When Wealthholders Only Rang Once

Here's a list of CEO's headquartered here in New York and their phone numbers. Go see them. Ask how this airline's printed flight schedule could be improved.

That was my marketing assignment, circa 1957. My phone calls requesting appointments always got through, answered by the CEO's secretary or, once or twice, by the great man himself. Phone calls were serious business in those days.

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Phone calls were still serious business a few years later, when I began to learn how major trust companies worked. "One reason we assign each client to a team," I heard time and again, "is so that client phone calls will be answered, always." 

If the client's trust officer was not at his desk, I was told, the client was put through to the investment officer, or to one of the team's administrative assistants. Every call was answered by someone  – someone who knew the client and was familiar with the client's account. That, at least, was the goal.

Today? The number one complaint investors have about their brokers is that their calls are not returned, much less answered satisfactorily. 

I know, nobody considers phone calls serious business any more. (Now texting, that's important!) Nobody but the caller. Then and now, even unimportant clients want to feel like important clients. When you return a call promptly or take the time to send a newsletter article on a topic of interest to a client, you're practicing timeless good marketing.

H/T to The Trust and Estates Prof for calling attention to this survey. 

P. S. Speaking of those survey findings, why does anyone go to his or her broker for an estate plan?