In the May 20 issue of USA Today there was an interesting article about “do it yourself investors“. Now the Do It Yourself (DIY) movement is huge today and Home Depots are packed every weekend with hammer and nail warriors heading home to embark upon some fix it up project. Many will succeed, but just as many will be nursing swollen thumbs and calling a general contractor. Even the home repair project, no matter how screwed up, can be fixed. But the idea that despite the challenges of everyday life, filled with personal and professional obligations, 63% of people with a 401K are going it alone should be a loud claxon to the financial services and advisor industry. 54% of those folks are literally “unengaged”, taking NO ACTIVE ROLE in managing their account. They are simply drifting along on the tide of financial market conditions. This data was gleaned from 13 million participants in Fidelity Investment 401K plans across the country. It the percentages are this high at Fidelity, you can guarantee the same numbers are prevalent everywhere.
This should present financial advisors with both alarming and exciting news. It means your market is full of potential. That’s the good news. The bad news, well the market finds you of little value to their financial well- being. In fact, they would rather do NOTHING than engage the services of a financial professional. OUCH!
This is a golden opportunity for financial advisors and professionals to take a hard core, strategic look at how you create value. This is all about VALUE.
At Creative Ventures we spend almost half of our strategic time in the financial services industry. We work on projects ranging from sales to marketing, from meeting design and planning to idea development and we know the value that a true professional can bring to anyone. But it seems that the market is moving away from, instead of towards, that value. So, the question is what can you do to turn this market apathy to an advantage? Here are a few ideas:
- STORY: What creates client engagement is an emotional connection to what you do. In the great film, Field of Dreams, James Earl Jones makes a speech pleading with Kevin Costner’s character to keep his Iowa corn field baseball diamond. During his epic speech he utters these words; “It is money they have and peace they lack.” This is the essence of a great financial advisor’s story. Do you think the people going at their financial future alone have peace? Some do. Some are really smart, but most are just doing nothing because it’s easier than doing something. Build a story that compels engagement, that rides on a unique combination of fact and emotion. Start to make connections with a real and true story. Use these three building blocks – What do you do? What value do you bring? How are you different?
- THE CLIENT EXPERIENCE: No matter what happens in technology, global markets, health care or any other driving market conditions, you always CONTROL your client experience. How do the people you work for interact with the services you provide? Can you define your sales process? I mean REALLY define it. Do you know all your contact and connection points. Do you know how your story is being told? Does your team even know your story? Would a client say that you provide a unique and extraordinary experience? Why not? Spend some hard time on your client experience. Look for opportunities to take your client expectations to the next level. Attack your ideas in very small pieces. We call this strategy One Level Above or OLA. Once you create continuity with one meaningful step, you move to the next idea. Your client experience is a tipping point in the goal of market separation and differentiation.
You have a huge portion of your market that’s adrift in apathy. Become a leader in what you do and develop a strategic attack plan that turns that apathy into shared opportunity.
If you like these ideas and are looking for strategic help, drop us a note!
Jim says
Reminds me of paraphrase of old poker joke: if you sit down with a financial planner and don’t recognize the “mark,” it’s you. Pros see clients as family rather than an income stream.