What do your clients value? Ask them!

Do you truly know what your clients value about your business? If you’ve never asked them, how can you possibly know the truth?

Through the work that I do, I get the privilege of talking directly to clients of financial advisers all across Australia to find out what they value, why they remain a client plus much more.

The question of value is everywhere at the moment so I thought that in this short article I would share the top findings from years of research into what clients value about their financial adviser.

For you, it might be different but collectively the below statements are an excellent sample of what clients say they value:

1. My adviser’s experience.
2. They were recommended to me.
3. The personal service I receive.
4. Their knowledge; they are always attending training and completing further study.
5. Value their advice; their opinions about my personal circumstances.
6. Access to my adviser; they always call me back.
7. Maximising my portfolio.
8.  Their honesty and integrity.
9.  The relationship I have with my adviser; we’ve known each other for years. so they know about me, my family, what we like and what we don’t.
10.  They speak to me in a way in which I can understand; plain English.
11.  They give me peace of mind that my financial future is being looked after.

Much of the above are what we call intangibles; you can’t see them necessarily only experience them.

The question is, how do you communicate intangibles to a client who hasn’t experienced your advice yet? There are many ways. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all approach or even a magic bullet! Sorry! What it comes down to is developing a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy that enables you and your business to demonstrate all of the above in a way that will resonate with your ideal client. Times have changed; there are so many ways to reach people these days which means you need to consider a multi-channel approach. People need to hear and see you [your marketing that is!] at least seven times before they really notice you!

By Rachel Staggs, Marketing Director

The post This is what clients value about a financial advice business appeared first on AdviserVoice.

There are several ways to get the feedback about the value you add.

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.

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If you don’t know why your clients remain with you how do you know what’s important for the future of your business?

In one of my previous articles, I talked about what clients value about a financial adviser. It was evidence-based meaning it was taken from the research I have conducted for many years with clients of financial advisers. In this article, I’d like to share why clients maintain an ongoing relationship with a financial adviser, again, evidence-based.

The statements below are a good indication of the feedback that I receive from actual clients of financial advisers. I believe it’s important to regularly talk to your clients to find out what they value about your advice, what benefits you’ve provided them in terms of your advice and why they remain a client. Your business is built on your clients so why not get their feedback about your business?

1. Good service. Friendly and speak in a language that is easy to understand – no jargon. They include myself and my wife in the meetings so that both of us understand the advice and what our financial situation is.
2. Because of their caring attitude and overall effective management of our portfolio. We have no reason to leave.
3. Because they know us, they know what we want to achieve and they know our financial situation. They’ve helped us plan for our retirement, without them I doubt we’d know when we could retire.
4. We need them because we don’t know how to look after our finances ourselves.
5. I trust them with my finances. They haven’t let me down. I’m comfortable that they have my best interest at heart because they haven’t done anything wrong so I have no reason to doubt them.
6. I only have to speak to one person which I can do face to face, via email or over the phone whichever suits me far quicker than I could find the answer out on the internet.
7. They are the ones that have organised our finances and know how to manage them. We don’t so without them in our lives we would be a complete mess.
8. They have provided very useful advice which has ultimately helped us so we trust them. We don’t have to get involved in the details. They tell us what we need to know at a high level which is all we want.
9. Don’t have time to know what changes are being made in government that might impact is or what’s happening in the financial markets that could also impact us. We pay them to monitor all that for us.
10. They are proactive and contact us way before we’ve even thought we should contact them about something so it demonstrates that they have our best interest at heart and really do understand us.
11. We know that we can contact them at any time we have a question and they will respond. Even if they don’t know the answer they’ll find out and tell us. That gives us peace of mind.
12. Because we now have a better understanding of our finances which means we can make better decisions today about things that we want and know how those decisions will impact our future.

Of course, it goes without saying, your clients might have other reasons why they remain a client of yours, the above are general themes that I have put together based on the years of research I have conducted. It is important to note, however, that if you don’t know why your clients remain with you how do you know what’s important for the future of your business?

By Rachel Staggs

The post 12 Reasons clients maintain an ongoing relationship with Financial Advisers appeared first on AdviserVoice.

What do your clients value? Ask them!

Do you truly know what your clients value about your business? If you’ve never asked them, how can you possibly know the truth?

Through the work that I do, I get the privilege of talking directly to clients of financial advisers all across Australia to find out what they value, why they remain a client plus much more.

The question of value is everywhere at the moment so I thought that in this short article I would share the top findings from years of research into what clients value about their financial adviser.

For you, it might be different but collectively the below statements are an excellent sample of what clients say they value:

1. My adviser’s experience.
2. They were recommended to me.
3. The personal service I receive.
4.  Their knowledge; they are always attending training and completing further study.
5. Value their advice; their opinions about my personal circumstances.
6. Access to my adviser; they always call me back.
7. Maximising my portfolio.
8. Their honesty and integrity.
9. The relationship I have with my adviser; we’ve known each other for years. so they know about me, my family, what we like and what we don’t.
10. They speak to me in a way in which I can understand; plain English.
11. They give me peace of mind that my financial future is being looked after.

Much of the above are what we call intangibles; you can’t see them necessarily only experience them.

The question is, how do you communicate intangibles to a client who hasn’t experienced your advice yet? There are many ways. Unfortunately, there isn’t a one size fits all approach or even a magic bullet! Sorry! What it comes down to is developing a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy that enables you and your business to demonstrate all of the above in a way that will resonate with your ideal client. Times have changed; there are so many ways to reach people these days which means you need to consider a multi-channel approach. People need to hear and see you [your marketing that is!] at least seven times before they really notice you!

What do your clients value? Ask them!

By Rachel Staggs

The post This is what clients value about a financial advice business appeared first on AdviserVoice.

If you want quality leads put your energy into introductions.

We all know that the ideal client is likely to be introduced to your business through someone else whether that is a family member, friend, co-worker or a trusted professional source. However, I can tell you through the research that I do; you aren’t getting all the client referrals they say they will send you.

Everyone has good intentions, but everyone is busy.

Below are some of the reasons why you are being forgotten and not receiving the referrals they said they would send:

1. No referral plan

Sitting opposite your client they mention they have a friend who they think could benefit from your advice. You say great thanks. 80% of the time there is no conversation about how you and their friend are going to get in contact with each other. Connect the dots there and then and agree with your client about the best way forward. Don’t feel awkward about it; its business.

2. No information

Sitting opposite your client they say that yes they have a friend who could also benefit from your advice and they’ll make sure they mention your name when they see them next. They forget to mention your name because that’s life BUT if you’d given them your latest brochure, e-book, report or something that can be passed on they have less chance of forgetting to mention you. Even better, you email your client with the marketing collateral for them to email on – or you do it if you have their details. This positions you as an expert, thought leader, whatever you want to call it, the important piece is to have something of value for them to pass on to their friend. You might even scribble your direct contact line on the front – yes it’s probably in the material that’s not the point! The point is you make an effort to make it easy for them to call you!

3. Lousy website

80% of the people who meet you for the first time will Google your name, even if a trusted person has referred you. Why? Because that’s what we all do now because we can! Your website fails to impress. It fails to inform what you do, who you do it for and why they should choose you. They know they need to seek advice, but they’re not impressed and merely forget at it.

I know lots of Advisers who are being contacted by supposed Facebook experts at the moment who promise to deliver 15-20 client leads per week – it’s a scam. If you want quality leads, clients who will take your advice and pay your professional fees, please put your energy into introductions [referrals] and once you’ve completely nailed that then look at Facebook campaigns, if you’ve got something to offer that is.

By Rachel Staggs

The post 3 reasons why you aren’t receiving more client referrals appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Introductions from others are one of the main reasons potential clients trust you.

The word trust, according to the dictionary means ‘reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.’ Which I believe we would all agree on.

But why is it that people trust some financial advisers and perhaps not others? Is it qualifications? Is it because they are part of a particular association? Is it because they have been in the profession for over 20 years?

None of the above.

Over the years I have personally interviewed clients of financial advisers. Not through an online survey but actually one on one. One of the standard questions I ask is, ‘When you first met Bob, why did you decide you could trust him?’

The answers?

• Top answer – Because he was referred to me by my Accountant and I trust my Accountant.
• Next answer – We just really liked him, he comes across as very personable.
• Next answer – He took the time to listen to us.

Interesting answers but I’m never surprised. Not once has a client said because my adviser has XYZ qualifications or belongs to a particular association. It’s all those intangible things that people use to judge you and decide whether or not they can trust you.

I don’t discount qualifications by any stretch of the imagination and nor would clients I’m sure if they knew more about them. I assume clients expect their adviser to have a certain level of qualification. Perhaps next time I’ll ask them!

My point is, from a marketing perspective never underestimate the power of introductions from others. Focus your marketing efforts on developing healthy, sustainable professional relationships and receive more of the right type of client.

Remember introductions can come from a variety of channels, other professionals, your existing networks, alumni, your online community, the list is endless.

Never let your finger off the pulse because introductions from others are one of the main reasons potential clients trust you to start with.

By Rachel Staggs

The post Why do people trust a financial adviser? appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Rachel Staggs

Many Advisers I talk to wish to attract more of the affluent client, the perception being that they can afford advice and are experienced in paying for it. That said, the more affluent the client the more significant the fee, the more likely perceived expert status will play in the buying decision.

As the advice becomes more complex, the more the affluent client will look for a bona fide expert to help them solve their problems.  By positioning and presenting yourself as an expert, you have the opportunity to gain competitive advantage, justify your premium fees, make yourself more attractive to the affluent client and open the door for media acceptance and promotion.

Some may tell you that at this stage credentials are not so important to the affluent. They respect grit and hard work rather than qualifications – unfortunately I don’t agree with that. In this profession, qualifications shout credibility!  So lets assume you have all the right credentials to be able to work with the affluent members of the community.  The next step is to present and position you accordingly.

Below are three steps I would suggest you review and implement to help attract more of the affluent client:

Step One – Get published or self publish

People love to be able to say that their Adviser is an author; it has a kind of expert ring to it. You don’t need to rush away and write a book, although that is gold, instead you can publish white papers, E-books even newsletters. To present yourself as a knowledgeable expert you need a platform to achieve that and authorship allows you that platform.  Being an author has a kind of magical expert connotation to it.

At a minimum you should be authoring a monthly newsletter, quarterly white paper, annual E-book all of which will position you as an expert and allow others to share your material. If you have a book in you waiting to get out great, if not, perhaps you could co-author one?

Step Two – Self promotion

Now you have something to promote instead of just your services, it provides you with a natural competitive edge. Don’t think of self promotion as a nasty phrase because it’s not – it’s business and it’s helping position you so that you can help your ideal client solve their problems; nothing selfish about that.

Step Three – Publicity

Before becoming an author you may have found it hard to get noticed by media companies but now having written “7 BIG investment mistakes smart people make about money” you have given them an instant angle on a story, an interview or a reason to be one of their guest presenters.

Positioning is key to being perceived and received in the right way. Becoming an author of any kind isn’t the complete answer but it’s a logical way of differentiating yourself and informing affluent clients that they are dealing with an expert because that’s what they will pay for.

By Rachel Staggs, SRS Coaching & Consulting

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Rachel Staggs

The other day I was part of a meeting with several others. We were discussing the recent media attention about the industry and specifically about the Commonwealth Bank Financial Planning business; the negative press that the industry as a whole was receiving and the implied lack of growth.

There was a great deal of doom and gloom amongst the other people at the meeting about the apparent poor reputation of the industry, which as a marketing person I couldn’t really comprehend. From every corner of business, small business, large business, government, religion and yes, financial services, there are true, honest, kind, compassionate leaders that can be trusted.  And, unfortunately, there are dishonest, unscrupulous people who behave unethically. And unfortunately, nowhere is this more obvious than in the realm of marketing.

How can we fix it?

Firstly let me start by saying that we are all in sales, I acknowledge that you may be in the business of offering strategic advice but when it boils down to it, it is a sales process. And all sales processes need a high level of trust, especially in the world of financial advice. The process starts with a simple conversation. It may be a conversation between you and a potential client, between one of your clients and a potential referral, between one of your business partners and a potential client or between your website and social media platforms and a potential client. An effective marketing strategy will turn these conversations into relationships of trust with these potential clients over time. Remember not everyone is ready to engage with your advice, just yet.

We know that people buy from those they trust and this is never truer than for financial advice and for the times we live in now.  If you don’t have the trust it doesn’t matter how well your systems work, how well you’ve defined your offer or priced your advice. If a potential client doesn’t trust you, you have no opportunity to change their lives for the positive.

This also applies with your referral partners. Perhaps you set up what you thought would be a rewarding professional relationship but over time, you haven’t been receiving the referrals you envisaged you would.  The trust element is woven throughout the fabric of your business. And, its for that reason that your marketing strategy should support that and communicate loud and clear why and how you can be trusted and supported by others who have experienced that trust.

What are they thinking?

When someone meets you for the very first time they are thinking, consciously or not, “Who are you and how can you help me?” Knowing that, we all need to ensure that we are able to communicate the answer to that question quickly and concisely and this can be done throughout your marketing communications strategy.

Your potential client and referral partner may also be thinking?

1. Can you really deliver what you say you can? Demonstrate that through your experience. Show them that you can because you have a positive track record.
2. Can they trust you to hold their personal information and that it wont be shared? Explain how you do that.
3. Do they like the other people in your business, can they trust them? If they are to liaise with any other people in your business make sure you introduce them and share their credentials.
4. Do they believe that taking your advice will result in the outcomes they are looking for? Demonstrate you’re past experience working with people just like them.

If you are looking for a pipeline of clients that will want to take your advice and referral partners that want to work with you, remember that you can never under estimate the level of trust that you need to communicate to them to ensure you get the amount of clients your business needs to grow.

Trust has been spoken about for decades across all service based industries but I believe now more than ever before your marketing message needs to be reviewed to ensure that you are articulating and supporting the fact that you can be trusted because trust is something that is being questioned and written about by many people at the moment.

Review your website, marketing collateral and every touch point where a client and referral partner may interact with your business, is there any evidence that they can see, hear or read that demonstrates that you and your business can be trusted? If the answer is no, then I would suggest that this is a golden opportunity to address that and shout from the rafters that you can be trusted and explain why.

I know that some advice businesses don’t have a marketing plan and I never understand why. Marketing encompasses many elements of a business and in this article we’ve addressed just one being trust. If we all know that relationships are built on trust and that trust is being questioned by the media and some clients, why aren’t more businesses communicating the fact that they can be trusted? Your marketing will do that for you.

If you would like to know more about how you can improve your marketing then please join The Adviser Marketing Program, a practical marketing course developed by qualified marketing professionals specifically for the advice industry. Click here to find out more.

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Advisers delivering value to clients rather than waiting for FoFA: survey

A recent survey of professional advisers has revealed that their main focus is on delivering value and services to their clients rather than waiting for FoFA to be finalised.

The survey was conducted by the Advice Leaders Forum (ALF), started by a group of industry stalwarts seeking to better understand industry trends and to share those with ALF members.

Surveyed advisers say they want to focus on increasing and improving communication with existing and potential clients, rather than being distracted by FoFA:

• 90% of participants expressed an interest in developing a comprehensive communications plan to attract & retain clients
• Over 50% wanted to add specialist SMSF and risk capability to their client offers

“The survey showed us that everyone is over FoFA and much more interested in getting on the front foot with their clients. Advisers all report a strong willingness to do the right thing with their clients and are facing competition from all angles”, said Rachel Staggs, of SRS Coaching and Consulting, one of the founding ALF members.

‘However, what appears to be getting in the way of this priority for Advisers is their need for improved operations, efficiencies, talent and better support from their Licensee”, according to Ms Staggs. Ms Staggs added that “the Business Insights Survey indicated that leaders in the industry are getting caught up in day-to-day operational activities like recruitment and compliance, when they would much rather be thinking about how, what, and when they can communicate with clients.”

Ms Staggs continues: “In the 2014 landscape, FoFA is no longer the concern it once was. Only 10% of advisers are worried about FoFA, whereas about 30% of advisers are reporting concerns over the impact and risk of low cost products on the market.”

“Digital media, social networking, interactive websites allowing for mobile phone access are all top of mind for advice professionals. Advisers want to create a personal brand so that they are seen to be valued experts (81%).”

“It’s about defining your client value proposition, identifying and communicating your point of difference to the market. 2014 will see advisers continue to look to the consumer as they minimise other distractions.”

“One of the reasons why we have launched the Adviser Leaders Forum is to respond to these challenges and opportunities with meaningful content and expert advice.”

The Advice Leaders Forum will run a series of webinars and online-interactive content to allow Advice businesses to have quicker access to the information they need in order to communicate and market their business, grow both inorganically and organically while developing leadership and human resource capability. Content will be developed and delivered by the Advice Leaders being; David Fotheringham and Bob Neill from Seaview Consulting , Tony McDonald from T and C Consulting, Cholena Orr from Profusion Group, Rachel Staggs from SRS Coaching & Consulting, and Colin Williams from HFS Marketing.

The post Professional Adviser focus is firmly on client services and not FoFA in 2014 appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Rachel Staggs

Many Advisers have recently asked me about the topic of client surveys, “How do we?” “Should we?” and so forth. As a passionate believer in client surveys, I was more than keen to put some proven tips on paper (so to speak!).

Mistakes I find many Advisers using are not planning beforehand and then, afterwards not actually doing anything with the findings – massive opportunity!

Below are eight tips to help you when you conduct your client surveys:

1. Plan

Decide on what you want to get out of the survey.  Don’t waste this golden opportunity. If there is something your business is considering introducing, for example, social media or a new service, this is the perfect opportunity to engage with your clients and get their feedback.

2. Who

At some stage every client should be asked their views about your business but perhaps not at every survey. This could be a good time to segment your database and target your client surveys. Remember people are buying you, a service not a product so views can be quite different.

3. What

Don’t go overboard with the number of questions you ask. The aim to get useful information from these surveys not interesting. Perhaps aim for 5 questions but 5 brilliant questions that will give you feedback about your business that you can act on rather than praise yourself for.

4. Simple

Write your questions in simple plain English – nothing too tricky – remembering that time is precious!

5. How

Your next decision is how to conduct these surveys. Typical chooses are 1) Adviser does it – no-one likes confrontation so responses might not be ‘true’ 2) Email survey – can be impersonal so ensure you have the correct client details and the email is addressed to the person 3) outsourced to a third party – best option for ‘true’ views

6. Next

Thank everyone who participated in the surveys. No gifts required just a nice sincere thank you. Feel free to share the common responses (without naming names) to those that took part.

7. Action

If you’ve asked useful questions you’ll receive useful comments that you can use to either grow your business or to make changes to. Make sure this gets done. If clients have participated in a survey and see no change – where’s the value?

8. Finally

Use any data you get back from the surveys in your marketing; your website, social media and so forth – extremely powerful.

Talking to your clients through client surveys, when done properly, can be one of the most effective actions you can take in your business. Surveys for survey sake are a waste of everyone’s time but surveys to engage and find out useful information are GOLD!

 By Rachel Staggs SRS Consulting

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SRS Consulting are hosting  a free webinar to learn more about how you can use client surveys in your Advise business effectively. Click here to register.

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