How to become indispensable to clients

With more than 400,000 advisers looking to work with affluent investors, it's becoming more important than ever to keep your clients happy so they come back to you and not the adviser down the road.

Here are two tips suggested by Financial Planning columnist John Bowen on how to become indispensable to your clients.

First tip: relationship building. Consider making someone in your practice a captain of client relationships, who will take ownership of the responsibility to deepen those associations, and who will inspire your team to work together to wow clients. This should be someone other than you so you can remain focused on building your business as the chief rainmaker.

Second tip: advanced planning. If your value proposition is based entirely on investment performance, you will take a severe hit at some point. Not “if,” but “when” another adviser is up 20% while your clients are up 10%, you will hear from them.

In short, clients need to feel like they just can't live without you. But that just doesn't just happen, you need to make your case.