing your business.

Using the eMoney Platform to Coach Clients Through Uncertainty

As mentioned earlier, the eMoney platform has a number of tools and features you can use to spark the right conversations with clients and guide them through this disruptive period. In order to give you some practical direction in using the eMoney platform to engage clients, we’ve outlined a few of the features you may find most useful right now.

Decision Center

The eMoney Decision Center is where you can show, rather than tell, clients the value of sticking with their plan. You can demonstrate in real-time how hasty financial decisions today could result in long-term impacts on a client’s progress towards their goals. You’ll be able to run different real-world scenarios, as well as perform Monte Carlo analyses, to give your clients the reassurance they need to have confidence in their financial plan.

Client Portal

At a time when clients are most concerned about their finances, the Client Portal gives them a single view into their whole financial picture. Encourage continued engagement with the Client Portal to maintain strong relationships with clients—let them set up investment alerts, interact with their current plan, and join digital meetings with you at time when speaking face to face is impossible. The Client Portal is rich with features that allow clients to feel in control of their finances amidst great uncertainty.

Vault

The Vault is where you can safely store sensitive information with easy access for both you and your client. It also allows you to share important documents with clients in a secure format. eMoney’s 256-bit Secure Socket Layer keeps data safe so you can keep communicating, and keep building relationships, with your clients when you can’t physically meet.

ABM

Maintaining an open dialogue with clients is critical at this juncture. Regularly communicating relevant and timely content can help address client concerns and keep them informed. It can also let your clients know that you’re monitoring the situation closely, inspiring confidence in you and in their plan’s ability to help them achieve their goals.

The eMoney platform can be used in many different ways to engage clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. To get more training and practical tips on using these tools, watch our on-demand webinar “When in Doubt, Plan: Using eMoney to Guide Your Clients Through Uncertain Times.” The second webinar in our series on planning through disruption is hosted by Connor Sung, CFP®, Manager, Financial Planning Practice Management Consulting. You’ll learn all about the specific features of the eMoney platform and how these can be used to both engage clients now and help them plan for a more secure future tomorrow.

For the past 20 years, eMoney has been helping people talk about money in all forms of disruption. There have been other downturns, and the future will inevitably hold more. Using the right tools to spark the right conversations with clients is, and always has been, the best way to shield your business from the effects of medical and market disruptions.

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