So we've provided you the template for a calendar of events to input into your 2013 business planning.
There's even a short YouTube posting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbbQzW-flB4
Apologies for the angle we filmed that on!!!
But what are the events that you might consider?
Here's a few that we'll investigate individually for you over the following weeks but as a starter.
Ideas For 2013
1) Accountant / COI engagement : thank you event or kick start to new referral sources / or the year : take on a more social angle but highlighting the importance of the relationship and collaboration
2) Accountant / COI education session : use a business succession lawyer and educate on small business issues and case studies / add a claims case study : now you've got them thinking!
3) Client night: value add with speakers / topics that your top clients will find engaging : ask them to bring a friend : tie it into building their networks as well
4) Client communications : create an integrated communication campaign : incorporating all modes of communication: direct mail / flyers / social media : yes you might start listening via social networks : answer topical issues : create awareness : fulfil a need
5) Engage your trusted providers/suppliers for collaboration on client opportunity identification ie: work on files together and get the best outcome for your clients : that may not always be your number one provider so you have to trust whomever you collaborate with to give you honest assessments! Examples: look at specific subsets eg: SMSF and design ways to get more of these clients etc etc.
6) Use tele-underwriting and save up to 4 hours per application (get a day back a week!)
Look at group insurance opportunities in your client base
7) Look at adding a direct insurance offer on your website
8) Meet and spend time with your suppliers/product providers : do they run in house sessions where you can meet, engage and interact with your providers : do they have special events to engage : the more they know about your business the more creative suggestions and help you will / should get.......so share your 2013 vision and watch people line up to make it a reality for you.
We'll investigate each of these for you over the coming weeks.
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Thursday, 27 December 2012
Business Plan Template : A Guide to Pro-Active Client Engagement
So the end of the year is nigh and if you are really serious about making 2013 a success, then it is highly likely that you have already thought about your key client engagement plans for next year and quite possibly planned out the first three months of 2013.
No?
What are you waiting for??!!!
Imagine ending 2012 knowing exactly what the next twelve months looked like from a client engagement point of view in regard to a series of set plays.
Activity and responsiveness are of course key, but having a structured plan to support your day to day, business as usual activity can provide a clarity and preparation that your competitors just have not got around to doing.
The attached template is not an answer to your client engagement dreams but what it is, is a simple yet powerful tool to illustrate just how well planned your year is, or conversely highlights that your client engagement planning is not up to scratch.
So in 2013 give yourself, your team and your clients the gift of leadership, pro-activity and positive client experiences that will should you be disciplined enough to follow through deliver success in 2013.
You can access the template from the attached link.
No?
What are you waiting for??!!!
Imagine ending 2012 knowing exactly what the next twelve months looked like from a client engagement point of view in regard to a series of set plays.
Activity and responsiveness are of course key, but having a structured plan to support your day to day, business as usual activity can provide a clarity and preparation that your competitors just have not got around to doing.
The attached template is not an answer to your client engagement dreams but what it is, is a simple yet powerful tool to illustrate just how well planned your year is, or conversely highlights that your client engagement planning is not up to scratch.
So in 2013 give yourself, your team and your clients the gift of leadership, pro-activity and positive client experiences that will should you be disciplined enough to follow through deliver success in 2013.
You can access the template from the attached link.
Friday, 21 December 2012
#enjoy2013 How enjoyment, valued content and belief mark success in 2013
In reviewing the year there is one thing that is evident.....it went really quickly!!
PCE struggled to reflect as is usually our daily discipline as the pace seemed to quicken especially in the second half.
As we breathe a collective sigh of relief, the chance to regroup and reposition has given us our buzz word for 2013 : Enjoyment.
The key to our success in 2013 will be simply : enjoyment. Enjoying the process the engagement, the reflections, the interactions.
This then defines what content we want to share with clients. What is it that they will enjoy hearing about that will provide enjoyment in their business and to their clients.
Delivering such content with a process that we are currently mapping out then delivers the third aspect : belief.
How can we not succeed if we are enjoying what we are doing, delivering content that is adding value and changing positively the way our clients interact?
And make no mistake this translates to our personal world as well. Enjoyment of those around us, bringing value and genuiness to our interactions with all we come into contact with and belief in them and ourselves that we are shaping and defining something more than ourselves but we are part of something much more important than us in isolation : humanity.
So what are your plans #enjoy2013
PCE struggled to reflect as is usually our daily discipline as the pace seemed to quicken especially in the second half.
As we breathe a collective sigh of relief, the chance to regroup and reposition has given us our buzz word for 2013 : Enjoyment.
The key to our success in 2013 will be simply : enjoyment. Enjoying the process the engagement, the reflections, the interactions.
This then defines what content we want to share with clients. What is it that they will enjoy hearing about that will provide enjoyment in their business and to their clients.
Delivering such content with a process that we are currently mapping out then delivers the third aspect : belief.
How can we not succeed if we are enjoying what we are doing, delivering content that is adding value and changing positively the way our clients interact?
And make no mistake this translates to our personal world as well. Enjoyment of those around us, bringing value and genuiness to our interactions with all we come into contact with and belief in them and ourselves that we are shaping and defining something more than ourselves but we are part of something much more important than us in isolation : humanity.
So what are your plans #enjoy2013
Thursday, 13 December 2012
Social Media Success for Financial Planning
We had a great conversation today with an adviser who posed the question : what have financial planning businesses done to be successful with social media and has that activity generated business?
We see many advisers who have dabbled.
They have a twitter account, Facebook - but it's not a business site more an extension of their social world and blended with clients often it's happened very much by accident, they have a linked in profile and sometimes they've written an article on financial planning and posted it on a company site and perhaps tweeted it.
Maybe they've been a little bit more advanced and using Hootesuite that blog has been tweeted and made its way to Facebook, where it's scored some likes.
What next?
The question: "what next" is actually the wrong question...."what should I do first" is the right way to go.
Lon Safko, The Fusion Marketing Bible, 2013, discusses the three major tools of social media, what he calls "the Trinity" - blogging, micro blogging and social networks.
Blogging is vital as not only does it improve SEO results but provided your content is what your desired audience values then you hit the mark as becoming someone trusted and regarded as a subject matter expert.
Directing people to your blog via Twitter espouses Safko, works provided you have great content and content that is original or adds value. Retweets and tweets about articles might provide information to your followers but for originality or interpretation and WIFM why wouldn't they go direct to the original authors?
Either by making your content original or actually writing an opinion piece on a topic that is relevant to your target audience that actually adds value by making it easier for them to understand a topic makes you ...useful....followable.
Finally all this activity is great but pointless unless you can generate a community that you can engage, share with, bond with, consult and learn about - then you don't have a base to build your business from.
So actually the first step is to decide ....who is your market? Where do they congregate? What do they follow? What are they interested in? What are the concerns they have?
It's about listening. In the Hypersocial Organisation, Gossieaux and Moran gave countless examples of corporations listening first to their target market before engaging successfully versus those who embarked on a social media strategy that was quickly seen as a marketing push.
Demonstrating that you care, understand, empathise and share similar values to your target market are critical factors in successfully engaging them to use your services.
It has to be genuine else it is easily seen through.
So the answer to the question posed?
Businesses in financial planning that have successfully used social media have:
- listened to what their clients and people like their clients want
- they have created original content based on those insights
- they have communicated that content via blogging and micro blogging
- they have engaged their followers via Facebook - appropriately separated from their personal page - and twitter
- they follow people who can add value to thier target market and to their own business
- they have engaged their followers by doing what social media is designed for : communicating and engaging
- they then have offered face to face group engagements on the topics that generate a buzz
- they have attracted friends of followers
- they are consequently seen as leaders, opinion leaders, subject matter experts....someone who can be trusted ......
- they collaborate and contribute
And by doing this they have built loyalty and their business.
We see many advisers who have dabbled.
They have a twitter account, Facebook - but it's not a business site more an extension of their social world and blended with clients often it's happened very much by accident, they have a linked in profile and sometimes they've written an article on financial planning and posted it on a company site and perhaps tweeted it.
Maybe they've been a little bit more advanced and using Hootesuite that blog has been tweeted and made its way to Facebook, where it's scored some likes.
What next?
The question: "what next" is actually the wrong question...."what should I do first" is the right way to go.
Lon Safko, The Fusion Marketing Bible, 2013, discusses the three major tools of social media, what he calls "the Trinity" - blogging, micro blogging and social networks.
Blogging is vital as not only does it improve SEO results but provided your content is what your desired audience values then you hit the mark as becoming someone trusted and regarded as a subject matter expert.
Directing people to your blog via Twitter espouses Safko, works provided you have great content and content that is original or adds value. Retweets and tweets about articles might provide information to your followers but for originality or interpretation and WIFM why wouldn't they go direct to the original authors?
Either by making your content original or actually writing an opinion piece on a topic that is relevant to your target audience that actually adds value by making it easier for them to understand a topic makes you ...useful....followable.
Finally all this activity is great but pointless unless you can generate a community that you can engage, share with, bond with, consult and learn about - then you don't have a base to build your business from.
So actually the first step is to decide ....who is your market? Where do they congregate? What do they follow? What are they interested in? What are the concerns they have?
It's about listening. In the Hypersocial Organisation, Gossieaux and Moran gave countless examples of corporations listening first to their target market before engaging successfully versus those who embarked on a social media strategy that was quickly seen as a marketing push.
Demonstrating that you care, understand, empathise and share similar values to your target market are critical factors in successfully engaging them to use your services.
It has to be genuine else it is easily seen through.
So the answer to the question posed?
Businesses in financial planning that have successfully used social media have:
- listened to what their clients and people like their clients want
- they have created original content based on those insights
- they have communicated that content via blogging and micro blogging
- they have engaged their followers via Facebook - appropriately separated from their personal page - and twitter
- they follow people who can add value to thier target market and to their own business
- they have engaged their followers by doing what social media is designed for : communicating and engaging
- they then have offered face to face group engagements on the topics that generate a buzz
- they have attracted friends of followers
- they are consequently seen as leaders, opinion leaders, subject matter experts....someone who can be trusted ......
- they collaborate and contribute
And by doing this they have built loyalty and their business.
Friday, 7 December 2012
Do you - have a claims service?
When the rubber hits the road - that promise - when your client first took out their policy for be it life, total disablement, critical illness (trauma cover) or income protection - that promise that sadly for your client now, they or their family need you to deliver on.
That worst case scenario now facing them, is your moment the true test of your business.
What do you do? What are you prepared to do? Are you prepared?
This can not be an administrative process. This is a human interaction that transcends your other client engagement protocols.
Are you prepared?
Do you have at your disposal :
- committed empathetic staff
- people trained to deal with grief
- a process of engagement
- a network of specialists: counsellors, physical therapists, builders, car services, food delivery, florists, child minders, caterers, doctors, handymen services, travel agents
- what can you deploy immediately to help your client with whatever they need
- can you anticipate and deliver
- do you want to?
And that last question is key.
Claims take an enormous commitment from an advice business. Complicated claims can focus the business on nothing else and so we can understand why some businesses are moving to a fee for service for claims management.
But what is claims management?
Is it simply getting the money to the client as quickly as possible?
Many would argue that yes that is the purpose.
For us that is the minimum. And if that is what you are planning on charging for.....well we want to say shame on you ....but we do get business...we've been there....we've experienced dealing with claims.....but we always wanted to do so much more.
To be that central hub, to organise all of the things our clients need to get better, to recover, to get through the grief, to deal with the loss, to share the time left with a loved one.
Our promise to clients is to provide the financial framework for them to live their dreams and to support that with a back up plan in the worst case scenario.
Should not then the promise be to deliver as many of those dreams as possible perhaps as merely being a facilitator - and sometimes being so much more.
What sort of claims service do you want to provide?
That worst case scenario now facing them, is your moment the true test of your business.
What do you do? What are you prepared to do? Are you prepared?
This can not be an administrative process. This is a human interaction that transcends your other client engagement protocols.
Are you prepared?
Do you have at your disposal :
- committed empathetic staff
- people trained to deal with grief
- a process of engagement
- a network of specialists: counsellors, physical therapists, builders, car services, food delivery, florists, child minders, caterers, doctors, handymen services, travel agents
- what can you deploy immediately to help your client with whatever they need
- can you anticipate and deliver
- do you want to?
And that last question is key.
Claims take an enormous commitment from an advice business. Complicated claims can focus the business on nothing else and so we can understand why some businesses are moving to a fee for service for claims management.
But what is claims management?
Is it simply getting the money to the client as quickly as possible?
Many would argue that yes that is the purpose.
For us that is the minimum. And if that is what you are planning on charging for.....well we want to say shame on you ....but we do get business...we've been there....we've experienced dealing with claims.....but we always wanted to do so much more.
To be that central hub, to organise all of the things our clients need to get better, to recover, to get through the grief, to deal with the loss, to share the time left with a loved one.
Our promise to clients is to provide the financial framework for them to live their dreams and to support that with a back up plan in the worst case scenario.
Should not then the promise be to deliver as many of those dreams as possible perhaps as merely being a facilitator - and sometimes being so much more.
What sort of claims service do you want to provide?
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
How to Sell Insurance For Children
Selling child trauma cover : an insurance option under a policy for a parent - that provides a payment should that child be diagnosed or suffer from a specific listed event must be a really hard thing to sell.
We have to believe that because we are told constantly by advisers that they find it a hard conversation to start with parents.
We have to believe that because when we look at the data : the number of policies that have child trauma attached is incredibly low : single digits in percentage terms.
Yet when we look at our own families surely we acknowledge that were anything to happen to our children we would as parents want to be there by their side.
We acknowledge that to be able to do that for however long their recovery takes will require financial adjustment.
We take out insurance on our children not to profit but to be able to fulfil the promise of parenthood - to be there for our children.
Why then is so little of it sold?
We have forgotten to share our values with our clients. And in doing so we have not connected to their values that are a mirror of ours. Of course they would want to be there for their children. It is the professional advisers job to facilitate that opportunity for them.
All that is required then is to share your values and beliefs and your action with a client.
An adviser dear to us, tells of how she sells child trauma insurance to every parent every time.
She tells them that if anything happened to her child she knows where she would rather be and she has arranged the method to allow that to happen.
Her clients acknowledge that choice as completely rational. They agree with it. They share that value and belief.
Why does this adviser do it? Because one day her daughter came home distraught that a school friend had been diagnosed with cancer. There was a physical and emotional battle about to start for that child and that family. There was also a financial battle.
For that reason this adviser tells her clients that she knows where she would want to be.
For that reason every recommendation includes child trauma. There is no need to go into micro detail about the policy.
The positioning is simply:
- tell the client what you have done for your own children and why
- they will agree with what you have done : sometimes with just a nod of agreement sometimes with an emphatic "oh yes, I'd want that too"
- then when you present your recommendation you simply say and I have included childrens trauma because I want you to be able to make the same choices I can make and so you can be there for your children too
At about $10 per $10,000 of cover, I do not know a parent who would opt out of covering their child for an appropriate level of cover at what amounts to essentially a cup of coffee a week per child.
We have to believe that because we are told constantly by advisers that they find it a hard conversation to start with parents.
We have to believe that because when we look at the data : the number of policies that have child trauma attached is incredibly low : single digits in percentage terms.
Yet when we look at our own families surely we acknowledge that were anything to happen to our children we would as parents want to be there by their side.
We acknowledge that to be able to do that for however long their recovery takes will require financial adjustment.
We take out insurance on our children not to profit but to be able to fulfil the promise of parenthood - to be there for our children.
Why then is so little of it sold?
We have forgotten to share our values with our clients. And in doing so we have not connected to their values that are a mirror of ours. Of course they would want to be there for their children. It is the professional advisers job to facilitate that opportunity for them.
All that is required then is to share your values and beliefs and your action with a client.
An adviser dear to us, tells of how she sells child trauma insurance to every parent every time.
She tells them that if anything happened to her child she knows where she would rather be and she has arranged the method to allow that to happen.
Her clients acknowledge that choice as completely rational. They agree with it. They share that value and belief.
Why does this adviser do it? Because one day her daughter came home distraught that a school friend had been diagnosed with cancer. There was a physical and emotional battle about to start for that child and that family. There was also a financial battle.
For that reason this adviser tells her clients that she knows where she would want to be.
For that reason every recommendation includes child trauma. There is no need to go into micro detail about the policy.
The positioning is simply:
- tell the client what you have done for your own children and why
- they will agree with what you have done : sometimes with just a nod of agreement sometimes with an emphatic "oh yes, I'd want that too"
- then when you present your recommendation you simply say and I have included childrens trauma because I want you to be able to make the same choices I can make and so you can be there for your children too
At about $10 per $10,000 of cover, I do not know a parent who would opt out of covering their child for an appropriate level of cover at what amounts to essentially a cup of coffee a week per child.
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