I’ve recently been reading Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara.

If you haven’t read it, you might not know that Guidara is the former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, a New York restaurant that was named the best in the world in 2017. The book explores how he and his team became almost obsessive about creating memorable experiences for their guests.

Now, financial planning and fine dining might not seem to have much in common.

But there was one idea I kept coming back to while reading it: there’s a difference between providing good service and creating an experience people remember.

That feels particularly relevant to financial planning.

Your clients should expect good advice. They should expect you to respond to their emails, complete paperwork accurately, turn up prepared for meetings, and do what you say you’re going to do.

Those things are fundamental to providing good service.

But if you asked a client a year from now what they remember about working with you, would any of those things be their answer?

Probably not.

They’re much more likely to remember how you made them feel.

So, what could financial planners and advisers take from the idea of “unreasonable hospitality”?

1. Get the basics right before trying to delight people

It’s tempting to hear “great client experience” and immediately think about gifts, handwritten cards, birthday messages, and surprise bottles of champagne.

Those things can be lovely.

But they’re not much use if a client has been waiting two weeks for a reply to their email.

Before thinking about the memorable extras, make sure the ordinary parts of your client experience work brilliantly.

Is it easy to book a meeting with you? Do clients know what happens next? Do you keep them updated when something takes longer than expected? Do you explain things in a way they can understand? Do you do what you said you would, when you said you would?

Getting those things right might not feel particularly exciting.

But they create the foundation for everything else.

2. Pay attention to what your clients tell you

One of the things that struck me most about Unreasonable Hospitality is that many of the memorable moments Guidara describes didn’t begin with somebody spending huge amounts of money.

They began with somebody paying attention.

Financial planners and advisers are in an unusually good position to do this.

Over the course of your relationship, your clients will probably tell you about far more than just their pension or investment portfolio.

You might know that they’re planning the retirement trip they’ve talked about for years. That their daughter is getting married. That they’re nervous about giving up work. That they’ve just become grandparents. Or that they’re finally buying the classic car they’ve always wanted.

Those details matter.

And acknowledging them doesn’t necessarily mean buying something.

It could be remembering to ask how the wedding went. Sending them a useful recommendation for their trip. Checking in before their first month of retirement. Or simply remembering something they told you six months ago.

Small moments can say something quite powerful:

I listened, and I remembered.

3. Personal beats expensive

If you do decide to surprise or delight a client, bigger doesn’t automatically mean better.

A generic hamper might cost £75 and be perfectly nice.

But something costing a fraction of that, chosen because of a conversation you had with that client, could mean far more.

And some of the best touches don’t cost anything.

Remembering how somebody prefers to communicate. Making something complicated easier for them. Sending an article because it relates to a conversation you had. Checking in at a moment you know is important to them.

The aim isn’t to spend more money on your clients.

It’s to know them well enough to recognise what might matter to them.

4. Don’t make a great client experience dependent on one person

There’s a potential problem with all of this.

You might be brilliant at remembering your clients. But what happens when they speak to somebody else in your business?

If a client has to explain their preferences, circumstances, and previous conversations from scratch every time they interact with a different member of your team, the experience quickly stops feeling personal.

So, creating a memorable client experience can’t just depend on having one particularly thoughtful planner or adviser.

Think about how you capture the details that matter.

Does your team know how a client prefers to communicate? Can they see relevant notes from previous conversations? If somebody spots an opportunity to do something thoughtful, are they empowered to act on it? If a client tells you something hasn’t worked particularly well, who makes sure something changes?

The aim isn’t to script every interaction.

It’s to create a business where paying attention to clients is simply part of how things are done.

Think about your last 5 client interactions

Not: “Did I provide good advice?”

That’s fundamental.

Instead, ask yourself:

• How did I make that client feel?
• Did they feel listened to?
• Did they feel remembered?
• Did they feel reassured?
• Did anything feel unnecessarily difficult?
• Was there an opportunity to do something thoughtful that I missed?

You don’t need a huge client experience budget or elaborate gestures to make the experience of working with you memorable.

Sometimes, you just need to pay a little more attention.

Could your client communications be more memorable?

Thoughtful, consistent communication is an important part of creating a client experience people remember.

If you’d like help producing newsletters and content that keep your clients informed, reassured, and connected to your firm, we’d love to help.

Email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300 to learn more.