In the new year after a short break, we'll look at how the four drive theory can be applied to the provision of financial services by practitioners.
The theory essentially describes how people are motivated by what it is that feels good. The theory puports to encompass all the drives that we have as humans. These drives are innate, hard wired and independant.
Happy new year and we look forward to explaining how to use the four drive theory in a financial planning/financial services practice.
Thursday 29 December 2011
Thursday 22 December 2011
Finding Your Advocates in 2012: A Christmas Wish
2012 at its dawn marks a significant shift for PCE. Expect a range of tools for you to utilise in client engagement, a handbook that takes you through engagement step by step and continued thoughts on the process.
Key to success will be using the techniques to find the advocates you have and empowering them to tell your story.
A shift in your own mindset is required.
The facts of your business as they stand do not need to shape your 2012. The past behaviours that you in your businesses exhibited do not need to have relevance in 2012.
The big shift will be turning off your autopilot - the day to day routine that has produced the results in your businesses and what Dr Ellen Langer defines the behaviour such routine is associated with as mindlessness.
As she points out, such a mindset results in holding things still, an inertia against action, that is at odds with human behaviour, as people are not static.
What do you mindlessly accept in your business? What do your clients mindlessly accept is the course of their lives? What limits have you and your clients imposed and imprisoned on your and their lives?
Finding your advocates in 2012 means breaking out from the rules that are imposed on your and your clients worlds. It's about bringing forward dreams, hopes and ambitions no matter how small and being present in the moment to notice how you and your clients are changing.
So in practical terms - PCE - what does this translate to in regard to finding your advocates?
Simple:
1) Be ready to try something different in the way you engage your clients in 2012 - a discovery questionnaire about aspects of your clients life OTHER THAN their finances.
2)Do that analysis on yourself.
3) Select clients that you have been mindful enough to notice that they are changing - that they are ready to break out from the boundaries of their everyday life - that they are ready to grasp a new reality.
4) Engage them and support them as they do it - it may be they will need your financial expertise - but it may also be that they need your empathy - someone who may not share BUT certainly does respect their values.
5) Celebrate the small wins you create in your world - a really enjoyable client meeting - the joy of time with your family.
6) Share the emotion of those wins with your clients and with reciprocity marvel as they share the small wins in their lives.
7) Change your review process and engage your clients with a family tree (the how to do this is described in our earlier posts).
8) Walk the talk and do your own family tree and one page summary of your plan for 2012.
9) Select a passion objective for 2012 - something outside the daily routine - get visual - imagine it, imagine the positive aspects and emotions on it's completion - set a plan in place.
10) Share that with your clients, and encourage them to do the same.
Follow the ten steps above, but bend the rules, don't be bound by the objectives, rather enjoy the process. Sit back reflect, appreciate what you have, focus on the positives, don't complain - re-frame, chew your food, slow down, switch of the crackberry, take a walk after lunch (take lunch) - log into the energy project and follow their tips, celebrate everything that is good in your world, tell the people around you something that you love about them, remind them of who they are when they are at their best.
Be amazed, but not surprised, as the advocates start talking to their worlds about the value you bring to them.
See you in 2012.
Key to success will be using the techniques to find the advocates you have and empowering them to tell your story.
A shift in your own mindset is required.
The facts of your business as they stand do not need to shape your 2012. The past behaviours that you in your businesses exhibited do not need to have relevance in 2012.
The big shift will be turning off your autopilot - the day to day routine that has produced the results in your businesses and what Dr Ellen Langer defines the behaviour such routine is associated with as mindlessness.
As she points out, such a mindset results in holding things still, an inertia against action, that is at odds with human behaviour, as people are not static.
What do you mindlessly accept in your business? What do your clients mindlessly accept is the course of their lives? What limits have you and your clients imposed and imprisoned on your and their lives?
Finding your advocates in 2012 means breaking out from the rules that are imposed on your and your clients worlds. It's about bringing forward dreams, hopes and ambitions no matter how small and being present in the moment to notice how you and your clients are changing.
So in practical terms - PCE - what does this translate to in regard to finding your advocates?
Simple:
1) Be ready to try something different in the way you engage your clients in 2012 - a discovery questionnaire about aspects of your clients life OTHER THAN their finances.
2)Do that analysis on yourself.
3) Select clients that you have been mindful enough to notice that they are changing - that they are ready to break out from the boundaries of their everyday life - that they are ready to grasp a new reality.
4) Engage them and support them as they do it - it may be they will need your financial expertise - but it may also be that they need your empathy - someone who may not share BUT certainly does respect their values.
5) Celebrate the small wins you create in your world - a really enjoyable client meeting - the joy of time with your family.
6) Share the emotion of those wins with your clients and with reciprocity marvel as they share the small wins in their lives.
7) Change your review process and engage your clients with a family tree (the how to do this is described in our earlier posts).
8) Walk the talk and do your own family tree and one page summary of your plan for 2012.
9) Select a passion objective for 2012 - something outside the daily routine - get visual - imagine it, imagine the positive aspects and emotions on it's completion - set a plan in place.
10) Share that with your clients, and encourage them to do the same.
Follow the ten steps above, but bend the rules, don't be bound by the objectives, rather enjoy the process. Sit back reflect, appreciate what you have, focus on the positives, don't complain - re-frame, chew your food, slow down, switch of the crackberry, take a walk after lunch (take lunch) - log into the energy project and follow their tips, celebrate everything that is good in your world, tell the people around you something that you love about them, remind them of who they are when they are at their best.
Be amazed, but not surprised, as the advocates start talking to their worlds about the value you bring to them.
See you in 2012.
Monday 19 December 2011
The Ideal Clients : Who are they? Where are they?
Who are your ideal clients? Do you have a wish list...if only I had more ...doctors...? Do you know who in your existing client base are your ideal clients? Have you defined why they are your ideal clients? Have you told them?
As more financial service/financial planning businesses endeavour to differentiate themselves it seems there is a plethora of "re-creations" of adding arms to the business of JV's and COI's and service propositions and bite our tongues...CVP's.
The problem with all of this is that without a clear articulation of who your ideal client is, how many of them are in your existing client base and importantly what are their qualitative and quantitative characteristics - then all the above is pointless.
At the most basic level an ideal client is:
- someone who takes our advice
- someone who shares our values or at least whose values we respect and vice versa
- someone who understands how the advice we have provided meets their needs (in other words they can attribute meaning and significance to the strategy employed)
In greater detail these ideal clients also:
- are well liked in the family and social circle
- are trustworthy
- are of a certain age that fits our target audience
- has a certain occupation in line with our niche positioning
- is or will be a profitable client for our business
- has a love for themselves and the family group they are part of
- is socially adept
- is well connected
By determining who in your client base you would like to replicate if you could by applying some of this criteria you can easily and quickly determine what it is you need to do in our business to grow and grow exponentially.
One of the first things you need to do is tell these clients -(hopefully many that presently sit in your client base - but perhaps only a few that you need to now replicate) - that they are important to you, that they are your ideal clients, why they are your ideal clients and why you like working with clients just like them.
To articulate that message you need to speak in client terms that resonate with the values they have - remember values alignment is a key to them being an ideal client. The message needs to state how it is that what you do meets these needs and values with the tools such as product being only the capabilities that deliver the strategy.
Once you do that you are on a path to turning these current ideal clients into advocates and sources of referrals.
As more financial service/financial planning businesses endeavour to differentiate themselves it seems there is a plethora of "re-creations" of adding arms to the business of JV's and COI's and service propositions and bite our tongues...CVP's.
The problem with all of this is that without a clear articulation of who your ideal client is, how many of them are in your existing client base and importantly what are their qualitative and quantitative characteristics - then all the above is pointless.
At the most basic level an ideal client is:
- someone who takes our advice
- someone who shares our values or at least whose values we respect and vice versa
- someone who understands how the advice we have provided meets their needs (in other words they can attribute meaning and significance to the strategy employed)
In greater detail these ideal clients also:
- are well liked in the family and social circle
- are trustworthy
- are of a certain age that fits our target audience
- has a certain occupation in line with our niche positioning
- is or will be a profitable client for our business
- has a love for themselves and the family group they are part of
- is socially adept
- is well connected
By determining who in your client base you would like to replicate if you could by applying some of this criteria you can easily and quickly determine what it is you need to do in our business to grow and grow exponentially.
One of the first things you need to do is tell these clients -(hopefully many that presently sit in your client base - but perhaps only a few that you need to now replicate) - that they are important to you, that they are your ideal clients, why they are your ideal clients and why you like working with clients just like them.
To articulate that message you need to speak in client terms that resonate with the values they have - remember values alignment is a key to them being an ideal client. The message needs to state how it is that what you do meets these needs and values with the tools such as product being only the capabilities that deliver the strategy.
Once you do that you are on a path to turning these current ideal clients into advocates and sources of referrals.
Thursday 15 December 2011
Surrounding Your Clients With Health, Wealth, Happiness, Hope
Last time we wrote about the power of understanding more aspects of a clients life than just the financials. While it may seem odd that a financial questionnaire is not the lead when starting a relationship with a client in a financial services relationship, the reality is that we live our lives and money can enhance aspects of our lifestyle BUT we do not live for money. Engaging client purely on the financial aspects neglects all of the detail about what makes us - your clients tick.
Understanding more about them actually helps you engage them better and in so doing, guiding them to make better financial decisions to actually make changes that are meaningful to them.
Lifestyle questionnaires help you to do this. Positive Client Engagement has a tried and tested questionnaire as used by the adviser and written about in our 13 Dec 2011 blog.
But using a questionnaire is not enough. If you seek to add value to a clients whole person then you need to equip yourself with the capabilities to do just that. We are not advocating that you develop a new range of capabilities personally. Rather form relationships with the professionals that can make a difference in your clients life.
Tutors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, counsellors, interior designers, architects, landscape gardeners, funeral directors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, doctors, lawyers and yes, even accountants.
Without a wagon wheel of diverse relationships and resources you can not position yourself as the hub of that wheel - at the centre of the clients world. No lifestyle questionnaire will work with any longevity for you unless you are prepared to fully immersse yourself in knowing your client. And we mean really knowing your client.
Understanding more about them actually helps you engage them better and in so doing, guiding them to make better financial decisions to actually make changes that are meaningful to them.
Lifestyle questionnaires help you to do this. Positive Client Engagement has a tried and tested questionnaire as used by the adviser and written about in our 13 Dec 2011 blog.
But using a questionnaire is not enough. If you seek to add value to a clients whole person then you need to equip yourself with the capabilities to do just that. We are not advocating that you develop a new range of capabilities personally. Rather form relationships with the professionals that can make a difference in your clients life.
Tutors, physiotherapists, osteopaths, counsellors, interior designers, architects, landscape gardeners, funeral directors, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, doctors, lawyers and yes, even accountants.
Without a wagon wheel of diverse relationships and resources you can not position yourself as the hub of that wheel - at the centre of the clients world. No lifestyle questionnaire will work with any longevity for you unless you are prepared to fully immersse yourself in knowing your client. And we mean really knowing your client.
Tuesday 13 December 2011
How to Differentiate Your Offer With Financial Lifestyle Questionnaires
A technique/client discovey tool adopted by some successful advisers is a form of lifestyle questionanire.
Clients are asked a series of questions about a range of lifestyle subjects : exercise, social activity, family, relationships, holidays, vocational pursuits, spirituality, health, sleep, quality of life and dreams in regard to long term aspirations.
What's this have to do with a superannuation roll over or an insurance package?
Everything.
Without delving into the above in some form, you risk becoming an order taker for a transaction.
By engaging in the above questions remarkable things can happen.
One such questioning process uncovered that holidays were a beach location annually and that an aspiration was at 65 (20 years from the time of the questionnaire) that the female respondent would, once life had quietened down, like to learn how to paint.
Why wait 20 years?
The SOA produced not only dealt with the financial issues at hand BUT also had located a beach holiday property hosted by a resident artist who ran art classes during the guests stay. The cost was the same as was being spent on the existing annual holiday.
Five years later, the insurances were still in place, the portfolio growing, plans on track AND the adviser was able to attend an exhibition of artwork, his clients first showing.
Now that's positive client engagement.
How you can place yourself in a position to ask these types of questions is the topic of our next blog.
Clients are asked a series of questions about a range of lifestyle subjects : exercise, social activity, family, relationships, holidays, vocational pursuits, spirituality, health, sleep, quality of life and dreams in regard to long term aspirations.
What's this have to do with a superannuation roll over or an insurance package?
Everything.
Without delving into the above in some form, you risk becoming an order taker for a transaction.
By engaging in the above questions remarkable things can happen.
One such questioning process uncovered that holidays were a beach location annually and that an aspiration was at 65 (20 years from the time of the questionnaire) that the female respondent would, once life had quietened down, like to learn how to paint.
Why wait 20 years?
The SOA produced not only dealt with the financial issues at hand BUT also had located a beach holiday property hosted by a resident artist who ran art classes during the guests stay. The cost was the same as was being spent on the existing annual holiday.
Five years later, the insurances were still in place, the portfolio growing, plans on track AND the adviser was able to attend an exhibition of artwork, his clients first showing.
Now that's positive client engagement.
How you can place yourself in a position to ask these types of questions is the topic of our next blog.
Friday 9 December 2011
Want greater profitability? Tell a better story.
We, at Positive Client Engagement, believe that the advice businesses that are best at converting prospects into clients are those businesses that use social proof techniques effectively.
By demonstrating to prospects that other people have successfully utilised the advice proposition on offer and taken the journey of advice in a defined process, these businesses remove a great deal of the uncertainty associated with accepting advice on financial affairs and in so doing build trust at a faster rate than competitors.
Observations of best practice in regard to the use of social proof have highlighted three main techniques:
1) A process, a way of doing things, is explained to the prospect and it is made clear that this is the method by which all clients of the businesses engage the business.
2) The success results of other like minded clients is on display in varying forms both within the business, on business collateral (including websites) and in the language and stories the business tells about how they have assisted clients in the past.
3) The individuals in the business tell their own story clearly demonstrating that they believe in the benefits of their own advice.
These techniques produce a rate of conversion from a prospective client to one who engages the business for advice of inexcess of 65%. Further these prospective clients move into the engagement process much faster than as for competitor businesses with over 80% moving into a engagement process within 4 weeks.
But these businesses also demonstrate other characteristics. They have greater staff engagement evidenced by the number of staff who have multiple lines of the services being offered, a higher percentage of staff who can clearly articulate the core mission of the business and higher engagement scores in employee survey results.
They also have less staff turnover.
As anthropologist Michael Henderson has observed, businesses that build a culture not merely around "this is the way we do things" BUT "this is why we do things the way we do", not only have greater success in client engagement but also benefit from having motivated self directed staff.
By demonstrating to prospects that other people have successfully utilised the advice proposition on offer and taken the journey of advice in a defined process, these businesses remove a great deal of the uncertainty associated with accepting advice on financial affairs and in so doing build trust at a faster rate than competitors.
Observations of best practice in regard to the use of social proof have highlighted three main techniques:
1) A process, a way of doing things, is explained to the prospect and it is made clear that this is the method by which all clients of the businesses engage the business.
2) The success results of other like minded clients is on display in varying forms both within the business, on business collateral (including websites) and in the language and stories the business tells about how they have assisted clients in the past.
3) The individuals in the business tell their own story clearly demonstrating that they believe in the benefits of their own advice.
These techniques produce a rate of conversion from a prospective client to one who engages the business for advice of inexcess of 65%. Further these prospective clients move into the engagement process much faster than as for competitor businesses with over 80% moving into a engagement process within 4 weeks.
But these businesses also demonstrate other characteristics. They have greater staff engagement evidenced by the number of staff who have multiple lines of the services being offered, a higher percentage of staff who can clearly articulate the core mission of the business and higher engagement scores in employee survey results.
They also have less staff turnover.
As anthropologist Michael Henderson has observed, businesses that build a culture not merely around "this is the way we do things" BUT "this is why we do things the way we do", not only have greater success in client engagement but also benefit from having motivated self directed staff.
Thursday 8 December 2011
Retaining and Attracting Staff
This post was to be about social proof and the engagement of clients BUT a different train of thought came to me today.
A NZ research survey identified that the three main reasons individuals looked elsewhere for work were: a lack of work life balance ; a poor working relationship with seniors and feeling undervalued.
Positive engagement of staff is a critical factor in retaining them and increasing productivity.
The old school command and control structures do not work in todays workplace as GenXrs are less motivated by job security. Sadly the mentors of todays middle management may not have adapted to shift in workplace diversity - the embracing of which - combined with knowledge of organisational behaviour - have tripled financial success over organisations that have not adapted.
The values business wishes to attract are individual values and hence the growth of the organisation, the building of it's culture and its' knowledge base comes from attracting and retaining talent.
How a business engages its' staff, develops them and allows them the flexibility for self directed development is critical. It's a lesson many businesses need to learn.
Small businesses such as those in financial services fight the battle for talent harder than most. Developing a way to play, a capacity to deliver and systems and processes for engaging staff and clients - and documenting it is what successful businesses have done to not only engage staff but to allow them the stewardship and flexibility to WOW clients. Allowing the creative to be creative in your client engagement success is critical. Set the guidelines and then let your staff shine.
A NZ research survey identified that the three main reasons individuals looked elsewhere for work were: a lack of work life balance ; a poor working relationship with seniors and feeling undervalued.
Positive engagement of staff is a critical factor in retaining them and increasing productivity.
The old school command and control structures do not work in todays workplace as GenXrs are less motivated by job security. Sadly the mentors of todays middle management may not have adapted to shift in workplace diversity - the embracing of which - combined with knowledge of organisational behaviour - have tripled financial success over organisations that have not adapted.
The values business wishes to attract are individual values and hence the growth of the organisation, the building of it's culture and its' knowledge base comes from attracting and retaining talent.
How a business engages its' staff, develops them and allows them the flexibility for self directed development is critical. It's a lesson many businesses need to learn.
Small businesses such as those in financial services fight the battle for talent harder than most. Developing a way to play, a capacity to deliver and systems and processes for engaging staff and clients - and documenting it is what successful businesses have done to not only engage staff but to allow them the stewardship and flexibility to WOW clients. Allowing the creative to be creative in your client engagement success is critical. Set the guidelines and then let your staff shine.
Monday 5 December 2011
It's about the loan stupid.
Question: So just what do you need to do to assist your mortgage broker COI convert more loan sales and in doing so refer more clients to you for a personal protection strategy?
Answer: Help your COI better meet the needs of the client.
The client is concerned about:
1) Is this the best interest rate?
2) Are the fees something I can live with?
3) Am I going to get the size of the loan I need?
4) What are the repayments going to be?
5) Can I afford them?
This is enough to take in let alone raising the spectre of "what will you do if you are unable to work and can't afford the repayments....you need to speak to our insurance specialist."
The client answer IS NOT "I'm so glad there is insurance for that, can you sell me that too?"
The client reaction is a total panic attack and shut down. Thinking of a rational solution is far from the clients mind.
So equip your mortgage broker COI with the following phrases:
"My biggest concerns in securing this loan for you are:
- you get a competitive interest rate
- the fees are minimised
- you get the loan size you need
- you can manage the repayments
- and you can always afford the repayments even if you can't earn an income through accident or illness
Let's start by focusing on the loan"
Because this opening phrase addresses what is on a clients mind, and positively raises a solution to an unspoken sometimes unconscious concern, before refocussing the client on the loan - it is a powerful and compelling positioning statement for the mortgage COI to use.
What it allows is then at any time for the client or the mortgage COI to raise point 5. There is implied permission for either party to raise it.
We'll talk about social proof later and revisiting point 5 next time.
Answer: Help your COI better meet the needs of the client.
The client is concerned about:
1) Is this the best interest rate?
2) Are the fees something I can live with?
3) Am I going to get the size of the loan I need?
4) What are the repayments going to be?
5) Can I afford them?
This is enough to take in let alone raising the spectre of "what will you do if you are unable to work and can't afford the repayments....you need to speak to our insurance specialist."
The client answer IS NOT "I'm so glad there is insurance for that, can you sell me that too?"
The client reaction is a total panic attack and shut down. Thinking of a rational solution is far from the clients mind.
So equip your mortgage broker COI with the following phrases:
"My biggest concerns in securing this loan for you are:
- you get a competitive interest rate
- the fees are minimised
- you get the loan size you need
- you can manage the repayments
- and you can always afford the repayments even if you can't earn an income through accident or illness
Let's start by focusing on the loan"
Because this opening phrase addresses what is on a clients mind, and positively raises a solution to an unspoken sometimes unconscious concern, before refocussing the client on the loan - it is a powerful and compelling positioning statement for the mortgage COI to use.
What it allows is then at any time for the client or the mortgage COI to raise point 5. There is implied permission for either party to raise it.
We'll talk about social proof later and revisiting point 5 next time.
Saturday 3 December 2011
More Referrals From Mortgage Brokers
Repeatedly requesting your mortgage broker COI's to raise the need for insurances/an insurance review during the client interview and loan application process is a sure way to shut down your flow of referrals.
The simple truth is that the mortgage broker is focussed on what the client is focussed on - the loan. Bringing insurance into the conversation in the wrong way at the wrong time jeopardises the loan sale - and hence is the biggest fear for the mortgage broker.
Some mortgage brokers do bring insurance into the conversation and do it brilliantly - but trying to answer why it works for them and not the majority of others - and trying to replicate their success in others - is like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks....not impossible but astoundingly difficult.
What's the solution? It's about focussing on what the mortgage broker and the client want. They bought want the loan deal completed. So the key is helping your mortgage broker COI to convert more sales. By pitching that you have a solution to increasing their loan conversion rate and sales process - you now have their attention ...and for that matter the clients.
Just how you do that - is the topic of my next blog.
The simple truth is that the mortgage broker is focussed on what the client is focussed on - the loan. Bringing insurance into the conversation in the wrong way at the wrong time jeopardises the loan sale - and hence is the biggest fear for the mortgage broker.
Some mortgage brokers do bring insurance into the conversation and do it brilliantly - but trying to answer why it works for them and not the majority of others - and trying to replicate their success in others - is like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks....not impossible but astoundingly difficult.
What's the solution? It's about focussing on what the mortgage broker and the client want. They bought want the loan deal completed. So the key is helping your mortgage broker COI to convert more sales. By pitching that you have a solution to increasing their loan conversion rate and sales process - you now have their attention ...and for that matter the clients.
Just how you do that - is the topic of my next blog.
Tuesday 29 November 2011
The Family Tree - and how to use it!
With intergenerational advice the new buzz (everything old is new again) multiple versions of family trees are being bandied around brightly logo'd and the magic of client engagement begins? Think again. Without a story around using a family tree with a client you look like an intrusive data gathering, ever prospective white shoe sales person.
Some advocate using the family tree as part of a beneficiary dicussion / estate planning discussion. Not a bad idea. And in the context of working for a financial services company that specialises in estate planning - this will work well.....it is what the client is expecting.
But spring this technique on the unsuspecting and you may get an immediate shut down of the conversation or a forced interrogation at best.
Taking a leaf out of the MDRT and in particular Bruce Etherington - may be the best approach I've seen (and I have used this myself). Bruce calls it building your showroom, I call it simply sharing my life with you - so you understand my values, with the hope that you'll reciprocate and share with me your values.
Method
• Use the family tree!
• But use it in this way “I’m going to ask you lots of questions about you and your family, so I can design the right strategy for you. It’s only fair that I share with you my families story and what plans I have for them”
• Share your family tree – who are the key players, who’d disaffected, who’s vulnerable, who’s the glue?
• The one page summary of what you have done to look after your family
• EG: for me $2mill in death cover for me, trust structures set up via will, $1mill on my wife, trauma and childrens trauma (the kids have $150k – to allow me to take time off work to look after them and be there), financial plan for my parents as they near their 80’s and wills and estate to make sure if aged care needed we have thought it through, some work to do with my wife's family as they have complicated trust structures and property in – so it needs sorting, a financial plan for my brother in law and adequate protection, and a relook at my sisters insurances after her brain tumour last year
• “So, tell me about your family, and what plans you have in place for them”
Try it and let me know how you fair.
Some advocate using the family tree as part of a beneficiary dicussion / estate planning discussion. Not a bad idea. And in the context of working for a financial services company that specialises in estate planning - this will work well.....it is what the client is expecting.
But spring this technique on the unsuspecting and you may get an immediate shut down of the conversation or a forced interrogation at best.
Taking a leaf out of the MDRT and in particular Bruce Etherington - may be the best approach I've seen (and I have used this myself). Bruce calls it building your showroom, I call it simply sharing my life with you - so you understand my values, with the hope that you'll reciprocate and share with me your values.
Method
• Use the family tree!
• But use it in this way “I’m going to ask you lots of questions about you and your family, so I can design the right strategy for you. It’s only fair that I share with you my families story and what plans I have for them”
• Share your family tree – who are the key players, who’d disaffected, who’s vulnerable, who’s the glue?
• The one page summary of what you have done to look after your family
• EG: for me $2mill in death cover for me, trust structures set up via will, $1mill on my wife, trauma and childrens trauma (the kids have $150k – to allow me to take time off work to look after them and be there), financial plan for my parents as they near their 80’s and wills and estate to make sure if aged care needed we have thought it through, some work to do with my wife's family as they have complicated trust structures and property in – so it needs sorting, a financial plan for my brother in law and adequate protection, and a relook at my sisters insurances after her brain tumour last year
• “So, tell me about your family, and what plans you have in place for them”
Try it and let me know how you fair.
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Vision Coaching
How can you differentiate when essentially what financial advisers offer from a clients perception of reality is a complicated and confused range of products that they struggle to align with what they actually want.
The problem is exacerbated by clients who can not articulate what it is that they want and then draw the conclusion to define what it is as a consequence that they need.
A survey of clients completed as part of a CVP development programme run for on the surface a successful business uncovered that clients were not referring into the business because they did not understand the process they had been through. And whilst they felt their advisers had technical expertise they could not define in their terms how the strateqy employed was aligned to their end goals.
A slight miscommunication?
Assuming that people understand what it is we say ignores the fact that we as humans take into our understanding our own previous experiences and as such decode messages in line with our reality and perception.
Uncovering the basis of that reality and how clients process information requires questioning and in fact coaching on the patterns that make up a clients world view.
Vision coaching bridges the gap. Having clients in a first meeting define what success looks and feels like, what will be different in their ideal world, what will be the same and what skills and thoughts they can draw on to make a dream a reality provides the clues to enable advisers to define their solutions in a manner that resonates with how individual clients process information and in so doing provides clients with a feeing of certainty, which in our surveys of clients is often described in words like "we felt they understood what was important to us".
The problem is exacerbated by clients who can not articulate what it is that they want and then draw the conclusion to define what it is as a consequence that they need.
A survey of clients completed as part of a CVP development programme run for on the surface a successful business uncovered that clients were not referring into the business because they did not understand the process they had been through. And whilst they felt their advisers had technical expertise they could not define in their terms how the strateqy employed was aligned to their end goals.
A slight miscommunication?
Assuming that people understand what it is we say ignores the fact that we as humans take into our understanding our own previous experiences and as such decode messages in line with our reality and perception.
Uncovering the basis of that reality and how clients process information requires questioning and in fact coaching on the patterns that make up a clients world view.
Vision coaching bridges the gap. Having clients in a first meeting define what success looks and feels like, what will be different in their ideal world, what will be the same and what skills and thoughts they can draw on to make a dream a reality provides the clues to enable advisers to define their solutions in a manner that resonates with how individual clients process information and in so doing provides clients with a feeing of certainty, which in our surveys of clients is often described in words like "we felt they understood what was important to us".
Sunday 20 November 2011
Success using well constructed questionnaires
So what are the tools and questions that can establish a process to replicate the kitchen table engagement of the past?
Formulating a questionnaire makes sense if it is to be adopted as part of a defined client process within your business and for use not only with clients but on your behalf with referral sources.
There are two type of questionnaires or techniques that work effectively: one can be adapted for use by a referral source whilst the other is primarily used as a engagement tool for you and your clients.
An index that offers clients three or more response options on a range of financial and financial structure questions immediately identifies the opportunities for referral or solution construction. By attributing a score to the responses a scale, an index for a clients situation can be recorded and it is the improvement of this score that becomes the driving force for the need for a referral and hence the engagement appointment with your business.
This taps into the motivation of either working towards a higher score or moving away from what a low score depicts as a problematic situation.
To determine what language to engage a client with thereafter depends entirely on what success is in the eyes of the clients.
A lifestyle and success questionnaire fills that next stage and it is this stage that becomes a differentiator in the engagement process. This "vision" coaching session allows you to assess the propensity of the client to follow you advice over a period of time including the critical component of them taking your advice at the outset and also provides you with the information required to enable you to engage them on a variety of levels so that they rightly encode the message that your business and the people in your business are solely focussed on positive outcomes for them. It is they who define what those positive outcomes are in their terms.
This level of respect and the understanding that you understand them and their core focus is what the kitchen table dialogue was always about and is what techniques applied with practice, with diligence and with process can deliver.
Formulating a questionnaire makes sense if it is to be adopted as part of a defined client process within your business and for use not only with clients but on your behalf with referral sources.
There are two type of questionnaires or techniques that work effectively: one can be adapted for use by a referral source whilst the other is primarily used as a engagement tool for you and your clients.
An index that offers clients three or more response options on a range of financial and financial structure questions immediately identifies the opportunities for referral or solution construction. By attributing a score to the responses a scale, an index for a clients situation can be recorded and it is the improvement of this score that becomes the driving force for the need for a referral and hence the engagement appointment with your business.
This taps into the motivation of either working towards a higher score or moving away from what a low score depicts as a problematic situation.
To determine what language to engage a client with thereafter depends entirely on what success is in the eyes of the clients.
A lifestyle and success questionnaire fills that next stage and it is this stage that becomes a differentiator in the engagement process. This "vision" coaching session allows you to assess the propensity of the client to follow you advice over a period of time including the critical component of them taking your advice at the outset and also provides you with the information required to enable you to engage them on a variety of levels so that they rightly encode the message that your business and the people in your business are solely focussed on positive outcomes for them. It is they who define what those positive outcomes are in their terms.
This level of respect and the understanding that you understand them and their core focus is what the kitchen table dialogue was always about and is what techniques applied with practice, with diligence and with process can deliver.
Friday 18 November 2011
Back to the kitchen?
Understanding what is the core focus of individuals when they first start to engage with your business is fundamental in assessing how to interact with them, but it is only one part of the equation.
Without understanding how an individual thinks about things, processes information, makes decisions and how they feel during this process, the standard engagement techniques "taught" in financial services fall well short of the mark in the attempt to deliver a compelling customer experience.
The solution? More information. More information about the customer in regard to their experiences and decision making capabilities and approach. More information about what's important to them. More information about how they see the world. More information about how they see themselves and how they want to see themselves.
20 years ago, when we sat across the kitchen table with a customer, immersed in the evenings goings on, all of this information came at a rush. Trainers call this "rapport". What it is, is being human, being real, being social, being genuinely interested it what is going on about you so you can draw conclusions and confidently make statements about what is really important to someone. It's about knowing people.
With the kitchen table dialogue long gone, technically adept individuals engage clients with theory, spreadsheets, modelling tools and strategy explanations. These are decoded by the people we are wanting to engage as a demonstration of how much we know about the text and how little we know about people, about them.
So do we return to the kitchen table? Maybe. Better still why not apply the kitchen table techniques in an easily replicable solution and process that at it's core identifies how an individual thinks about things, processes information, makes decisions and how they feel during this process.
Maybe that's a questionnaire, an engagement process that's defined and adhered to, a way of doing things, a stated discovery interview. Those tools and methods are actually easy to design. What's really needed is a focus on the person sitting across from you and who they are as a person. The most exciting part about that is you might just learn something about you and them.
Without understanding how an individual thinks about things, processes information, makes decisions and how they feel during this process, the standard engagement techniques "taught" in financial services fall well short of the mark in the attempt to deliver a compelling customer experience.
The solution? More information. More information about the customer in regard to their experiences and decision making capabilities and approach. More information about what's important to them. More information about how they see the world. More information about how they see themselves and how they want to see themselves.
20 years ago, when we sat across the kitchen table with a customer, immersed in the evenings goings on, all of this information came at a rush. Trainers call this "rapport". What it is, is being human, being real, being social, being genuinely interested it what is going on about you so you can draw conclusions and confidently make statements about what is really important to someone. It's about knowing people.
With the kitchen table dialogue long gone, technically adept individuals engage clients with theory, spreadsheets, modelling tools and strategy explanations. These are decoded by the people we are wanting to engage as a demonstration of how much we know about the text and how little we know about people, about them.
So do we return to the kitchen table? Maybe. Better still why not apply the kitchen table techniques in an easily replicable solution and process that at it's core identifies how an individual thinks about things, processes information, makes decisions and how they feel during this process.
Maybe that's a questionnaire, an engagement process that's defined and adhered to, a way of doing things, a stated discovery interview. Those tools and methods are actually easy to design. What's really needed is a focus on the person sitting across from you and who they are as a person. The most exciting part about that is you might just learn something about you and them.
More than profits: The need for a corporate conscience
Business as usual, in isolation, without reference to a social contract where doing the right thing means more than compliance with neo-liberalist norms, will not deliver the type of business success that a profit through principles approach (Haas, R, D. 2002) can deliver, for not only the business but for society at large.
Society at large, is indeed, increasingly demanding higher standards of social responsibility from corporations, that go beyond existing business practices (Florini, A. 2003). In her writings for the Brookings Institution, Senior Fellow, Ann Florini, wrote in 2003, drawing from her book “The Coming Democracy” that corporations had no choice to embed in their economic activities a social contract, otherwise face a public backlash. At that time human rights groups had forced pharmaceutical companies to drop a legal battle which was attempting to protect patent rights but by trying to protect these rights hundreds of thousands of South Africans died of untreated AIDS. Though they had dropped the case the companies found themselves labelled as profiteers that were complicit in the deaths of millions (Florini, A. 2003). Florini wrote that the lack of regulation to protect the rights of workers, communities and the environment, was seeing a powerful movement of consumers, pressure businesses to adopt codes of conduct and socially responsible policies. One
of these codes, the Social Accountability 8000 standards was the first global ethical standard and based on conventions of the International Labour Organisation and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and sought to promote the ethical sourcing and production of goods and services. The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) was seen as a pioneer when in 2008, some 11 years after the setting of the SA8000 standards, they signed up to the code stating that not only was it a demonstration of their commitment to corporate social responsibility, but that it would allow
CBD to build and re-inforce customer and employee loyalty which had the potential for a greater impact on profitability (CPI Financial News, 2008).
There is no guarantee, however, that the adoption of standards or codes of conduct can avert behaviour that is contrary to not only the codes themselves, but of what is good for society and actually meets the ambition of business to make a profit. Focussing only on profit
as a measure of success and by remunerating business leaders on metrics tied to profit, relies on what Lynn Stout, a professor at UCLA, and others call a homo economicus model (Stout, L. A. 2010) that is based on extrinsic motivations such as bonuses that drives selfishness. Treating people to care only about their own material rewards is a fait d‟accompli that they do just that. Some of the biggest corporate scandals in history, (Enron, WorldCom) are associated with a failure of business ethics and financial services companies, especially banks and brokerage houses present
employees with the homo economicus model where they are conflicted between the pursuit of their own material goals and being honest (Ariely, D., Mazar, N. 2006 and Stout, L. A. 2010).
An analysis of the failures in the financial system that led to the global financial crisis highlighted three themes: a flawed method of remuneration, a failure of government, and a lessened focus on risk (Elliott, D. J. 2010). With regard to remuneration, it was the bonuses paid
to bankers tied to annual profits that saw financial incentives paid to investment professionals for generating short term profits regardless of the risk associated with the strategies adopted. More risk was taken with less capital and more debt and the distribution model that was utilised had at its core the intent to make risky financial instruments appear less risky and appear to perform well in the short run. For the sake of profitability, with that being the sole focus and measure of success, people delivered what was required of them and in so doing delivered on the homo economicus model where the higher the external rewards from being dishonest, the higher the degree to which an individual engaged in dishonest behaviour (Ariely, D., Mazar, N. 2006).
There must be more to business success than just profit. Responsible commercial success can be achieved and be built on trust and a social contract that not only delivers to society but to the legal beneficiaries of a corporation, the shareholders. Robert D. Haas of the Levi Strauss family advocated in 2002 after the tech-wreck and the shock of September 11, that corporations had to deliver more than growth in shareholder value and that doing the right thing was about business practices that, protected and supported workers, that cared for the environment and that supported the community through philanthropic activities. Having leaders in the business lead in community service endeavours could see the business win in the battle for attracting talent, improve morale
and generate community good will (Haas, R, D. 2002). Haas's profit through principles approach, and Florini‟s observations that corporations have no choice but to embed such approaches have seen a myriad of companies espouse their commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Businesses like the banks state that their objective is to do the right thing and many have built CSR statements and programmes that give generously to the community. However whilst the focus and measure of success remains solely profits (and the need to increase profits year on year) and whilst remuneration is linked to creating shareholder value, the CSR statements run the risk of being mere aspirations rather than values to be measured, implemented and ultimately true definition of success.
Society at large, is indeed, increasingly demanding higher standards of social responsibility from corporations, that go beyond existing business practices (Florini, A. 2003). In her writings for the Brookings Institution, Senior Fellow, Ann Florini, wrote in 2003, drawing from her book “The Coming Democracy” that corporations had no choice to embed in their economic activities a social contract, otherwise face a public backlash. At that time human rights groups had forced pharmaceutical companies to drop a legal battle which was attempting to protect patent rights but by trying to protect these rights hundreds of thousands of South Africans died of untreated AIDS. Though they had dropped the case the companies found themselves labelled as profiteers that were complicit in the deaths of millions (Florini, A. 2003). Florini wrote that the lack of regulation to protect the rights of workers, communities and the environment, was seeing a powerful movement of consumers, pressure businesses to adopt codes of conduct and socially responsible policies. One
of these codes, the Social Accountability 8000 standards was the first global ethical standard and based on conventions of the International Labour Organisation and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and sought to promote the ethical sourcing and production of goods and services. The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) was seen as a pioneer when in 2008, some 11 years after the setting of the SA8000 standards, they signed up to the code stating that not only was it a demonstration of their commitment to corporate social responsibility, but that it would allow
CBD to build and re-inforce customer and employee loyalty which had the potential for a greater impact on profitability (CPI Financial News, 2008).
There is no guarantee, however, that the adoption of standards or codes of conduct can avert behaviour that is contrary to not only the codes themselves, but of what is good for society and actually meets the ambition of business to make a profit. Focussing only on profit
as a measure of success and by remunerating business leaders on metrics tied to profit, relies on what Lynn Stout, a professor at UCLA, and others call a homo economicus model (Stout, L. A. 2010) that is based on extrinsic motivations such as bonuses that drives selfishness. Treating people to care only about their own material rewards is a fait d‟accompli that they do just that. Some of the biggest corporate scandals in history, (Enron, WorldCom) are associated with a failure of business ethics and financial services companies, especially banks and brokerage houses present
employees with the homo economicus model where they are conflicted between the pursuit of their own material goals and being honest (Ariely, D., Mazar, N. 2006 and Stout, L. A. 2010).
An analysis of the failures in the financial system that led to the global financial crisis highlighted three themes: a flawed method of remuneration, a failure of government, and a lessened focus on risk (Elliott, D. J. 2010). With regard to remuneration, it was the bonuses paid
to bankers tied to annual profits that saw financial incentives paid to investment professionals for generating short term profits regardless of the risk associated with the strategies adopted. More risk was taken with less capital and more debt and the distribution model that was utilised had at its core the intent to make risky financial instruments appear less risky and appear to perform well in the short run. For the sake of profitability, with that being the sole focus and measure of success, people delivered what was required of them and in so doing delivered on the homo economicus model where the higher the external rewards from being dishonest, the higher the degree to which an individual engaged in dishonest behaviour (Ariely, D., Mazar, N. 2006).
There must be more to business success than just profit. Responsible commercial success can be achieved and be built on trust and a social contract that not only delivers to society but to the legal beneficiaries of a corporation, the shareholders. Robert D. Haas of the Levi Strauss family advocated in 2002 after the tech-wreck and the shock of September 11, that corporations had to deliver more than growth in shareholder value and that doing the right thing was about business practices that, protected and supported workers, that cared for the environment and that supported the community through philanthropic activities. Having leaders in the business lead in community service endeavours could see the business win in the battle for attracting talent, improve morale
and generate community good will (Haas, R, D. 2002). Haas's profit through principles approach, and Florini‟s observations that corporations have no choice but to embed such approaches have seen a myriad of companies espouse their commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Businesses like the banks state that their objective is to do the right thing and many have built CSR statements and programmes that give generously to the community. However whilst the focus and measure of success remains solely profits (and the need to increase profits year on year) and whilst remuneration is linked to creating shareholder value, the CSR statements run the risk of being mere aspirations rather than values to be measured, implemented and ultimately true definition of success.
Tuesday 15 November 2011
A little perspective - Australia still lucky
Anyone wanting to talk about something positive with their clients might want to look very closely at the latest work from the Brookings Institution.
In a ten year study on poverty in the US, Brookings research showed that over a ten year span the US saw the poor population grow by 12.3 million people driving the total number of Americans in poverty to an historic high of 46.2 million.
A closer look at the underlying demographics of the poorest of the poor showed an alarming correlation with family break down.
In contrast the Economist Intelligence Unit showed in it's liveability report that 4 out of the 10 most liveable cities were in Australia.
In a new presentation Positive Client Engagement looks at these reports and identifies why it is that people today are feeling more insecure despite living in one of the luckiest countries in the world. Understanding what drives human beings and how we can nuture those in our immediate family and social circle and encourage and acknowledge them when they are at their best is a role that progressive financial advisers are educating clients about and playing out in their interactions with clients.
In a ten year study on poverty in the US, Brookings research showed that over a ten year span the US saw the poor population grow by 12.3 million people driving the total number of Americans in poverty to an historic high of 46.2 million.
A closer look at the underlying demographics of the poorest of the poor showed an alarming correlation with family break down.
In contrast the Economist Intelligence Unit showed in it's liveability report that 4 out of the 10 most liveable cities were in Australia.
In a new presentation Positive Client Engagement looks at these reports and identifies why it is that people today are feeling more insecure despite living in one of the luckiest countries in the world. Understanding what drives human beings and how we can nuture those in our immediate family and social circle and encourage and acknowledge them when they are at their best is a role that progressive financial advisers are educating clients about and playing out in their interactions with clients.
Monday 7 November 2011
Analogy: FOFA and Boxing?
I journeyed of for a boxing session last night and what had been trying to avoid eventuated. Mickey, the boxer, the Irish gym owner, who's thrown many a punch in his time, paired with me.
Half way through the session, I'm ready to throw in the towel, huddle in a corner and rock back and forth. This was tough. I'm ducking and weaving to no avail, getting a few good shots in myself but he'd counter.
To finish of, 20 straight punches, down for 40 burpees, then 40 punches, 40 burpees, 60 punches, 40 burpees and so on until 100 punches and 40 burpees were completed. As I started the last 100 punches, Mickey stops counting. I freak out. How many are left? Will he remember OR will I have to do more? And as I'm about to verbalise "how many?" he starts the countdown, 10, 9, 8....and I actually smile, because at that moment I reckon I have 20 more in me anyway.
Financial planners have taken lots of hits during the FOFA debate. Have they defended themselves well? Probably not. Do they need to get better at that? Probably yes, a lot better. Are they worrying about things that are coming without cause? For some yes. And are some giving up when actually they still have a lot to offer clients and society at large?
For the majority of advisers they are well prepared to take what FOFA dishes out - they already deliver services to clients that will see opt in as a non-event. But do they need to better equip themselves with techniques to defend themselves and counter punch? Absolutely.
Half way through the session, I'm ready to throw in the towel, huddle in a corner and rock back and forth. This was tough. I'm ducking and weaving to no avail, getting a few good shots in myself but he'd counter.
To finish of, 20 straight punches, down for 40 burpees, then 40 punches, 40 burpees, 60 punches, 40 burpees and so on until 100 punches and 40 burpees were completed. As I started the last 100 punches, Mickey stops counting. I freak out. How many are left? Will he remember OR will I have to do more? And as I'm about to verbalise "how many?" he starts the countdown, 10, 9, 8....and I actually smile, because at that moment I reckon I have 20 more in me anyway.
Financial planners have taken lots of hits during the FOFA debate. Have they defended themselves well? Probably not. Do they need to get better at that? Probably yes, a lot better. Are they worrying about things that are coming without cause? For some yes. And are some giving up when actually they still have a lot to offer clients and society at large?
For the majority of advisers they are well prepared to take what FOFA dishes out - they already deliver services to clients that will see opt in as a non-event. But do they need to better equip themselves with techniques to defend themselves and counter punch? Absolutely.
Saturday 5 November 2011
Creating the tangible out of the intangible
Three recent Huthwaite papers : Winning trust - Selling to clients at a premium - What buyer value really means, identified that according to the Huthwaite research clients were willing to pay a premium when a trusted advisor had:
- identified a previously unrecognised problem
- helped realise and unforseen opportunity
- established an unanticipated solution
- served as a implementer of capabilities to contribute to the success of the client
All true. So what's the implementation piece that an advice business can enact?
It depends on the type of business and the type of capabilities the business is willing to build to serve the businesses way to play. That is the business needs to have a pitch for what it is that they do and how they create value and then be willing to develop 3 to 6 capabilities that deliver on that promise, that are best of breed.
In regard to that initial leap of faith a client must take, it is those businesses that are clear in articulating the value they have provided for other clients - story telling - and have a process for identifying the unrecognised needs of clients- that have maximised the possibility of success post FOFA.
Tools like the Wealth Management Index developed by Positive Client Engagement help to simply identify those unrecognised problems that Huthwaites study confirms maximises the clients propensity to pay premium for services.
- identified a previously unrecognised problem
- helped realise and unforseen opportunity
- established an unanticipated solution
- served as a implementer of capabilities to contribute to the success of the client
All true. So what's the implementation piece that an advice business can enact?
It depends on the type of business and the type of capabilities the business is willing to build to serve the businesses way to play. That is the business needs to have a pitch for what it is that they do and how they create value and then be willing to develop 3 to 6 capabilities that deliver on that promise, that are best of breed.
In regard to that initial leap of faith a client must take, it is those businesses that are clear in articulating the value they have provided for other clients - story telling - and have a process for identifying the unrecognised needs of clients- that have maximised the possibility of success post FOFA.
Tools like the Wealth Management Index developed by Positive Client Engagement help to simply identify those unrecognised problems that Huthwaites study confirms maximises the clients propensity to pay premium for services.
Thursday 3 November 2011
Coming soon - Positive Client Engagement on YouTube
A series of videos showcasing financial advisers from across Australia as they speak about the positive differences they are making in their clients lives.
Why I Love Financial Advisers
Financial advisers in Australia provide the foundations in the lives of clients that enables these fortunate Australians to plan and embrace lifes possibilities.
Sadly with only 2 out of 10 Australians seeking financial advice the fulfillment of the dreams of many Australians is not within reach.
Labelling advisers negatively that has sadly occured on occassion during the evolution of FOFA does nothing to address the negative economic and social consequences that a lack of advice for Australians delivers.
Many Australians are fortunate in this country to be able to move through the hierarchy of Maslow's needs from providing the basics for our families through to achieving our dreams. Tony Robbins talks about these needs in modern terms as the need for certainty, for positive uncertainty, connection, significance, growth and contribution.
This is what financial advisers provide for clients - the foundation certainty of a financial plan (that hopefully includes insurance), the freedom then to embrace lifes variety, connection to family and significance in the family circle as a consequence and growth and contribution as these clients become advocates and spread the word about good financial advice.
Sadly with only 2 out of 10 Australians seeking financial advice the fulfillment of the dreams of many Australians is not within reach.
Labelling advisers negatively that has sadly occured on occassion during the evolution of FOFA does nothing to address the negative economic and social consequences that a lack of advice for Australians delivers.
Many Australians are fortunate in this country to be able to move through the hierarchy of Maslow's needs from providing the basics for our families through to achieving our dreams. Tony Robbins talks about these needs in modern terms as the need for certainty, for positive uncertainty, connection, significance, growth and contribution.
This is what financial advisers provide for clients - the foundation certainty of a financial plan (that hopefully includes insurance), the freedom then to embrace lifes variety, connection to family and significance in the family circle as a consequence and growth and contribution as these clients become advocates and spread the word about good financial advice.
Monday 31 October 2011
Scott McKain's What Customers Really Want
I recently read Scott McKain's book "What Customers Really Want" - how to bridge the gap between what yor organisation offers and what your clients crave.
With FOFA and all that it may present perhaps nearing it's final stages and the implementation date of July 2012 ever closing in, McKain's message is even more relevant.
But for most businesses it's hopefully not a panic to re-invent themselves. Rather it's a re-focus and a re-telling of the stories that the business already has at it's disposal.
McKain quotes Hilgers and Matlock in their book The Power of Agreement and their five steps to customer satisfaction:
- reliability
- responsiveness
- assurance
- empathy
- tangibles
In financial services being there for clients, returning calls, a comfort letter after SOA sign-up, demonstrating social proof using past client stories and making it all relevant with client dreamboards, client referral and reward nights - deliver on all of these.
What else does your business do to deliver on these elements?
With FOFA and all that it may present perhaps nearing it's final stages and the implementation date of July 2012 ever closing in, McKain's message is even more relevant.
But for most businesses it's hopefully not a panic to re-invent themselves. Rather it's a re-focus and a re-telling of the stories that the business already has at it's disposal.
McKain quotes Hilgers and Matlock in their book The Power of Agreement and their five steps to customer satisfaction:
- reliability
- responsiveness
- assurance
- empathy
- tangibles
In financial services being there for clients, returning calls, a comfort letter after SOA sign-up, demonstrating social proof using past client stories and making it all relevant with client dreamboards, client referral and reward nights - deliver on all of these.
What else does your business do to deliver on these elements?
Saturday 29 October 2011
What is "THAT"? Building a business with positive engagement.
I can’t say “THAT” to my clients!
Well actually, you need to and you should. Why? Because the businesses that are saying “THAT” to their clients are successfully creating communities of advocates that have become in most instances an outsourced marketing and public relations success story.
What “THAT” is, is paradoxically simple and complicated.
“THAT” is the engagement of clients in a positive way. It is engagement in a manner that evokes positive emotional responses from not only clients but within the business itself. It is flexible and timely and yet carefully considered and does not deviate from the core of the business and what the business understands is its way to face the market and deliver on its promises.
At the end of the day “THAT” is a philosophy, a way of doing things that answers the core and often unconscious needs of human beings. Meeting those needs and in fact applying replicable business processes to meet those needs not only makes sense commercially but also maximises the possibility that you and your staff will enjoy what it is that they do. You will find new ways to articulate your uniqueness and stand out in an ever increasingly commoditised market place.
How do clients react? Why is it difficult to enact? What are the results?
Stay tuned.
Well actually, you need to and you should. Why? Because the businesses that are saying “THAT” to their clients are successfully creating communities of advocates that have become in most instances an outsourced marketing and public relations success story.
What “THAT” is, is paradoxically simple and complicated.
“THAT” is the engagement of clients in a positive way. It is engagement in a manner that evokes positive emotional responses from not only clients but within the business itself. It is flexible and timely and yet carefully considered and does not deviate from the core of the business and what the business understands is its way to face the market and deliver on its promises.
At the end of the day “THAT” is a philosophy, a way of doing things that answers the core and often unconscious needs of human beings. Meeting those needs and in fact applying replicable business processes to meet those needs not only makes sense commercially but also maximises the possibility that you and your staff will enjoy what it is that they do. You will find new ways to articulate your uniqueness and stand out in an ever increasingly commoditised market place.
How do clients react? Why is it difficult to enact? What are the results?
Stay tuned.
I Can't Say THAT To My Clients
Afternoon!
So what's this all about? This is a site dedicated to those providing outstanding client experiences in the field of financial services - in particular financial advisers.
Anything that can assist financial advisers such as client value proposition development, capability development the pro's and con's of utilising social media etc etc will find a home here.
I imagine that it will also become a site where professional advisers cn share ideas via the YouTube channel that will be created for advisers to be interviewed by Positive Client Engagement on just that very subject - what is it that they are doing that is changing the lives of everyday Australians.
So what's this all about? This is a site dedicated to those providing outstanding client experiences in the field of financial services - in particular financial advisers.
Anything that can assist financial advisers such as client value proposition development, capability development the pro's and con's of utilising social media etc etc will find a home here.
I imagine that it will also become a site where professional advisers cn share ideas via the YouTube channel that will be created for advisers to be interviewed by Positive Client Engagement on just that very subject - what is it that they are doing that is changing the lives of everyday Australians.
Friday 28 October 2011
Social networking has had a marked influence on society and re-defined social relationships via the speed and expanse of the networks themselves.
The social networking experience is not quarantined to the young, nor are there generational gaps turning into chasms of divide. Rather human beings are simply being human and exhibiting their social nature, but on an accelerated trajectory. An examination of recent social networking activity provides evidence of the direct impact on social relationships, corporate policy and even regime change. And a deeper examination of how social network engagement, of customers, by corporations, is changing our purchasing decision making process, supports a view that social networks will ultimately be the mechanism by which we communicate.
The depth and speed of recruitment, to a cause, via social networking is illustrated by examples of social networks facilitating fundamental human behaviour but on a geometric scale. In August 2011, during the aftermath of the London riots, the manufacturer of the Blackberry
announced that it would co-operate with Scotland Yard and their investigation into individuals who had posted inflammatory messages on Blackberry Messenger and social networking sites such
as Twitter and Facebook (Halliday, J., 2011). In March 2011, Syrian eyewitnesses to the regimes crackdown on protests, communicated to the world what was happening through a mix of mobile phone video accounts that were uploaded to YouTube (Hassan, N.,2011). By the end
of 2009 after over seven million views of a video United breaks guitars United Airlines changed their baggage damage policy and compensated the songwriter and the videos creator Dave Carroll, for the guitar damaged by United baggage handlers (Li. C., 2010. Open Leadership.
Chapter 1, Why giving up control is inevitable, pp3-5). And in their book The Hyper- Social Organisation, Gossieaux and Moran (2010) wrote, how Jeep through its marketing initiatives had found a tribe, a tribe of young and old, sharing a passion for adventure.
A common thread in these events, to para-phrase Gossieaux and Moran (2010),
is that social networks are not about the network or the technology. Social networks are about the social nature of humankind, and via social networks humans can join tribes that are not bound by geography, and belong to multiple tribes. What Gossieaux and Moran (2010) call
the Hyper-Social shift, is as Dr Robert Cialdini identified, the playing out of principles of social influence, with technology allowing natural social behaviour to develop on a scale never seen before in history. The technology of social networking has delivered ease and speed of
engagement and like historical tribes, social networking tribes are not bound by age, but formed with shared beliefs, experiences and commonalities.
The phenomenon of social networking is important as it has changed the mechanism via which we connect in an irreversible way. As to why this is happening now, in her book, Groundswell, Charlene Li (2008) describes the rise of social networks as resulting from the collision of three forces; people, technology and economics. This is an astute viewpoint as it
is true that people have always formed social movements or connected with those who share common beliefs. Technology and access to it, is common place especially in the Western world and there is money to be made for those who can tap into and direct the cyber traffic.
Corporations, according to Gossieaux and Moran (2010), have had to adapt to this new world, realising now that two-thirds of all buying decisions are made based on information that does not come from the company itself. The face of marketing has changed with the process before social networking at the control of the company. Now after social networking , lead generation is about the company becoming accessible on the web and being helpful in social network conversations. Product development is becoming a social process, with companies from Dell to garden tool manufacturer Fiskars fostering social network communities to innovate product development. This leads to sales, and as Gossieaux and Moran (2010) note, the Fiskateer community of 5000, increased store sales by
300% in 18 months.
Some would have us believe that this social and corporate revolution is the domain of the 18 to 29 year old demographic. In Josh Salman.s 2009 article he cited mobile sales as an example that younger peoples purchases are predicated on accessibility via handsets to social network sites, whilst older generations desire a basic communication tool. This may be the case but in Shirley Duglin Kennedys 2009 article, Getting a Little Perspective on Social Networking, she reported that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook was women aged 55 and over. And while Charlene Li in Groundswell, notes that people over 50 don't participate in social
networking at the same levels of younger consumers, her data shows that baby boomers participate as creators and maintainers of websites and blogs indicating that several million older people are actively involved in social networking.
Some corporations understand this as described by Gossieaux and Moran (2010), and see that social networking success, is not a pitch to demographics but a support of commonalities and passions in people, such as freedom and off-road adventures for Jeep or more obtusely scrapbooking
for the Fiskateers. Do these connections mean that people have become closer? Professor Nicholas Christakis in an address to freshman at Harvard in 2011 (Harvard Gazette, 2011), doesn't think so, arguing that Facebook has changed the meaning of the word friend, suggesting that at best our
Facebook friends are mere acquaintances belying the social connectivity that social networks purport to facilitate. But did Tottenham residents feel closer to their community during the cleanup where students through to retirees came together organised by a Twitter campaign? The answer through the emotion, a resounding YES (Lawless, J., 2011).
Social networks have re-defined social relationships and in doing so are having a marked influence on society. It is not a re-creation of what it means to be social, rather social networks have amplified the inherent human processes of socialisation providing a greater capacity and accessibility for human beings, young and old to socialise. From community bonding, supporting those in need, protesting injustices and fostering our consumerism, social networks allow humans to engage at a level not seen before in human history. This has adverse consequences and as the Tottenham riots illustrated, via social networks it is far easier to recruit the disaffected. The most likely outcome is that the future mechanisms by which; communities form, we obtain our information, we find new friends and we make decisions from the important to the mundane, will
be the lasting change to our social relationships. The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg best describes the vision of how we will interact as a species in the future. In his 2010 interview with
Zuckerberg, in The New Yorker, reporter Jose Antonio Vargas, noted Zuckerberg's vision that Facebook ultimately becomes a layer underneath almost every electronic device and simply by turning on your television you will see what your friends are watching, and make decisions based on what your Facebook friends have recommended. The lasting change on society may be that one day all word of mouth is via Facebook.
The social networking experience is not quarantined to the young, nor are there generational gaps turning into chasms of divide. Rather human beings are simply being human and exhibiting their social nature, but on an accelerated trajectory. An examination of recent social networking activity provides evidence of the direct impact on social relationships, corporate policy and even regime change. And a deeper examination of how social network engagement, of customers, by corporations, is changing our purchasing decision making process, supports a view that social networks will ultimately be the mechanism by which we communicate.
The depth and speed of recruitment, to a cause, via social networking is illustrated by examples of social networks facilitating fundamental human behaviour but on a geometric scale. In August 2011, during the aftermath of the London riots, the manufacturer of the Blackberry
announced that it would co-operate with Scotland Yard and their investigation into individuals who had posted inflammatory messages on Blackberry Messenger and social networking sites such
as Twitter and Facebook (Halliday, J., 2011). In March 2011, Syrian eyewitnesses to the regimes crackdown on protests, communicated to the world what was happening through a mix of mobile phone video accounts that were uploaded to YouTube (Hassan, N.,2011). By the end
of 2009 after over seven million views of a video United breaks guitars United Airlines changed their baggage damage policy and compensated the songwriter and the videos creator Dave Carroll, for the guitar damaged by United baggage handlers (Li. C., 2010. Open Leadership.
Chapter 1, Why giving up control is inevitable, pp3-5). And in their book The Hyper- Social Organisation, Gossieaux and Moran (2010) wrote, how Jeep through its marketing initiatives had found a tribe, a tribe of young and old, sharing a passion for adventure.
A common thread in these events, to para-phrase Gossieaux and Moran (2010),
is that social networks are not about the network or the technology. Social networks are about the social nature of humankind, and via social networks humans can join tribes that are not bound by geography, and belong to multiple tribes. What Gossieaux and Moran (2010) call
the Hyper-Social shift, is as Dr Robert Cialdini identified, the playing out of principles of social influence, with technology allowing natural social behaviour to develop on a scale never seen before in history. The technology of social networking has delivered ease and speed of
engagement and like historical tribes, social networking tribes are not bound by age, but formed with shared beliefs, experiences and commonalities.
The phenomenon of social networking is important as it has changed the mechanism via which we connect in an irreversible way. As to why this is happening now, in her book, Groundswell, Charlene Li (2008) describes the rise of social networks as resulting from the collision of three forces; people, technology and economics. This is an astute viewpoint as it
is true that people have always formed social movements or connected with those who share common beliefs. Technology and access to it, is common place especially in the Western world and there is money to be made for those who can tap into and direct the cyber traffic.
Corporations, according to Gossieaux and Moran (2010), have had to adapt to this new world, realising now that two-thirds of all buying decisions are made based on information that does not come from the company itself. The face of marketing has changed with the process before social networking at the control of the company. Now after social networking , lead generation is about the company becoming accessible on the web and being helpful in social network conversations. Product development is becoming a social process, with companies from Dell to garden tool manufacturer Fiskars fostering social network communities to innovate product development. This leads to sales, and as Gossieaux and Moran (2010) note, the Fiskateer community of 5000, increased store sales by
300% in 18 months.
Some would have us believe that this social and corporate revolution is the domain of the 18 to 29 year old demographic. In Josh Salman.s 2009 article he cited mobile sales as an example that younger peoples purchases are predicated on accessibility via handsets to social network sites, whilst older generations desire a basic communication tool. This may be the case but in Shirley Duglin Kennedys 2009 article, Getting a Little Perspective on Social Networking, she reported that the fastest growing demographic on Facebook was women aged 55 and over. And while Charlene Li in Groundswell, notes that people over 50 don't participate in social
networking at the same levels of younger consumers, her data shows that baby boomers participate as creators and maintainers of websites and blogs indicating that several million older people are actively involved in social networking.
Some corporations understand this as described by Gossieaux and Moran (2010), and see that social networking success, is not a pitch to demographics but a support of commonalities and passions in people, such as freedom and off-road adventures for Jeep or more obtusely scrapbooking
for the Fiskateers. Do these connections mean that people have become closer? Professor Nicholas Christakis in an address to freshman at Harvard in 2011 (Harvard Gazette, 2011), doesn't think so, arguing that Facebook has changed the meaning of the word friend, suggesting that at best our
Facebook friends are mere acquaintances belying the social connectivity that social networks purport to facilitate. But did Tottenham residents feel closer to their community during the cleanup where students through to retirees came together organised by a Twitter campaign? The answer through the emotion, a resounding YES (Lawless, J., 2011).
Social networks have re-defined social relationships and in doing so are having a marked influence on society. It is not a re-creation of what it means to be social, rather social networks have amplified the inherent human processes of socialisation providing a greater capacity and accessibility for human beings, young and old to socialise. From community bonding, supporting those in need, protesting injustices and fostering our consumerism, social networks allow humans to engage at a level not seen before in human history. This has adverse consequences and as the Tottenham riots illustrated, via social networks it is far easier to recruit the disaffected. The most likely outcome is that the future mechanisms by which; communities form, we obtain our information, we find new friends and we make decisions from the important to the mundane, will
be the lasting change to our social relationships. The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg best describes the vision of how we will interact as a species in the future. In his 2010 interview with
Zuckerberg, in The New Yorker, reporter Jose Antonio Vargas, noted Zuckerberg's vision that Facebook ultimately becomes a layer underneath almost every electronic device and simply by turning on your television you will see what your friends are watching, and make decisions based on what your Facebook friends have recommended. The lasting change on society may be that one day all word of mouth is via Facebook.
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