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.

Back in my consulting days, we were taught to build personal relationships with our clients. Now I will confess that some of the clients we didn’t want to get any closer to but the majority of them were nice and we actually enjoyed meeting them and helping them. The point is, the better the relationship you have with a client the higher the chances of them introducing other people to your business. Why you might ask? It’s an age-old tradition but people like to work with and help those that they like, know and ultimately trust.

For some its very easy to get to know clients on a deeper personal level but for some, it can be quite challenging. Perhaps your natural style is quiet; your quite shy but love the work that you do. Perhaps you don’t know how far is too far and some guidelines would be helpful.

Below are four ways in which you can start to develop deeper relationships with your clients. It would be a good idea to print these off and discuss them as a team or place them in the kitchen as a reminder. You might even like to check in each month [or weekly] and hear what success others are having in the business with regards to client relationships.

1. Get to know the family. One of the easiest ways to do that is by using the family tree concept. There are several variations which can easily be found on Google or you can create your own. Depending on your style and your business will depend on how you choose to use this framework but at its basic level, it’s an excellent tool to help navigate the conversation about their family. The more you know about someone the easier it is to have better conversations and the better the conversations the closer the relationship. In coaching, we talk about coming from a place of curiosity which is exactly the mindset I would encourage you have with this concept. Typical things advisers will ask about family members are age, work status, marital status and so forth. General questions which are more than suitable and legitimate for their financial adviser [you] to be curious about.

2. Celebrate milestones. There’s not enough love and celebration in the world these days! When was the last time you sent a random card to someone to say thank you or congratulations? Has a client recently started a new job? Had a new baby? Finished a course? Got married? Retired from work? Their child completed VCE? Been a client for a certain amount of years, even one year? What did you do to acknowledge these achievements? Depending on your business, budget and style will depend on how you celebrate these milestones. There’s no need to go overboard with gifts but a nice card, a bunch of flowers, a bottle of wine with a handwritten card are all lovely ways to demonstrate that you have their interests at heart, that you care and that you value the relationship.

3. Demonstrate warmth. Throughout our lives, there will undoubtedly be some trauma whether it affects us personally of a loved one. A client of mine, a financial adviser, heard that one of his client’s business partners had passed away unexpectantly. It was a tragedy. This financial adviser hadn’t met the business partner but was so saddened to hear the news and knew how much it would shatter his client that he flew interstate to attend the funeral and offer his compassionate support. It’s acts of kindness that show the true character of a person.

4. Show you listen. I’ve said it before random acts of kindness are one of the best ways to deepen relationships. Let’s say one of your clients is having a hard time; anything could have happened. You might decide to send them a handwritten card to let them know you are thinking of them. They might be going on an overseas trip – you could buy them a nifty travel device for the plane or a book about the destination. Again this idea doesn’t need to break the bank. Keep it simple.

Many financial advice businesses claim to be client-centric yet so many can’t be because at their weekly catch up meetings they aren’t talking about clients they’re talking about processes, system upgrades, staff holidays etc. While I appreciate they are all legitimate items to discuss I would encourage whoever runs these meetings to include the topic of clients that way more of your advisers will be able to make deeper relationships, gain more of the ideal clients and ultimately bring in more revenue.

How do you create better client relationships?