Marketing Hub

Global best practice (Marketing Hub 13-07-10)

The first Global Best Practice Idea for financial advisers is to have a ‘deep client focus’. This sounds like a statement of the obvious – because it is – but you would be amazed how many firms cannot quickly elaborate on what their main client segments are and, more importantly, what the top five concerns are for each of these segments. Without this depth of knowledge you are truly flying blind. view

The review meeting toolkit (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

In the last few articles we have looked at how to build a highvalue review service for your clients. In this article I want to offer you some further ideas about the sort of tools you can use to ensure clients are able to appreciate the value of the service. view

Pricing your review service correctly (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

Having created your ongoing review service to support your client value proposition, you will need to review both the way and how much you charge. view

Beware overengineering (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

In our coal-face work with advisers we often find back-office systems – not to mention staff – creaking under the weight of an over-engineered review process.This is often the result of a genuine desire to deliver outstanding value to clients and to justify the charges. view

Making your review service stand out (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

What makes a review service stand out in the client’s mind? Until clients go through a review meeting with you and come out the other side having seen it and experienced it for themselves, they are not in a position to judge its value. However, you can position it as a high-value service by stressing how important regular reviews are and demonstrating this with a clear and structured approach. view

Creating a review service (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

In the next few articles we are going to focus on how to create an ongoing review service for clients that they will value highly. view

The power of client case studies (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

Articulating your value proposition to new clients is often a challenge for advisers. However, the first meeting storyboard and first meeting kit we have already looked at give the adviser the structure – and the confidence – to position their value in a consistent manner. view

Making your proposition tangible (Marketing Hub 02-11-09)

Having developed your compelling first meeting storyboard to help sell your proposition to prospective clients, you are still faced with the challenge of how to make what you do tangible for clients. In this piece, we will create a ‘first meeting kit’ that will turn your intangible product – financial advice – into something tangible for the client. view

The first meeting storyboard (Marketing Hub 03-06-09)

Now that your client segmentation, propositions and pricing are sorted, all we have to do is find an effective and compelling way of communicating it to new clients at a first meeting. That is exactly what the First Meeting Storyboard is designed to do. It is simply a series of presentation slides, either in PowerPoint or hard copy, designed to help you sell your service proposition – not products – to your prospect. view

Charging an appropriate fee (Marketing Hub 03-06-09)

Having established your charges for upfront advice, what is it appropriate to charge for the implementation of that advice and the regular ongoing review service?Well, let’s start by contrasting the ‘old’ and ‘new’ models. view

Where and what should you charge? (Marketing Hub 03-06-09)

Last time we looked at the various points in the client relationship where the adviser adds value. In theory, every point at which value is added is an opportunity to charge. So let’s revisit some of the key points in the advice process at which it should be pretty straightforward to demonstrate value add to clients.We’ll start with delivery of advice. view

Pricing - Price is what you pay value is what you get (Marketing Hub 03-06-09)

Having decided what level of service you will offer each client segment, how do you decide what you will charge for it? This is an area most advisers struggle with. Usually, they have never stopped to think about the value they add to their clients and, when they do discover their true value, they struggle to communicate it effectively to the client. view

Creating your service standard (Marketing Hub 03-06-09)

Now that we’ve seen the way the airline industry apply the principles of segmented service standards let’s design our own. So what should be in it? Frankly it’s up to you. The starting point has to be asking “What do my clients want or expect from me?” This is the first sticking point because, in our experience, most advisers don’t know since they’ve never posed the question to clients. view