All that is old is new again. Things that have their day fade away, and years later, by some degree of luck, many have another day. Bell-bottom pants had a minor resurgence recently. The Volkswagen Beetle got a redesign and is popular again. Tony Bennett found a new, younger audience and hit the charts in the late 1990s. For senior advisors, the trend that needs to come back in a major way is making effective house calls. Advisors willing to meet prospects and clients in their homes will have an advantage as the United States grays.

The federal government projects that by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 years old or older. By that time, the entire baby-boom generation will have reached that magic age. It is estimated the baby boomers control nearly $10 trillion of wealth — a vast sum that requires protection by financial advisors to ensure safe passage to subsequent generations. Access to that pot of gold and the people who control it begins with taking care of their parents — today's seniors — and building relationships across generations. To accomplish this, advisors must visit seniors in their homes and invite clients' boomer children to be part of the process.

"The days of sitting in the office and making phone calls are over," says John Sommers AAMS, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based financial advisor with Wachovia Securities. "You have to see people on their own turf."

Reasons advisors don't make house calls vary. They take too much time. They are inconvenient for the advisor. Egos can get in the way. They are hard work. However, advisors who make house calls insist the positives far outweigh any negatives.

WHY HOUSE CALLS?
Client immobility and comfort are two reasons to make house calls. Immobility can be a permanent condition or a seasonal affliction. For those incapable of leaving the home, an advisor who makes house calls is indispensable. Even with access to the Internet, making good decisions with one's money is difficult, particularly if there are heirs to consider and taxes to minimize.

"Making house calls is just a quality of service for me," says Kent Powgnas CSA, the owner of Legacy Asset Management in Indianola, Iowa. "If clients can't get out, I would rather go see them."

Seasonal immobility also determines advisors' house-call itineraries. In many parts of the country, weather plays a big role in seniors' driving decisions. Places that experience cold, snow and ice are tough on the elderly, especially those who aren't confident drivers. Advisors have to expect that and plan around it, because a comfortable client is a happy client.

A big part of a client's comfort level comes from being in familiar surroundings. Sitting in his favorite chair, sipping coffee in his own kitchen and feeling like he has a guest over rather than feeling like a customer in an office all set a client at ease.

"This generation made many, many financial decisions at the kitchen table," says Roger Sierens, an elder planning advisor and owner of Littleton, Colo.-based Sierens & Associates Inc. "I consider going to my clients' homes the most valuable service [I offer]."

Margaret Little CFP®, an independent advisor in Virginia Beach, says house calls are great ways to establish a comfortable relationship and get the larger picture.

Sommers agrees that a heightened comfort level contributes to greater understanding: "You get a more complete picture of the family when you go to the home. You can find out more over iced tea than in an office," he says.

Plus, clients feel less like they're being sold something and more like a relationship is being built when advisors take the time to come to their home. Advisors who take the time to scoop snow off a driveway, as Sierens has done, can almost guarantee establishing a relationship.

RELATIONSHIPS TAKE TIME
Rome wasn't built in a day, according to classical wisdom and common sense, and neither are relationships (except between celebrities). In-home visits are bedrocks in relationships with seniors. Advisors who make house calls mention relationship building long before they mention products, sales or money. Maybe it's because they are wired that way. Or, maybe it is because they realize relationships result in more business than pressure does.

"Without a relationship, you won't make the sale," Sommers says, adding he doesn't attempt any sales on a first visit.

Good advisors also understand listening is the first step to securing a lasting relationship with potential senior clients. Sierens calls listening the first key to effective communication. Seniors have been around and have stories to tell. Often, they are widows or widowers with few other people to talk to. If their grandchildren are doing great things, they expect advisors to be interested, too. They have earned the right to have people listen to them. And advisors better listen.

Few people want to know what an advisor thinks they need if he doesn't have the proper information — if he hasn't asked enough questions and actually listened to the answers. Don't answer for your senior clients, Sierens cautions, because that insults their intelligence and doesn't allow the full picture to develop. They would rather have the advisor listen and understand their situation; that way, he can tell them what they need with surety. Even if they aren't sure they want any products, they want to have their advisor's attention.

"I have some clients who sometimes don't want to do business," Powgnas says. "They just want to talk to someone."

If listening seems wasted during the appointment, keep in mind, everything matters in the long run. Seniors remember kindness and tell friends and family members about it.

Listening is nothing new in sales, but it is especially important with today's seniors, Sommers says. "They have a Depression-era mentality. You generate trust by sitting in their house" and listening to them, even if they talk mostly about their children and grandchildren. The advisor who asks about a prospect's grandchildren by name on the second or third visit is the advisor who turns a prospect into a client.

Some relationships may take a third or fourth visit to establish, and many advisors may not be willing to go that deep into the process. That can be a mistake, however. Sierens says he's written several million dollars worth of policies on third or fourth visits.

BRIDGING GENERATIONS
Sommers and Sierens add how important it is to have seniors' children — baby boomers — sit in on house calls, for a couple of reasons. First, it gives advisors the chance to start, or possibly strengthen, a relationship with another generation of the family — the generation that is going to get the money.

"It's called generational selling," Sommers says. "You are nurturing your next generation of clients."

Second, parents traditionally want to leave their money to their children and/or grandchildren, and that goes more smoothly if the children are involved in the process from the beginning. Building a relationship with clients' children ensures that money will stay in your control when it transfers at death.

"[Seniors] want their children to be aware of the issues," Sierens says. "And the children are more apt to want to protect assets. Having them involved avoids probate and some of the horrors I see on a day-to-day basis." He adds that senior clients are more comfortable and appreciative of an advisor's efforts if he encourages the children to be present.

Advisors who go the literal extra mile for their senior clients can expect rewards that go beyond the number of policies written. They will impact families, brighten otherwise dull days, make life easier for those who have it rough and maybe make a few friends along the way. With trillions of dollars expected to change hands in the next couple decades, a few extra homemade pastries will be well worth it. Plus, you may get to hear an original Tony Bennett record — from before he was new again.

Copyright 2004 Wiesner Publishing