I want to start out by saying that this may be the most important blog I ever write for you.
It is a wake up call, and I hope that I inspire you to participate in the future of Advice rather than being a casualty of it.
One of the biggest contributors to being successful as a professional is to know when to act; knowing when to follow up with a client, when to schedule a meeting or when to employ a new team member are all examples of how acting at the right time drives your success.
I am going to break with our regular format today and speak a little from the heart, because I want you to understand that you are at a turning point in your future, and that NOW is the time to act if you want to go into that future as a leader instead of being left behind.
I know what it’s like being a busy Adviser and professional. People come at you all day long with propositions and pitches to help give your business the next ‘big thing’. So I’m not going to pitch to you, I’m just going to tell you what I believe to the very core of my being. The next 2-3 years are going to bring the biggest changes to Advice-based business that have EVER occurred. Social Business is a fundamental shift in the way that business and clients engage, interact and exchange value. But more than that, it completely changes the economics of Advice. From my experience in working with firms who are already taking action, I would like to give you a few examples of what is possible in your own business. Before you read further, all of these changes can be accomplished irrespective of resources i.e. they are achievable by Sole Practitioners. So what exactly can you do?
- Create a virtual community around your clients that generates ‘raving fan’ status on Social Media.
- Turn your website into a ‘Know, Like & Trust’ focused tool that leads prospective clients to take action.
- Create targeted video content that you can email to your clients and have them share with their entire network. Our best result for this is 26 referrals over 3 weeks from ONE client.
- Build a process that allows clients to refer to you via Social Media (even though it doesn’t feel like a referral).
- Create digital funnels that ‘self-select’ your ideal clients i.e. only the ones you want to engage with.
- Create large email lists of prospective clients and then build automated email sequences that create trust, remove fear, define your value and have prospective clients take action to engage you.
- Create automated email sequences using video that deliver the core elements of your Advice Process i.e. you will never repeat yourself again, so that you can only spend your time delivering the real impact to every individual client.
- Systematise large components of your ongoing client service with Video so that the service feels connected and personal but is scalable i.e. doesn’t require your time beyond setup. For most advisers, this can reduce the number of physical interactions required with a client by 75%. More to the point, the client feels more engaged and there is no loss of ‘personal feel’.
These are just tiny examples of the innovation that we are creating for Advice businesses. In terms of your bottom line, here are the real results these changes can deliver to you and your business over a two year period:
- Doubling the capacity (or halving time commitment) of client facing Advisers to serve clients. In other words, you can service twice as many clients easily.
- Increasing new business growth exponentially (by however much you want to). In surveying our first year students, the average increase in new client revenue per Adviser in the first year was $57,000, and extrapolated results at second year will be more than double that. I personally have achieved more than $500k in new client revenue from ‘Social’ in one year.
- Decreasing the ‘cost to serve’ for the average advice firm by greater than 30%. This is simply just a case of providing value and Advice in a far ‘smarter’ way, and using the amazing tools that are right there, ready to be applied.
I know some of those results may sound a little farfetched, but I can assure you that they are possible (just chat to some of our clients).
However, the point is that achieving these results takes action, and actually requires you to look up from what you and EVERYONE else is doing to see the changes and opportunities right before your eyes.
I hope to see you in The Future of Advice,
Baz