Ready for it? The SARB's Monetary Policy Committee will announce the interest rate today at 15:00. If you want to watch it live, you can tune in on the Reserve Bank’s YouTube channel here.
This week in Seed Analytics Advisor Connect:
Upcoming events: Chances to network & earn CPD points.
Client engagement: How to keep 100s of clients engaged.
How to turn one send into 100 documented touchpoints.
New opportunities & advisory jobs for you to explore in SA.
Moody's upgrades SA & the FAIS debarment ruling to note.
Prompt of the week: Build trigger-based client segments.
Take Note
FPI Training Tuesday: Psychology of Money – Online 2 June: Free webinar on understanding client spending and saving habits for financial planning professionals for members. CPD points included. Register here.
Global Business Network – JHB 2 Jun: Monthly in-person networking for entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners at Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton. Details here.
Keeping 100s of clients engaged without burning out
You need regular touchpoints for compliance, retention and growth – here’s how to keep them actually engaged…
Do you find it easy to get responses and engagement from your entire book?
Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) expects ongoing engagement and FAIS requires documented contact. But it’s hard to craft personalised emails every quarter (especially with a book of hundreds).
Most resort to quick “check-in” emails, but when it’s too generic, people aren’t motivated to respond. The trick is to give each client a real reason to engage:
1. Batch your book into trigger groups, not calendar reminders
Instead of 90-day CRM reminders, try segmenting your book by what's happening in their lives: Clients approaching retirement age, those with contributions below the new limits, those who've had a life event, etc.
Take action: Each week, pick one trigger group and send a short, specific message relevant to them. You're not emailing everyone the same thing on the same schedule; you're reaching 15–20 people a week with something that matters to their situation.
2. Use market moments as engagement hooks
When the SARB holds rates or inflation spikes, it's a reason to contact a specific segment of your book. Clients invested in living annuities care about rate decisions. Clients with offshore exposure care about the Rand. Clients with bond holdings care about yield shifts.
Take action: When a major market event lands, draft one short message tying the headline to a specific client segment. It takes 5 minutes to write once and send to 30 people.
3. Let the statement do the talking
Instead of sending an email asking if clients need anything, send their latest consolidated statement with a simple one-liner: "Hi [Name], your latest portfolio overview is attached. Let me know if anything jumps out." No ask, no pressure, no scheduling.
Take action: The clients who have questions will reply. The ones who don't still feel serviced, and you've documented a touchpoint either way.
Seed can help you do this visually to drive engagement.
Join the conversation…
How do you currently stay in touch with clients between annual reviews?
Turn one send into 100 documented touchpoints
Today’s framework works best when you have clean, up-to-date client data to work with. Segmenting by trigger group requires knowing where each client stands. Tying market events to specific portfolios requires seeing what they hold. And sending statements at scale requires a tool that does the heavy lifting.
Seed Analytics gives you all three. With consolidated data from 70+ investment platforms, you can see which clients are under-contributing, approaching milestones or exposed to the market events making headlines. And with Seed's bulk email wizard, you can send branded, personalised statements to your entire book in minutes.
Already on Seed?
Segment your book by one trigger this week and send a targeted statement batch.
New to Seed?
Featured Section
New wealth and fin advisory career opportunities in SA
Financial Advisor (Sandton) @ IWCP
Financial Advisor (Rustenberg) @ Old Mutual
Financial Advisor/Planner (JHB) @ Integrity Wealth Management
Financial Advisor (CPT) @ IGrow Wealth Investments
Financial Advisor (Stellenbosch) @ Metropolitan
Financial Adviser (George) @ Momentum
Financial Advisor (JHB) @ Vouch SA
In Case You Missed It…
Industry Roundup
Unlocking Wealth via Strategic Business Exits. Financial advisors frequently focus on a client's liquid portfolio while overlooking the largest asset many entrepreneurial clients hold: their business. Deal Leaders International's Rick Grantham notes that if you manage a R10m portfolio but ignore the client's R100m unlisted business, only 11% of that family's true wealth is diversified.
Tribunal Overturns Flawed FAIS Debarment. The Financial Services Tribunal has overturned a sales agent's debarment after finding that the FSP failed to follow basic procedural fairness requirements. The ruling confirmed that under Section 14 of the FAIS Act, proper written notice and a formal hearing are non-negotiable prerequisites.
ASISA: R51bn Into Unit Trusts Despite Q1 Jitters. South African investors committed R51 billion to collective investment scheme portfolios in Q1, with total AUM dropping just 1.2% to R4.52 trillion despite a double-digit equity correction. The standout: SA Multi-Asset portfolios now command 50% of the entire industry's assets, confirming that investors are leaning heavily on outsourced, diversified mandates to ride out the volatility.
Licence Disc Hikes to Fund the RAF. Transport Minister Barbara Creecy confirmed that the government is actively modelling a compulsory vehicle-owner contributory scheme tied to annual licence disc renewals. A possible permanent upward adjustment in non-discretionary transport costs over the next 12 to 24 months.
Moody's Upgrades SA's Outlook to Positive. It’s SA’s first upward revision since 2007, citing stronger-than-expected primary budget surplus (around 1% of GDP), credible spending restraint and sustained reform momentum. South Africa is now the only G20 country with a positive outlook from Moody's. Still at Ba2 (two notches below investment grade), but the direction of travel is clear.
Prompt of the week
If you want AI to help you build trigger-based client segments...
We spoke about batching your book into groups based on what's happening, not when the calendar says to call. This prompt helps you identify which segments exist in your book and what to say to each one.
How to use it:
Describe your typical client base (age range, product mix, common life stages).
Paste the prompt into any AI tool and fill in the variables.
Use the output as a segmentation framework and a set of message templates for each group.
The Prompt:
You are a client engagement strategist for independent financial advisors in South Africa, familiar with FAIS, TCF and FSCA requirements for ongoing client communication.
I need help segmenting my client book into trigger-based groups so I can send relevant, specific messages instead of generic check-ins.
Here is my book profile:
Typical client age range: [e.g. "35–70, skewing toward 50+"]
Common product mix: [e.g. "RA, TFSA, living annuity, discretionary investments, some life cover"]
Approximate book size: [e.g. "180 client families"]
Current engagement method: [e.g. "90-day CRM reminders, mostly generic check-in emails"]
Using these inputs:
Suggest 6–8 trigger-based client segments I should create (e.g. "approaching retirement," "under-contributing to RA," "living annuity drawdown review due," "offshore exposure affected by Rand move"). For each segment, explain what triggers inclusion and roughly what percentage of a typical book it might represent.
For each segment, draft a short email template (under 80 words) that ties a specific observation to a low-friction next step. The email should feel relevant and personal, not like a mass send.
Suggest a weekly rotation I can follow so that every segment gets contacted at least once per quarter without overwhelming my schedule.
Keep the tone practical. Format the output so I can paste it into a CRM or project management tool.
Did You Know? On 28 May 2014, Apple confirmed it was acquiring the companies behind the famous Beats by Dre headphones (Beats Electronics and Beats Music) for $3 billion, the largest purchase in Apple history at the time.
Till next time,
Seed Analytics Advisor Connect
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