HOT BUSINESS TIPS PREVIEW

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Caroline Farmer
6 years ago
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1 HOT BUSINESS TIPS PREVIEW

2 Thanks to our Contributors n Jenny Brown 2013 Adviser of the Year JBS Financial Strategists n Ben Day Risk Sales Tools n Rod Bertino Business Health n Sue Viskovic Elixir Consulting

3 HOT BUSINESS TIPS 1 Look after yourself and your staff 2 Build your emotional intelligence 3 Tailor your communication strategy 4 Survey your clients 5 Go social 6 Turn FOFA to your advantage 7 Get better at selling loadings, exclusions 8 Get better at handling objections 9 Create stronger referral sources 10 Make better use of technology in your business 11 Drive greater value from each opportunity 12 Develop a client retention strategy 13 Optimise your website for mobile 14 Develop your value proposition 15 Place a higher value on your time 16 Stay informed 17 Set up a google account 18 Improve your office environment 19 Create a claims assistance letter 20 Offer a Protection portfolio 21 Review your client onboarding process 22 Learn from leading advisers 23 Run a program where staff drive improvements 24 Document processes, make yourself redundant 25 Make more use of video in your business 26 Develop a niche 27 Understand your numbers 28 Understand the benefits of platforms 29 Create a succession plan 30 Have a marketing plan 31 Become a master networker 32 Set up an advisory board 33 Use an estate planning methodology with all your clients 34 Change your approach to review meetings 35 Develop a differentiated service offering 36 Read a good book

4 1 Look after yourself and your staff Looking after yourself and your team draws on several important considerations for financial advisers. There is the importance of your HR approach; there are matters around staff motivation and of course there are worklife balance/health and wellbeing considerations to take into account. An advice practice is essentially a small business and too often HR is put to the bottom of the pile in SMEs because owners don t have the required experience, or they find such processes too time consuming. Ironically, HR and its role in recruiting and retaining the right employees - is fundamentally more important for SMEs. HR policies that many successful practices have adopted from big business include: Have an employee handbook which explains the values, key policies, benefits and expectations of your business Ensure a thorough recruitment process is in operation It is more costly taking on the wrong employee than no employee at all. Proactively schedule a meeting at three months for all new staff Implement regular internal feedback sessions Listen to your staff and value their opinions. Have an underlying focus on employee retention and satisfaction Happy and motivated staff stay longer, and when it comes to retaining people, it s not always about money. Think about simple non-monetary rewards including awards, celebratory lunches to congratulate staff; salary packaging options; flexible work hours or offering extra annual leave. In terms of the job itself, think about empowering staff with extra responsibilities or a new job title, and invest in their development by allowing them to enrol in training courses and attend industry events. Research by Business Health found that businesses with a formal incentive programme generate 129% more profit than those without. In terms of the health and wellbeing of your staff it pays to offer different options that reflect the varying preferences of your team; yoga in the park and lunchtime walks don t appeal to everyone, plus it s important to focus on their mental wellbeing as well (which may include giving each staff member one or two mental health days off each year). Other popular ideas including injecting more fun into the office (nerf guns, foosball tables), team pizza and wine (and perhaps karaoke) on a Friday afternoon, holding meetings away from the office, and teambased volunteering and community involvement. Your people are the biggest asset, and in a smaller business staff issues have a proportionally bigger impact, which is why adopting a formal approach to HR is an investment in your business, not a cost.

5 Build your emotional intelligence Research 1 into the clients of leading Australian advice practices found what really matters to them and what sets leading trusted advisers apart is their emotional intelligence (EQ). Technical expertise and qualifications are now seen as hygiene factors and what really stands out in the minds of clients are the more soft skills of their adviser: Communication skills Building rapport Caring and being genuinely interested in clients Identifying and understanding needs Listening Empathy 82% of those clients surveyed said these interpersonal skills were the most important attribute they look for in an adviser, well ahead of reputation, quality information and technical skills. 2 The benefits of becoming a trusted adviser are substantial; trusted advisers have (1) higher client advocacy and satisfaction, (2) better prospect conversion, (3) more involvement in their clients personal and financial affairs, (4) more profitable practices, (5) clients that are willing to pay fees and (6) stronger and more enduring client relationships. The good news is that emotional intelligence can be learned. As sponsor of the research, Zurich has worked with experts in the field of EQ to develop a number of resources for advisers seeking to build their emotional intelligence. For more information including a copy of the Trusted Adviser research ask your Zurich BDM. 1. Research conducted by the Beddoes Institute on behalf of the AFA and Zurich.

6 3 Tailor your communication strategy by client generation The Zurich sponsored Connecting with Clients whitepaper identifies the communication preferences of different client generations (Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomers), and quantifies the impact of tailoring the mix to these generations. Channels examined included one to one (e.g. meetings, phone calls, personal s) and one to many (e.g. newsletters, social media, and online content). By comparing the level of satisfaction amongst clients who were having their communication preferences met versus those who weren t, the research quantified the increased client satisfaction that occurred when communication was tailored by generation. Research highlights include a preference for younger clients to have informal meetings away from the adviser office, a decreasing demand for printed materials across all age groups, and a growing demand for communication through digital channels including social media and apps (across all ages). The research also underlines the importance of adviser websites being optimised for mobile devices, which are becoming the dominant way to access online content. The benefits of tailoring include client satisfaction score increases in excess of 13%. Zurich has partnered with the Beddoes Institute and AFA to develop a Communications Mix Simulator, which allows you to assess your current mix and highlights areas for improvement (and simulates the potential benefits). For more information - including a copy of the research - or to register your interest in accessing the communication simulator, ask your Zurich BDM.

7 Survey your clients It may seem self evident that you care about what your clients think, and yet according to Rod Bertino from Business Health only 15% of practices formally seek feedback from their clients. The same survey of around 2,000 advisers found that those who do formally seek feedback from clients are on average 73% more profitable than those who don t. And the key to that staggering statistic is that surveying your clients is not a pure academic exercise, nor something that should be attempted in a tokenistic fashion; rather it s about building a stronger business by understanding what your clients want and value (and what they don t), and being prepared to deliver to their wishes. In other words, if you are serious about asking your clients for feedback, you need to be serious about acting on that feedback. 4 Surveying your clients is something that can be done easily and inexpensively, using mechanisms such as a written survey, an online questionnaire you can them (visit surveymonkey.com to set one up free), or even a telephone survey. Advisers wishing to make the process even more robust will often consider seeking outside assistance, either to administer the methods described above or to facilitate focus groups, which are more indepth discussions with clients on a range of topics, and are often used by large companies to test everything from new product design to advertising concepts and logos. The advantage of seeking external help is that the process can be much more independent and your clients may feel more comfortable in opening up about their thoughts; additionally external researchers may be able to help you benchmark your scores a satisfaction rating in itself may not be helpful unless you have a point of comparison. Each approach has pros and cons, and you need to balance time and cost versus the depth of feedback needed. Whichever approach you take, it s fair to say that any feedback is better than none. If you need ideas on how to conduct a survey with your clients, ask your Zurich BDM.

8 For the full 36 tips contact your Zurich BDM on ZU V1 03/14 - RDUY Zurich Australia Limited ABN , AFS Licence Number Blue Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Adviser Service Centre

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