Critical to your strategy for 2012 in a financial planning business is connecting with clients in ways that maximise the possibility that you engage with them and capture their focus, loyalty and advocacy.
If you have been following Positive Client Engagement you would have picked up several ways to engage with clients that do not require you to suddenly change your personality but rather require that you enhance your business processes.
It's time now to step it up for 2012. This year is about building and revolutionising your business and setting in place a methodology that will deliver you unprecedented sales rewards whilst delivering positive client outcomes.
You've probably heard of a multitude of motivational and behavioural theories that you can use to engage clients?
Maslow, ERG theory, other needs hierarchy theories.
Today, motivation specialists have to a degree shifted as a result of neuroscience discoveries to consider more complete approaches to the innate drives of human beings. (McShane, S. and Travaglione, T. Organisational Behaviour on the Pacific Rim, 2nd Edition, 2008).
Harvard professors Lawrence and Nohria proposed the four drive theory.
The theory organises human drives into four categories and suggest that these drives are innate and are hardwired and are pro-active - that is we regularly try and fulfil these drives.
The drives are:
The drive to acquire: to take control, build and accumulate, to get recognition, status, need for esteem. And this drive is INSATIABLE.
The drive to bond: to form relationships, and align with social groups
The drive to learn: to know and understand
The drive to defend: to protect ourselves, our acquisitions - and this drive is triggered by THREAT.
So how do you apply this to your business? Build your deliverables - your service offering, your CVP to meet these drives for clients.
The drive to acquire:
- you need to tap in and uncover a clients dreams, hopes and ambitions. The best way to do this is to engage them about what it is that they love and what it is that they do that makes them feel good. Your standard fact find just won't do this for you. You NEED a lifestyle questionnaire. Contact Positive Client Engagement to procure one!!!
The drive to bond:
- create "clubs" within your client base. People with like interests, occupations. Facilitate networks within these groups and they will attract other like people who are presently not clients and they will become your clients as the network that you are facilitating builds.
- give back to the community and involve your client base - do community focussed activities with your clients. Volunteer with your clients and enlist them to enact the values of community and social awareness.
- make your clients aware of the social activities and events that are in their special interests - this can be done using technology - social media and the like with less than two hours a week effort
- tailor your newsletter to highlight all the above
- send your clients gifts that are of value to them in context to the social groups / special interests they have
The drive to learn:
- educate your clients - provide them with third party material that educates them on financial and insurance issues - use the resources that this industry provides to educate and dispel myths about finances, investing and insurances
- run tailored seminars that are in line with your clients wants - and can be subsetted into the "clubs" you have created above
- providing them the resources to make educated decisions is critical in meeting these needs
- write a blog or an informative newsletter - a blog is preferable - and have this on your website - make your website a resource centre for your clients - have a client log in where they can find tools and information to assist them
The drive to defend:
- give them the statistics......do your research and find issues that you are passionate about...aged care, inadequate retirement funding, underinsurance...changing family demographics, social issues,
- make them aware of the risks they know they face but don't speak of
- show them how they can defend themselves
- be passionate about it
- share your claims stories
- get emotional and connect in a profound way with your clients
That's it. There's a lot there for you to do. It's not easy. We never said it was going to be. It requires your energy, your drive, your motivation. But most of all it requires your passion.
We'll help. Our book, I Can't Say That to my Clients : Positively Connecting Your Business to Fulfill Your Clients Unspoken Needs, will be available soon together with two questionnaires to uncover these needs, from clients and referral sources, and generate unprecedented sales results. The book is a step by step guide on how to enhance your client proposition.
For early bird inquiries please contact Positive Client Engagement.
No comments:
Post a Comment