Wouldn’t it be ideal if you could get a database [list] of all the people [ideal clients of course!] thinking about seeking financial advice in the next 6 to 12 months?

Have a look at the diagram below; it’s called the Educational Marketing Spectrum. Every single one of your prospects falls somewhere on this spectrum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the left-hand side, point A is where the prospects first start thinking about solving a problem they have or a solution they need.

At the other end, point Z is where they decide to seek your advice and pay your fees.

In between is best described as ‘prospect fact-finding’. Here they will do some research, they’ll jump on Google, they’ll ask a friend for advice, they’ll probably ask one of their trusted professionals too, for example, their Accountant. As they progress from A to Z, their emotions get engaged, and the likelihood that they’ll make a decision increases rapidly because we [80% of us!] ‘buy’ on emotion and then justify with logic later.

As they progress along the spectrum, they decide to solve the problem. How long does that take? For some, it can be a matter of days, weeks or months. However, I know through the research I do, it can take some prospects years. They decide on a particular adviser, and at point Y, they’re about ready to make a decision; and point Z, they do.

Here’s what you need to know right now. Most Financial Advisers are ignoring this spectrum and not communicating and educating their prospects about the value of their advice. They assume that all prospects are at point Y or Z and move in for the kill there and then. Move in for the kill might not be the right terminology! 

The bad news

At any given time, only 1-4% of your market is at point Y and ready to engage. So there’s a massive mismatch. It doesn’t matter how excellent your offer is, it’s the wrong offer to 96 – 99% of your ideal market that’s why people aren’t responding as quickly as you’d like.

The good news

The whole marketing thing is straightforward. There are only two kinds of offers you can make.

There’s the incentive [business] offer, which is for people at the far right-end. That’s what you might do in a seminar-type environment or when you are seated face to face in their Accountants office or your office after a couple of meetings. You make them an excellent offer which is perfect because by then they will know you, like you and trust you. 

Now, to appeal to everyone else on the spectrum, you need to make an altogether different type of offer – the information offered.

There are lots of different kinds of information offers you can make along the spectrum. For example:

1. Report
2. Podcast
3. Web recording
4. E-brochure
5. Case studies
6. Success stories

All of these are low cost, low-risk opportunities for your prospects. Marketing is about lowering the risk for the person to take the next step in the process, so by drip-feeding educational based information, you are guiding them through the process empowering them to make the right decision. 

Provide your prospects with low-risk education offers and keep them engaged and close to you until they are ready to make a move to contact you [rather than someone else or no-one at all!].

Of course, all of this assumes you have a database [a list] of prospects. If you don’t, you need another type of strategy altogether.

For more information, please contact me directly, rachel@srscc.com.au

What you say about your business isn’t nearly as important as what others say about you. Would you agree?

I’ll assume you agreed!

So, knowing that what others say about you is far more important than what you say can I ask why you don’t have more client testimonials and reviews? Perhaps it’s an issue of time or remembering to ask?

The good news is, there are several ways to get the feedback about the value you add, below are four proven ways.

1. Client surveys – a perfect way to engage with your clients is through a survey and an ideal question to ask them is what value they have gained from your advice. At the same time, gain their approval to use their feedback in your marketing and voila, you have some evidence-based proof about your value.

2. Google reviews – whatever you do don’t shy away or ignore these. As a nation, we are used to reading [and giving ] reviews online, so make sure those that are looking can find great reviews about the value you add. The best way I have found to gain Google reviews is to make it part of your client engagement process; share the Google link with your client once they agree to complete it for you.

3. Facebook reviews – similar to above, if you have a Facebook page, make sure you have some reviews. You can actually shift the menu items on your page so that reviews are at the top.

4. LinkedIn recommendations – once again, very important and an excellent place for people to share the value you have provided to them. You can then share your LinkedIn profile URL, and people can see the recommendations.

Four great ways to get feedback about your value.

Once you have the feedback, make sure you use it on your website and any marketing material. The golden opportunity though is when you are talking to people about your business and value because you can share your thoughts, but then you can back it up with evidence by quoting what your clients say about you.

Do you need some help? Email me rachel@srscc.com.au and we can arrange a time to chat.

Most advisers that I meet with charge a premium for their service; and a much deserved fee it is. Other advisers ask how they can justify such high fees. When you are seen as an expert in your field [and you can deliver on that!], people will pay a premium.

So how do you position yourself as an expert? I won’t kid you it does take time and planning but the tactical ideas I share below work and the best thing about them is that they don’t cost the earth!

My advice is if you would like to be known as an expert in your chosen area of specialisation work through this list and identify 2 or 3 ideas which you can implement. Tackling all 13 would be crazy but know that each of them works you just need to decide which ones you can practically undertake.

In no particular order:

1. Testimonials to support the fact that you are an expert.
2. Case studies to demonstrate the typical results you achieve for people.
3. Blog posts to share your ideas and thoughts.
4. Guest posts and articles to share even more value and demonstrate who you know and mix with.
5. Videos of how to and tips and up to date relevant information.
6. Speaking engagements to your ideal client to educate them about their problems [remember they want but you know what they need!].
7. Slideshare to visually demonstrate your capabilities and areas of strengths.
8. White papers to provide thought leadership and knowledge.
9. Podcasts to cut through to those that like to listen to information.
10. Research papers to raise your profile and demonstrate your understanding.
11. eBooks that are quick and easy to read about a range of topics relating to your ideal client.
12. Webinars that can be recorded and watched later.
13. Educational based marketing activities to educate your ideal clients about their potential problems and how they should consider fixing them.

For more information about the above ideas and how SRSCC can help you and your advice business, contact me directly, rachel@srscc.com.au

I hate to start an article off with a negative but never before has the industry rated so poorly for trust. Trust really is the cornerstone of your business and must be addressed.

What is trust? How can it be measured? Trust is very much in the eye of the beholder [is that a line from a song?] so it can be challenging to ensure that trust is written into your strategy and implemented accordingly. However, in this quick post, I’d like to share some simple actions you can take that will help bring trust into the forefront of your business.

How many people do you know that have been scammed? Perhaps you have been yourself; they are very sophisticated these days. Protection of data and privacy of information are two key things people worry about in today’s age. So, what systems do you have in place to protect your client’s information? How often do you invest in them? Who is responsible for these systems and processes you have in place? Now, tell your clients.

Another key area which is growing rapidly is the area of social and ethical responsibility. I’ve written about this before and still subscribe to the notion that as business owners you [we] have a responsibility to give back to others and helping those less fortunate than ourselves. What does your business do and how do you communicate that message. I’ve met advice businesses that do tremendous work in this area but fail to communicate it to clients because they felt uncomfortable about communicating it. Don’t feel uncomfortable. By promoting your social and ethical responsibility you are raising awareness and we need more of that.

When I survey clients of financial advisers I ask them about expectations and similar questions to ascertain what is important to them and 90% of the time it’s about having their best interest at heart. I know you know that but how do you communicate that? Where is your social proof that what you say you can do, you actually have done for others?

Displaying your ability to be trusted can’t be achieved through one piece of communication or through a campaign. It will take a layered approach; a multi-channel approach over time. Think of the hare and the tortoise!

One of the key documents that can help display your trust is your FSG and your privacy statement but when we asked a group of people to find it on a selection of websites, guess what? They couldn’t find it because it’s placed at the bottom of your website in the smallest font compliance will allow! I think we need to change this.

Governance is another keyword that clients are looking for evidence of. How is the business structured? What are the capabilities of the team? What are rules that the business goes by? What processes and systems are in place? How does the business make sure that its clients, employees, stakeholders and community are protected and looked after? Communicate it.

I remember giving a presentation to a group of advisers a couple of years ago and one of them said that they were part of a cottage industry; perhaps a paradigm shift is required by those that still believe that to be true!

Ethics. I know you are honest and transparent but how are you demonstrating that? Do you ever talk about the audits that you have to go through and how successful your business is or has been? Why not? Clients would have no idea about the number of audits that are conducted on your business – talk about a key way to demonstrate trust!

Trust is one the fundamentals of any business and while the above tips will definitely help you [plus there are more ideas] the ultimate way to focus on trust is through your client-centric culture. Not your compliance culture or systems culture but through being a true blue client-centric focused business.

A client centric culture will drive trust.

What does relevance mean? According to the dictionary – the degree to which something is related or useful to what is happening or being talked about. In the context of financial advice then it would be how relevant both the business model is and the advice being offered is to the client.

Relevance has been uncovered as one of the critical drivers of success for the future of financial advice. Relevance coupled with trust will be the two pillars that will attract the ideal client and keep your ideal client. By ignoring your relevance puts you in a position of danger.

So how do you remain relevant and how do you communicate your relevance?

In this short article, I’ll address some fundamentals that you can use in your business right now.

The first thing to consider is creating a framework to work within.

Demonstrate + Involve = Empowerment

Three keywords which will help you deliver the right message. Whenever you can demonstrate things like your capability, expertise, ongoing education, investment philosophy, innovative investment options; the things that are important to clients.

Then involve people in a discussion about the things you have demonstrated through existing clients supporting what you claim, through business partners supporting you, through discussion groups and open communication channels.

Because if you can demonstrate what the client is looking for and involve others, even them, you’ll empower clients to make the right decision to partner with you.

It’s a shift in paradigm for some; rather than relying on others to position your business you start to, and you take control of communicating your relevance to your existing clients and potential clients – even COI’s.

Due to the Royal Commission, questions are being asked; we all know that. Those businesses that think their clients aren’t a little bit concerned and thinking about their adviser, unfortunately, are not living in the real world – sorry to have to say that but I know through the research that I do. So let’s be proactive and start talking about and promoting things like your investment philosophy. You already have one [it might need a refresh] but start bringing it to the forefront and be proud to share it and demonstrate your relevance [plus a few other things!].

You’ve heard us all talk about the importance of content marketing and in the context of relevance I have to bring it up again because what content marketing does is help people answer their burning questions and demonstrates your relevance. If you don’t have things like a blog or white papers or articles where are you demonstrating your relevance regarding solutions for clients?

The other really simple thing you can do to demonstrate your relevance is to share information every time you attend a PD day, course or anything of that nature. Your clients wouldn’t have a clue about the amount of professional development you have to complete each year so tell them! A quick summary of the key points that you learnt from the course shared through your communication channels again demonstrates your relevance.

Relevance is also demonstrated through your financial solutions; the investment options you have available. The new breed of adviser, for example, Fox and Hare Wealth are doing some great things in delivering relevant financial packages to their target market.

As a marketing professional, I talk about all things marketing. But to end this article, I’d like to introduce the notion of organisation change because this is one of the most significant paradigm shifts you can take today as a financial advice business to drive home your client-centric culture. Across the globe, we are seeing a transformation away from functional specialisation to more cross-functional teams that focus on a specific client group. If you have a business that delivers financial planning, accounting and broking, for example, start having a conversation now about how your structure could be changed to match your client demographics rather than sticking with the same old structure.

Relevance isn’t just a word it’s an important pillar that will help your business stay alive now and into the future.