A new way to connect with customers : Technoclientology defined

(This is the preamble and background to a recently published article in my IFA blog. I've set the scene here and then included the link to the IFA article for the "implementation steps")



There's something about plane travel and hotel rooms that gets my mind whirring in a good way. It's not the jet lag that sets it off, or the preservatives in the airplane food, or the lack of sleep from missing my contoured latex pillow. Quite the contrary, for me I find everything about the experience a wonderful array of petri dishes where at worst I get to observe human beings engage in what sadly is becoming a lost art: human interaction, and at certain high points as those petri dishes bubble over with colonies of live clashes of culture, I find the collision of sales, marketing, social interaction, technology and human behaviour truly fascinating.

The simple act of boarding a plane provides an opportunity to assess people and the choices they've made on how to board (using an app, a text message, a frequent flyer card, a good ole fashioned boarding pass - from a kiosk or printed from home or work). How do those choices correlate to their other behaviours and decisions? From luggage (trying to sneak a third bag past the disapproving attendant, or nonchalantly with the utmost confidence), to other items they carry : kindle, iPad, hardcover book, style of headphones, facial expressions, volume and tone of voice : all of this creates a story from which assumptions and rather accurate conclusions can be made about how an individual and consequently how we collectively are dealing with the modernity of society and translating it into our daily interpersonal interactions and decisions.

Now perhaps clearly I have too much time on my hands and am somewhat voyeuristic ("what's that guy in 3C staring at?") but, for me this type of people watching in situations like this is incredibly important. They are a guide to the psychology of how people engage in a world that is changing at a dramatic pace. They give us insights into how we act and utilise technology for ourselves and with others and how we like to be engaged in a service environment.

Apple, do this brilliantly and are a great example to choose as what they are selling is more than the latest and coolest gadget. What Apple sells by means of its Apple Genius employees is empathy and leadership which allows customers to make the right decisions for them. Dr Sebastian Bailey wrote in Forbes magazine how detailed and deliberate Apple have become at grasping and using the psychology of selling. Apple, he points out, use the “feel, felt, found” approach to not only demonstrate empathy but to also enact evidence of social proof to lead a customer to solutions that others like them have made[1]. This embodies what we now refer to as Emotional Intelligence, defined as the ability to monitor your own and others feelings and emotions. Sebastian continues that what Apple do having set the stage thus, is the “Geniuses are not passive” they use “mantras like ‘we guide every interaction’, ‘we recommend solutions’ and ‘we help them discover’. Through the handy mnemonic ‘APPLE’ (Approach, Probe, Present, Listen, End), employees lead customers to a decision that they believe is all their own.”[2] Now this is where the neuroscience of Technoclientology kicks in because when it comes to choice, three is the magic number. As Sebastian reminds us, Researchers at the University of Minnesota used brain scans to show that it’s easier to make a choice between three products than it is to choose between two.

Going deeper here choice architecture is the process of encouraging people to make good choices through grouping and ordering the decisions in a way that maximizes successful choices and minimizes the number of people who become so overwhelmed by complexity that they abandon the attempt to choose. Generally, success is improved by presenting the smaller or simpler choices first, and by choosing and promoting sensible default options.[3]


Can we assess these choices using technology and in particular via social networks? Long have we heard that the future involves us arriving home, activating our giant touch screen wall, being notified that one friend has recorded Entourage for you and 3 others are watching it right now and that your groceries you ordered via an app are 5 minutes away from being delivered and a map indicates where the driver is right at that very minute, etc, etc, etc. The future may be coming fast but interaction with only a touch screen wall is maybe a pipe dream. In a study by the Australian Psychological Society, respondents were asked about their preference for online communication when compared to face-to-face interactions. The majority of respondents reported that they preferred to communicate with people in person rather than using online social networking sites (54%, with 25% neutral on this matter) suggesting that people are not necessarily moving away from face-to-face interactions but perhaps use online social networking to enhance their in person communications.[4] However disturbingly but perhaps not surprisingly if you’ve caught an elevator lately (a place where temporary hypnosis always takes effect) and seen every person staring into their phone, concerns about reduced face-to-face interactions and the loss of social skills have emerged.


Being “social” and using the technology platforms of social media means effective engagement to enhance interaction not to detract from it. Gossieaux and Moran, identify that in a web 2.0 world we are as human 1.0 beings engaging like we always have in that we are engaging in tribes, it’s just that now we can engage with tribes that span the globe and belong to multiple tribes at the same time, but what hasn’t changed is that these tribes have formed as they always have : there is a common connection and there is a transference of beliefs, knowledge and value that affects the way in which we make decisions and ultimately in how we live.[5]

In creating the term Technoclientology, my intent was to guide those in the business of professional services and all service industries for that matter to an umbrella discipline for engaging customers. Technoclientology then is the psychology of engaging clients in a modern world and encompasses the skills, techniques and concepts of sales, modernity, social (read Human) 1.0 and the insights from the field of neuroscience, that when combined allow us to observe, collate data, analyse and draw conclusions about how people will react and make decisions in a given situation faced with competing choices. A Technoclientologist uses these insights to enable people to become empowered and make decisions that are in their best interests. What is achieved here is the working towards a greater good.

So where to from here? Read the rest of this article and the steps you need to really connect with clients at:

http://www.ifa.com.au/blogs/13875-why-you-need-to-be-a-technoclientologist?utm_source=IFA&utm_campaign=IFA_Bulletin06_11_2014&utm_medium=email



[1] Bailey, Sebastian, 2012, The Psychological Tricks Behind Apple’s Service Secrets, Forbes, 2012

[2] Bailey, Sebastian, 2012, The Psychological Tricks Behind Apple’s Service Secrets, Forbes, 2012

[3] Iyengar, Sheena, 2010, The Art of Choosing: The Decisions We Make Everyday - What They Say About Us and How We Can Improve Them. Hachette UK

[4] The Australian Psychological Society, 2010, The Social and Psychological Impact of Online Social Networking

[5] Gossieaux and Moran, 2010, The Hyper-Social Organisation

3 things that need to be in your 2014 business plan

So if you are like us at PCE, you are already well into planning for 2014.

And part of that planning process invariably asks what is it that we do best and secondly what do we need to improve?

This is however where most business plans and therefore most businesses fail. What occurs thereafter are brainstorming sessions, that generate a plethora of ideas, of initiatives to deliver to go from "good to great" by innovating, coming up with the competitive edge that will blitz the competition.

Often the ability to deliver such growth is overstated and what ends up happening is that the business forgets to deliver the answer to the very first question : what is it that we do best?

Focussing on weaknesses highlights and delivers just that : weaknesses or at best improved weaknesses.

Paul Leinward and Cesare Mainardi (Harvard Business Review June 2010, pp 86-92) posed the question as to whether you business had the courage and discipline to focus intensely on what it does best.

Rather than chase business in markets where the company does not have capabilities to sustain success, "coherent" companies align what they do best with the right market positioning.

In other words they position their offer to their ideal clients in a way that resonates.

Every decision then is focussed on being able to answer 3 questions (the 3 that need to be in your business plan).

According to Leinward and Mainardi these are :

How are we going to face the market? In oner words : what is our value proposition? Understanding the value you create for the customer and being able to articulate it in a replicable/repeatable phrase is key here.

What capabilities do we need? In other word : To deliver on our value proposition what 3-6 capabilities to we need to display / deliver?

What are we going to sell and to whom? In other words: the product and services that make up the product mix are the ones that are key to your value proposition and highlight the capabilities that your business has, are delivered to the right customers in the right communication mix.

So the key is:

- figure our what you are really good at, develop the capabilities you have to deliver that so that they are best of breed, align this with the market place opportunities and be rewarded with sustained superior returns.

Ask these 3 questions in your business planning process : which by the way should include all team members (it's a great way to assess if you actually need to reassess whether the capabilities you have in your team are actually the right ones for you!!)

Is your financial services business PERFECT?

A really exciting day for PCE as we launch P.E.R.F.E.C.T, the 7 step process for transforming your business.

The PERFECT method is a way to positively transform your business and be truly a client centred successful business that delivers life changing advice to your clients, and changes your life and that of your staff for the better.

If you have been following our tweets you'll realise we can't count as we tweeted it as 5 steps.....doh!

So what is PERFECT?

P is all about planning. This involves defining what is is you are going to deliver, how you will do it and to whom. It is about structured activity right down to diary management.

E (the first one) is about execution. This is the delivery of the how. Your pitch now honed needs to be delivered so the focus here is on tools you are going to use to market and to communicate.

R is for responding. This is your communication piece. It involves social media, email and telephone and what language you will use. It is also about your service proposition.

F is for follow up. This is very much a technology piece and about the way and when you will follow up and service your clients. Industrialising your process is key.

E (the second one) is about empathy and the exhibition of empathy. How you develop your emotional intelligence is one thing but how you connect with clients is another. The tools and processes you use are critical. You will not, repeat will not succeed if you do not get this right.

C is for consulting. This is about feedback and implementing that feedback in a demonstrable way. How and when you ask for feedback will determine success.

And T is for teaching. This is your education piece. It is for you, your staff and clients. How you shape your education piece is key : it needs to be tailored to your target market and needs to be accessible, enactable, have process, have coaching and support and most of all be compelling.

So where to from here?

We at PCE are on the cusp of bringing you a complete PERFECT package for you to enact once you engage with PCE.

More Referrals From People You Like

One of the key ideas that will drive referral and revenue success for you in 2013 is:

- holding a centre of influence engagement session

In other words break bread with all of your referral sources.

Regardless of how successful the referral relationship has been over the history of the relationship you need to invite them.

Who do you invite:

- anyone who has the possibility of being able to refer to you clients who fit you ideal client profile in 2013

The format:

- this is a social engagement : think of it like the TV show "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette"

- here they all are in one place, all the referral sources you and your business have ever previous dealt with

- even better there are some new names and faces : people drawn from your client base : ie ask your clients who their accountant / solicitor is and invite them

Are you selling anything? No.

This is an event for like minded financial services professionals to get together over a drink and a few canapés for the reason of engagement, connection, collaboration, networking.

The pitch: "With the issues facing us this year FOFA, APES......we all face a busy year ahead....Stepping out from our own businesses to listen to how others are approaching their year in a social and relaxed setting provides a great opportunity to find that new idea or reinforce your thinking......"

Now, you might think "oh they won't go for that". But here's this thing. Wouldn't you like to work with referral sources who would unreservedly respond "Yes, I'll be there" to an opportunity to share a drink amongst peers?

So invite anyone who can refer in the perfect clients for you.

On the night you will not pitch who your ideal clients are, what you do, or anything about your business.

On the night you are the host so play the perfect host:

- introduce people (no name tags please)
- do your research and introduce people to others who may actually add value to their business eg the auditor to the SMSF accountant
- work the room
- but generally just ensure people are connecting

- you can formalise this by offering a set piece ie: OK people the next 15 minutes : talk to someone you don't know and find out about them : women leave men for dead here....women are more genuinely curious in situations like these.
- consider a speaker : travel, positive psychology, small business success story, sporting identity ......this may also be a draw card for your event.

The aim:


- watch people in the room
- who are the genuinely nice people?
- who is having a good time?
- who interacts well and seems to thrive in the situation?
- who did you get on well with?
- who would you have no hesitation in inviting them back?

And answering those questions will mean you have just found the referrals sources that you should be working with this year.....and most likely the ones that you will have most success at adding value to as well.

Ideas for your 2013 business planning

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.

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.

Plan for 2013 - taking time out, to move ahead - power of mental replenishment

It's been a busy period for PCE and the to do list is longer than ever as plans are put in place for 2013.

The plans are expansive, ambitious and on first glance the biggest concern is how will we get all of this done?

Clearly careful structuring and utilisation of time are required. But critically PCE just needs to get it done - to be aggressive with action and push through any inertia slowing momentum.

In the run up though as PCE reflected on each day one thing was apparent - a demeanour that was stressed - hardly a positive disposition - the impact on PCE was palpable but the message that sends to clients is equally as destructive.

For the first time in 5 months then, PCE took a time out. It was a client event, but it was designed to take time out. The format was a pleasure cruise, a swim, good food and great company.

We laughed, took of our serious hats, talked some business but with a light heartedness that not only carried through the day but was taken home by PCE. Later that evening PCE quipped "Look I've had a hard day - I spent all day on a boat - I'm really tired" - and that brought the roar of laughter it was intended to from children and adults and the mood was infectious.

The lightness of being continued and as "so you think you can dance" screened, PCE performed an impromptu contemporary routine to the opening credits - all captured on an I Phone for future blackmailing.

What's my point?

You can not run at full speed all the time and expect your internal engine both mental and physical to operate without damage.

As Coach Carter says " a little gas....a little brake".....you have to be ready but replenishment of mind, body and spirit, provides that clarity of thought that actually provides for progress.

The Energy Project and their work " The Way We're Working Isn't Working" is all about replenishment and maximising working with your rhythms.

There is no sustainable rhythm to working in a highly stressed physical and mental state.

So as you plan for 2013 - take a pause - surround yourself with those in your business world who can contribute and support and collaborate with you in 2013 - but take business of the agenda - talk, laugh, share - and watch your mood and positivity for the year ahead move to the achievement zone.

The clarity you will obtain will make those plans sharper, the solutions clearer and the road ahead will in your mind straighten, flatten and seem increasingly achievable.

5 Steps to Success

It's been a couple of weeks since PCEs last post. There's been a bit of travel that has been a pre-occupation, some daily life activities that have needed attending to, some personal development and well being that took priority but what has occupied PCE most,in these two weeks has been the opportunity to meet and sit down with some masters of client engagement and personal success.

What the clear message is from these meetings is that success comes from doing what you love.

Joseph Campbell offered us the phrase "follow your bliss". Or more exactly If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are—if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

These businesses that PCE have met in the last two weeks are deliberately and methodically following and leading their clients into following their own bliss.

They have a process. They believe in it. They have developed it and honed it and adapted it to their personalities and the personalities of their client base.

At its core the process is simple:

1) Know and define what you want

2) Create a plan

3) Enlist the services of an action coach

4) Take action

5) Review and adjust

This is about being crystal clear on what it is that you want and creating a sequence and set of objectives in the form of a plan to get you where you want to be.

Having accountability and a guide is crucial.

You can apply this process to anything you do in life - anything that is important enough to you to apply considered thought and process to.

But for financial advice, wealth creation and protection businesses - building this into a client engagement process is by no means an easy proposition. What it requires is you living and experiencing your client service encounter and reflecting on how engaged you would be with your current process. Then answering the question - how would I like to be engaged.

Then follow the 5 steps above and make it a reality.

When you get to step 3 - maybe give PCE a call.

How to positively change your world in 2012

So as we draw close to the next stage of Positive Client Engagement - the specific tools and processes (including process maps) to develop, launch, implement and maintain the positive client philosophy and grow your financial planning and insurance business it is important to understand that one of the critical things you need to change in your business is....you.

This means adopting some key behaviours and processes in how you manage yourself and mentor your staff.

1) Set your success goal

The need for setting goals to aim for and measure yourself again is critical. Just as you need to coach your clients towards the ideal of success for them, you need to to design what success looks like for you.

2) Develop your networks

Nowadays people link through networks more than ever through the speed and depth that technology caters for. How you manage, contribute and participate in networks is crucial. Diary management and setting aside time to network is a success strategy that with only as little as 2 hours per week can build your networks exponentially.

3) Get your own success coach

If olympic atheletes at the peak of their prowess, tennis players at the height of their career seek out coaches - why are you any different? A mentor/coach/professional business consultant is someone to challenge, guide and keep you accountable to the promises you make to yourself and are a vital element of your success plan.

4) Understand yourself

This means assessing yourself, having other assess you and all in all means developing your emotional intelligence and capacity to become a transformational leader.

5) Understand your skills and capabilities


Conducting an audit on yourself and importantly on what it is that empowers and motivates you delivers the will and the attitude and focus that you will need to deliver on your success plan.


In our next series of posts we will take all the discussions so far from Positive Client Engagement and walk you through the process of engaging your clients in real life scenarios.

Passion, Flow and Meaningfulness - Your Business Plan for 2012

We've taken a deviation from the latest series of topics (which have been focussed on sales pitches and presentations using the engagement techniques we've promoted).

The reason is that there are no techniques, no presentations, no silver bullet to sales, and the development of your small business in the professional insurance, financial planning and financial services space if you do not have the motivation and well-being suited to managing your work efforts and direction.

Richard Sisely, New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, 35(2), 28-40, looked at the issue of motivation and the facilitation of autonomous motivation and its impact on well being.

Sisley wrote that intrinsic motivation had a high connection with relationships built on trust, empathy and stability.

Hang on a second. Isn't that what you are trying achieve as a professional financial planner and insurance adviser?

Tell me more!!

Sisely also then expanded and suggested that striving for self-determined goals (such as your plans for 2012 in your business) is connected with well-being and a determinant of a daily positive mood.

I'm liking the sound of this especially in the current economic climate!

Because this has implications for your business and in turn your clients.

First in your business this has implications for staff selection and for the assignment of roles/tasks in your business.

If you've read the E -Myth, or done a sticky note exercise where you look at all the tasks in your business and who does them.....and who should be doing them...then you understand where this is heading.

You need with these tasks as Sisely describes to assign a value identification with them. You need to take your staff on the journey of the validity of the task and the impact on the client.

This leads to better client engagement and outcomes.

What about you and your motivation and your passion?

Passion according to Sisley has a correlation with work satisfaction, well-being, and less stress.

Passion is critical. What in 2012 are you passionate about? Share it. Document it. Write it on a wall (or whiteboard). Share it with your clients. Make yourself accountable to your passion.

Flow, or the optimal experience (read effectiveness and efficiency) brings with it positive moods. You are far more likely to take on those tasks that you already have attached validity to and that are assigned correctly when your passion is driving you. It's that feeling of, well for want of a better word....flowing.

Meaningfulness. My favourite of Sisely's writings, meaningfulness depends on your own values and that also means having a high enough emotional intelligence quotient that you can respect others values. EI is that ability to not only be aware of your own feelings and emotions but to then use that information to guide your actions (Hur et al, 2011).

And that's where a transformational leader can create a service climate of exceptional quality.

It is a palpable feeling that you get when you walk into a business that delivers excellence in the customer experience.

Can you learn EI? Yes there are courses. Maybe you can improve. It is said it improves with age...so you can wait I guess.

But if EI houses the qualities of empathy, motivation, self-awareness, trust, emotional stability and these are all qualities of a transformational leader then there is one thing you need to do.

Get up, walk to the mirror and ask yourself a few questions.

- what are you passionate about?
- are you ready to share that passion?
- what are your values?
- do you live them?
- what are the values of the people around you?
- do you know - do you ask them?
- do you act in a way that is true to your values?
- what can you do daily to develop empathy, motivation, self-awareness, trust, emotional stability

But most of all - get passionate!

Back to the presentation pitches next time