Creating Believable Client Value Propositions

The earliest “professionals” arguably were the medicine men and women of tribes, the shamans, who presided at all rites of passage such as births, deaths, marriages. They mediated between the inner workings of the tribe and its external affairs . Today, who holds that mantle? An accountant, the family lawyer? Who has a position as the central hub of a families affairs who could mediate for the family from matters financial to social?

Perhaps this is the future for the “Trusted Adviser”. David Maister, writes of the valued resources and relationship strength that leads to becoming the trusted adviser . The packaging of those resources, and the way to gain that position in a clients world provides the right to win in the differentiation stakes that ultimately leads to satisfied clients and intergenerational relationships. That right to win is the centre of the triangle that requires more than the building of valued capabilities and a service promise that delivers them. It requires the building of a pitch that actually means something to the clients you are trying to attract.

It is that pitch that becomes vital, for not only must it be compelling, but it must be simple to articulate by the advice business and by it’s clients. It is in that way that the promise of the proposition gains life and is shareable.

The simplest proposition we have seen that works because everyone in the business embodies it, is this:

“We know that no-one wakes up in the morning and says this is
the day I’m going to get the families estate, insurance and wealth
plans in place!

But all of our clients want to live well and look after their families.”

It works because fundamentally it taps into a base drive that the clients (that this businesses works with (families)) have at their core : a drive to provide a better and satisfying life for their families.

So for any business it requires some self awareness. Who are our clients? Why do they use us? What wants, goals and dreams do they have? What are the commonalities? This applies for each subset of clients : singles, young families, professionals, mature families, retirees, seniors.

At each stage there may be different drivers and being able to offer differentiated services and a call to action that has meaning at each stage is critical to staying relevant and valued at each life stage across the generational divide.

This is the secret to Intergenerational Advice success. This is also why many attempts at delivering an intergenerational advice proposition have failed:

• The business does not have a believable value proposition or “why” statement.
• The business has not built consistent, repeatable, sustainable capabilities around an intergenerational advice proposition.
• The business does not have a service model for intergenerational advice.

For an advice business the challenge is to understand your clients, construct your pitch, develop the capabilities that are relevant and deliver those capabilities consistently, reliably and sustainably.

The family advice proposition once you do this, moves from a relationship delivered by default to one of design.