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How do you move existing clients onto a trail or fee basis?

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Well here’s my tuppence worth on an issue that many advisers are grappling with today!

How do you convince an existing client to agree to you starting to receive trail commission (or a fee) for pension or investments business written some years ago? How will you answer the pushback that you’ve already been paid?

I’m working on the premise that the overall charge is going to increase. Of course if you can receive a trail within the existing price structure (with the product provider taking a lower annual management charge), this conversation will be a lot easier!

When does trail commission / a fee make sense?

These remuneration bases make a huge amount of sense when real, ongoing value is provided by you. To my mind it’s as simple as that! I would argue that if the product provider is providing all of the value – why should you be paid a fee or trail commission? But if you are providing expertise and ongoing value to your clients, year in and year out, these are the only bases that make sense. I’ve worked with a number of advisers over the last year that have each said that clients don’t understand when a fee is not charged! When clients receive value, they expect to pay for it…

So you first of all need to add real value to your clients. You then need to ensure that you demonstrate this value in a way that clients clearly recognise the value that they are getting. And then you need to remind them of the value that you are adding, again and again.

Trail commission or fee?

If you’re clear enough about what you do and the value that you are adding, whether it’s a fee or trail is somewhat irrelevant, these simply become a method of payment. So really it shouldn’t matter?

But of course that’s not the real world. I know many advisers prefer trail as it is a bit more “below the radar” and you don’t have to ask for a cheque each year for your fee. Of course that is easier and is perfectly fine, where you are adding that ongoing value.

Adding value, being really clear about your proposition and communicating what you bring to the table in an engaging fashion also future proofs your business. We only have to look across the water at the UK, where we see the days of trail commission (without demonstrable value added by the adviser) coming to an end. This will prove very challenging for advice businesses over there that have been simply collecting trail without providing and demonstrating any real value. How will they justify a fee to their clients in the future? On the other hand, it poses no threat to those advice businesses that are clearly demonstrating value to clients and having transparent conversations about how much and how they are being paid. Trail commission and fees are simply methods of collection to these firms…

What about existing clients though?

So that’s all well and good, you demonstrate the value that you will provide in order to justify trail commission to new clients. But how do you move existing clients onto a trail basis? How do you answer the client who challenges you that you’ve already been paid?

First of all, you need to provide clients with more than they have received from you to date, or at a minimum make them aware of all that you do for them. You need to set out clearly all of the services that you will provide to your clients that you hadn’t discussed at the outset – services such as;

  • ongoing portfolio analysis and restructuring
  • rebalancing
  • future cashflow planning
  • access to your network of specialists (tax advisers, solicitors etc.)
  • your market insights
  • the money you are making / saving them every year

At the start of your relationship, you identified the right product for your client and set up their policy, and were paid commission to do so. Now you are going to add real value to these clients through the range of advice-based services that you offer – and for this you must be paid, either via a trail commission (or a fee).

You need to demonstrate your proposition that will add ongoing value year after year, for the lifetime of your relationship. You need to communicate this very clearly in an engaging way, and use case studies and testimonials to demonstrate the results that you achieve for your clients.

Doing these, you’re giving yourself every chance to gain the agreement of your client to pay you each year. Because the value they get will significantly exceed the 25bps or 50bps that they will pay.

How do you convince your existing clients of the value that you add and to pay for this by a trail commission or fee?

Segmentation, targeting & positioning – fundamentals of adviser marketing

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Going back through the eons of time, I can recall a number of the key marketing principles that were ground into me time and time again; the importance of research and knowing your customer, understanding buyer behaviour and the role of the four P’s (product, price, place and promotion) among others.

However in my day-to-day work with financial advisers today, the principles that I find myself returning to more and more to address the challenges of advisers are Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning (STP). Many advisers today recognise the importance of these strategies as they attempt to make best use of their limited marketing resources, be they time or money or both.

Some definitions

So to start this 60-second marketing lesson, here is a definition of each, as set out by Philip Kotler, the grandfather of marketing education.

  • Market Segmentation: Dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics or behaviour, who might require separate products or marketing mixes.
  • Market Targeting: The process of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter.
  • Market Positioning: Arranging for a product (or service) to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products (or services) in the minds of target consumers.

What’s happening in the financial adviser market in Ireland?

Many financial advisers realise that a “one size fits all” proposition just doesn’t cut it any more. Either for the client who is looking for more than a generic service, or for the adviser who cannot profitably or successfully deliver the same service to all clients irrespective of their value, characteristics, needs etc.

As a result, many advisers are undertaking segmentation exercises, analysing their client bases and potential markets, most often by value. Others are also segmenting but by different dimensions – some are focussing on SME’s, others on specific professional groups.

A smaller number are then going on to specifically target sub-sections of their client bases and target markets at the expense of other groups – for example focusing all of their attention on clients of a certain value. In this case, some are even offloading their lower value clients to truly target their desired groups. Others are identifying specific occupations that they will target and also those that they won’t. And then sticking to this!

Finally, a relatively small number are taking that final step of actually positioning their business and all of their communications to appeal directly to their target market, even at the risk of alienating other potential customers.

Why STP is so important for financial advisers today

It’s this final step of having the courage to position yourself within a specific target market (or even a niche) that is a step too far for many advisers. They struggle with the thinking that while business might be quite tough today; it might actually be easier if you narrow your focus! How does this make sense?

If you offer a generic service to clients, they will recognise this. They won’t feel any particular connection with what you do, as it is not targeted at them. Instead if you have a clear target market and all of your communications are aimed with that group specifically in mind, the customers within that group will connect with your messages and are more likely to view you as a specialist who is out to serve their specific needs.

There are lots of very good financial advisers operating in the Irish market. At the end of the day, how are you going to stand apart from the crowd if you offer a very generic service?

Is a niche positioning viable in the Irish market?

My view is that it is 100% viable. Indeed you can build an extremely successful business based on a niche strategy! I’m not saying that it’s easy – you need to first of all very clearly and carefully segment your potential markets. You then need to decide the markets that you will target and have a clear strategy for building presence and scale in these markets. And finally you need to relentlessly build your positioning and re-affirm it time and time again.

I’m a believer and would argue that I practice what I preach in this area! There are 1,000’s of marketing consultants out there but not many that position their business specifically around meeting the needs of the financial adviser community. I’m really happy that I’ve pitched my tent there, attempting to meet the needs of a community that I admire and enjoy working with! Thank you all for welcoming me into your world and helping me to grow my business! I passionately believe that you can do the same within your chosen markets.

Do you have any views on this topic? Is a niche strategy viable? What are the challenges you face in running with this approach? All your comments as ever are very welcome.

Be the Hub of your Client’s Financial Affairs

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I was recently helping a very progressive financial advice firm in Cork with their marketing planning. As part of the conversation, we discussed value added services that advisers can offer today and indeed I got talking about my relationship with my own financial adviser.

I see my financial adviser as the hub of my financial affairs. My accountant does a very solid job in terms of the production of accounts and ensuring I pay my taxes on time and basically don’t break the law! But I really see him in a transactional / compliance capacity.

On the other hand, my financial adviser provides a broader range of value to me. Yes, he has of course developed my financial plan and ensured I have the right investments, retirement planning and protections in place – I’d expect no less! But he also guides me in relation to much broader financial-related issues and I’ve found this a bit unexpected and extremely valuable. He’s now the go-to guy for me in relation to my broader financial affairs – he’s the hub of my financial world.

Having been the beneficiary of such value-added services, I’ve identified below a few areas in which you can add value to your clients beyond the preparation of traditional financial plans and beyond the products that you recommend to your clients. Why bother with these? To build your client’s appreciation of the value that you can bring and to make you the first port of call when changes in their circumstances arise.

Budgeting

I’m starting with an easy one that is often overlooked by financial advisers as not needed by clients because “everyone does it”. I disagree! People tend to do personal budgeting in a very unstructured fashion, usually in their heads. The opportunity is here for financial advisers to bring templates to their clients and help them structure their budgeting and examine all of their day-to-day spending.

Apart from the value that the exercise brings, for married clients it is a great way of engaging the spouse too in the overall process, as their spending is equally important in the overall picture.

Future Cashflow Planning

I refer to this a lot, but only because I see it as such as a valuable service offered by some financial advisers. It certainly isn’t appropriate for every client, but is hugely valuable to those who are suitable. The reason for this is simple. Traditional financial planning focuses on the starting point (as identified within the factfind – where you stand financially today) and the end event (death, investment maturity date, retirement date).

Future cashflow planning focuses on every year between now and your death, highlighting times of particular financial challenge to you in the future. Knowing the challenges that you will face, gives you an opportunity to plan to overcome them.

Tax Advice for Individuals

Business owners and professionals will usually have an accountant. Most PAYE workers probably don’t. That doesn’t mean that they can’t benefit from tax advice; some want help in completing their tax returns, some want general tax advice. There’s a growing trend internationally of financial advisers moving into this space, in fact some financial advice firms are now employing accountants or tax advisers to provide this service and other tax advice to clients.

Now this approach is not going to be for everyone. At a minimum though, you should have a relationship with a good tax expert that you can plug your client into. The benefit for you is that it’s another demonstration of your value, as you are the catalyst for your client receiving the broader solutions needed.

Financial advisers also play a very valuable role in helping clients prepare for later in life and indeed end of life through retirement planning and life assurance solutions. However there are a number of other ways that you can help your clients prepare for these latter years, again helping to position you as the hub of their financial affairs. Some of these areas can also potentially bring you into contact with your client’s adult children, an important target market for many advisers.

Advice about Bank Accounts

Neither my bank manager nor my accountant spoke to me about having multiple signatories on my bank accounts, both personal and business accounts. But my financial adviser did. This is very practical advice, ensuring that in the event of my death or loss of capacity, that my wife would be able to access my money without jumping through all types of legal hoops…

Enduring Power of Attorney

This is a legal document that can be set up by a person during their life when in good mental health. It allows another specially appointed person to take actions on their behalf should they become incapacitated through illness in the future. This prevents assets being frozen and going under the control of the courts and allows the person acting on your behalf to make a range of personal care decisions on your behalf.

Anyone who has been through this situation, needing to access the assets of a relative who has lost their mental capacity (e.g. to pay for their care) will know the value of having an enduring power of attorney in place. It can be incredibly frustrating being unable to carry out simple actions on the person’s behalf without it.

At the same time, many people also draw up a “Living Will” which captures their preferences in relation to areas such as end of life care, their preferences in terms of resuscitation etc. when close to death.

A financial adviser won’t set this up. However they can be the catalyst for it happening through setting out the benefits of it to their clients and guiding them to put it in place. The adviser may even be able to refer them to a solicitor who will carry out this work with the client.

A Will

Again this is an area where financial advisers can guide their clients to ensure that they have a will in place to ensure their assets are distributed as they intend on their death. A simple process usually carried out with a solicitor.

These are some areas that financial advisers can help or guide their clients through. They add real value to your relationships; way beyond the product solutions you advise clients about and put you firmly at the hub of your client’s financial affairs.

Are there any other areas beyond products in which you advise your clients?




image courtesy of Flickr / David Hunter

4 Financial Adviser Videos that really work!

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Financial advisers often raise the question of the effectiveness of video marketing. Some see it as a vanity project, as an expensive activity that yields very poor results. And sometimes that is exactly the case! But certainly not always…

Video offers a number of great opportunities to financial advisers. First of all, it offers a different, engaging medium to communicate an important message – maybe an overview of your business, your financial planning approach or indeed different aspects of your client proposition. Some visitors to a website prefer clicking on a video than reading paragraphs of text, so video gives you the opportunity to hang on to that visitor to your website a little longer.

Also, YouTube is now the 2nd most frequently used search engine in the world after Google, so video also offers great opportunities as an entry point to your website from searches.

However quality is critically important where video is concerned. To produce a good video takes a lot of time and effort – careful scripting, a lot of thought about production including the location, use of graphics, the cast, the right music etc., and the key messages to be communicated. And all of this to produce a video that should be kept really brief – the preferred length for most videos is no more than one to two minutes.

There are lots of examples out there of average (or worse!) videos. However, here are 4 examples of videos that I believe work really well. I picked from advisers outside of Ireland only, to avoid any accusations of favouritism! I’ve also gone for four very different approaches that hopefully give you a sense of what can be achieved through this medium.

 

Does your Wealth Manager talk too much? (UK)

This video (click here) is the first in a series of four videos produced by Yellowtail Financial Planning in the UK, setting out the benefits of working with a financial planner as opposed to a wealth management company that is selling their own investment solutions.

It’s worth reading their thinking behind the video and the production of it, which can be found here. I’d also encourage you to watch the others in this series too which can be found on their website. What really works for me in these videos is the excellent script, the clarity of the message and the gentle irreverence of the videos – this firm gets a great message across without taking itself too seriously! It all just works really well.

 

The Latte Habit (US)

This video is very different. This video was developed by Michigan Financial Advisors Corp. and centres on a simple message of small amounts of money adding up. Again the script is excellent, the video is kept tight (approx. 2 minutes) and the graphics are really easy to watch and well produced.

To view this video, click here and this will bring you to the company’s video gallery. When you get there, just click on “The Latte Habit” (and then give it a few seconds to load). This one is the best of the videos on that page – some of the others are also worth a view though.

 

Meaningful Money (UK)

Do videos take a lot work to produce? Well this is the guy to ask, a UK Certified Financial Planner by the name of Pete Matthew of Meaningful Money. I’ve provided a link here to Episode Number 288 (!) in his series of videos. He covers a very broad range of financial topics in his videos, one topic in each video and shoots them in a wide range of different locations, many in very scenic spots. He even has a sponsor of his videos now!

What I like about these videos is his commitment to the medium, the range of topics covered which really give him the opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of his expertise and again, that he obviously doesn’t take himself too seriously while getting serious messages across.

If you want to see more in this series of videos, click here and you will see that each item in the main navigation bar leads to a range of videos.

Plan4Life (UK)

This video is a bit longer than the optimal length, but what I like about it is the refusal to succumb to the old adage of “Never work with kids or animals!” This video looks at each of the stages in our lives and the financial objectives of each of them. And using kids to make the video in the process.

What I like about this video is the focus on financial objectives and again, a business not taking itself too seriously in the process. Click on the link here to be taken to this video.

Click on the homepage of this site too – they’ve a nice introduction video to their business using graphics rather than people.

 

And finally, one other video with nothing to do with financial services! You may have seen it already, it was made about 18 months ago, but it’s a great demonstration of how a serious message can be delivered in an engaging fashion. It’s a safety video by Metro trains in Melbourne, Australia that has started a whole cult of copycat videos, online games etc. and has already been viewed by more than 80 million people! Now that’s viral!! Be careful, the tune will stick in your head for ages too…

 

Have you seen any other excellent videos by Financial Advisers? Come on, don’t keep them to yourself, please leave links to them in the comments below!

Why do clients leave you?

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We’ve all cheerily picked up the phone at one stage or another when a client calls, only to suffer that sinking feeling as the client goes on to explain that they are in fact moving their business to another adviser. Often you don’t even get a call, the business just quietly moves. So why do clients actually move their business and put themselves through the hassle of agency transfer letters, bringing a new adviser up to date with their affairs etc.

It’s not about price, or at least very rarely.

The management consultancy firm Bain carried out research some time ago among a large group of accountants, 360 of them in fact. While I know they are not financial advisers, it’s a relevant survey as accountants are service providers in the financial space with SME’s and professional clients. When asked, 80% of the accountants felt they delivered above average service. The researchers also asked the same question of 360 clients, one from each accountant. Just 8% of them felt they got above average service. What a perception gap!

They also asked the accountants why clients leave them. The number one reason given was price. This was number 8 on the list of clients. Their number one reason was they just “didn’t treat me right”.

So what’s the lesson in this for all of us service providers? Worry about your proposition more so than your price, and work on effectively communicating your proposition to your clients so that they never forget the value that you are adding. Make your clients feel loved by you!

While we all might go through a short period of reflection when we lose a single client, it may be necessary to take a bit of a deeper look if you find that a steady stream of clients are heading out the door. So what are some of the questions you might ask yourself?

 

How good is your proposition?

Picking up on the Bain findings above, how good really is your proposition? Has it actually kept pace with developments in the marketplace and are you competing with the best advisers out there who may be wooing your clients away? As clients experience the benefits of structured budgeting support and the really valuable insights that future cashflow planning delivers to them, how are you competing with this? At the end of the day, are you really offering true financial planning rather than just a transactional product focused service?

 

How good are you at keeping your clients engaged?

Your clients receive great advice from you at the commencement of your relationship and receive the benefit of a review each year. But what value do they get from you in the other 11.5 months of the year? More and more advisers are making great strides at improving their communication with clients, enabling them to add value to clients throughout the year. However, they also target these communications at prospective clients too – and these might be your clients currently….

Are you satisfied that your ongoing engagement of your existing clients will keep these threats at bay? Do your clients see you as the important cog in their financial affairs?

 

What are your competitors doing differently?

There may be other areas that are influencing your clients to move to a competitor. Are your competitors more active than you at networking locally, or seen as a valued support within the business community? Have they just developed a bigger and better (and more influential) brand presence than you that is swaying clients to move? Are they very clever in the marketing of their business? While their proposition may be no better than yours, does your client as a result of their greater presence perceive them as a better proposition? It might be time for you to revisit your marketing activities and bring more structure and focus to them.

 

Is price a factor?

While price is not the usual reason for clients leaving you, it can be a contributory factor if you are way out of line. You need to satisfy yourself that your price is in the ballpark. If it’s higher than the norm, can you back this up by demonstrating that your proposition is better than the norm? After all, clients will only pay a premium for a premium service.

 

These are just some of the reasons why clients walk. If possible, talk to clients who are leaving you and try and get to the nub of why they are going. They may at first be slow to give the real reason in order not to hurt your feelings. However, if you persist with professional questions asked with grace, you might just uncover some nuggets that will help you avoid the loss of clients in the future.

Increase the Value of your Financial Advice Business

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I’m often asked how an adviser can increase the value of their business beyond the discounted value of your future income stream. This is particularly relevant for advisers who are looking to exit, and want to achieve the greatest sale price possible for their business.

It’s an area that I’ve written about before, but you might want to consider in a bit more detail a few of the factors that could drive up that sale price in your favour.

 

The Shape of your Revenue Model

One of the key factors in driving up the value of a business is the shape of revenue in the business. Is the business mainly living off high upfront commission payments with smaller future payments due, or has the business moved to flatter commissions on protection business and trail commission / fees as opposed to upfront commission on investment and pensions business?

Obviously the latter will be far more attractive to a potential purchaser. There are many advisers actively making this shift or looking to make the shift at the moment, either on their own or with the guidance of some of the product providers.

The size of this future income stream is important, but equally so is the persistency of it. A buyer will look to see your firm’s ability to both build up and then retain clients, to ensure that this income stream will continue into the future to their benefit.

 

Your Brand Value

Is there equity (value) in your brand? Having a brand that is well known, respected, considered better than a competitor’s brand is strategically really important. It is also famous for being very difficult to measure! But there are ways that you can influence this really important factor, to help you achieve a better sale price for your business.

How well known is your brand? How much time and effort to you put into building the awareness and credibility of your brand among your target audience? Is your brand positioned where you want it to be, and equally importantly where a potential purchaser will see as attractive?

Does your brand then actually deliver? Can you prove this through any quantitative measures (brand awareness measures, customer satisfaction results) or through qualitative feedback such as testimonials from clients about their experiences of working with your business?

Being able to demonstrate this brand equity could very positively impact the value of your business at sale time.

 

Your Sales & Advice Proposition

Has your business been built successfully (but solely) around your great relationship building and client acquisition skills? While this has undoubtedly been really valuable for you, what value does it hold for a potential buyer if you are planning on walking off into the sunset?

Alternatively, some advisers have built on these skills, for the benefit of other members of their sales team by developing processes and supports to acquire and deliver advice to clients. These processes and supports ensure that if you are out of the equation, your business should continue to develop sales and deliver excellent advice-based solutions to clients. Now that is really valuable to a buyer!

 

Clear & Valuable Target Markets

A buyer of your business will place a lot of value on your business offering “something different” to them. This might be particular expertise, skills or indeed access to a corner of the market that they have failed to access themselves.

Can you offer a potential purchaser access to a new segment of the market? This might be based on a product offering (for example the corporate pensions market), a geographical area where they currently don’t have a presence or a sector of the economy (a particular business sector or group of professionals). For this to be credible, you need to be able to demonstrate a genuine focus on the area, a differentiated approach that you utilise with this segment and demonstrable results in successfully gaining traction in the target segment.

After all, if your target market is “anyone”, what are you then actually bringing to a potential purchaser in terms of new opportunities?

 

Operational Excellence

A worry for someone buying a business is the skeletons in the closet. Are they suddenly going to be faced with a load of legacy problems – poor advice that will come home to roost, poor documentation that could leave them exposed, lots of clients who are completely disengaged from your business and who really have little loyalty towards it.

These factors will seriously undermine your price. Indeed they will often completely undermine the sale of your business at all, as a buyer just won’t want to take on these challenges. That is except possibly at a real knockdown price.

The challenge for you is to deal with these issues now and address them so that you are handing over as healthy a business as possible. And getting the best price as a result!

 

These are some of the factors to consider when looking to “fatten up” your business for sale. For any of you looking to buy or sell, do these match your experiences and what other factors do you consider? All comments as ever are welcome!