by Steve Holmes
Feedsy

Over the years I have constantly heard Advisers state that they care about their client. I absolutely believe Advisers when they say this, and I am absolutely convinced that Advisers mean what they say, but this statement needs to change. These days for me, it’s bordering on a throwaway line.

What are the conversations Advisers are having to convey that they care? What are Advisers actually giving away to demonstrate that they care?

Time:

One of the most valuable things is the gift of TIME. This means spending time with clients, listening to them, speaking with them, asking them questions and this could be face to face or virtually. If you did this for all of your clients all of the time, something has to give. Your health may suffer due to the extra hours you are putting in, your business may suffer in other areas and your family may not see you as much. So any efficiencies your business can adopt will become extremely valuable in helping you deliver the ultimate gift of time and absolutely deliver on your duty of care.

Knowledge

The other very valuable commodity you can give as an Adviser is KNOWLEDGE. The knowledge that your clients can look back at an old photo in retirement and say to themselves, you know, we did ok. The knowledge that a parent can look at their family and feel protected. The knowledge that a client can achieve their goals, the knowledge that if a client manages their cash flow and savings, they can take that holiday or buy that new caravan. The ability to educate your clients is paramount. Knowledge is a very valuable commodity that Advisers produce, we should be thinking about all of the ways advice businesses can produce those knowledge widgets.

For me, it means that Advisers or an industry group have the ability to express their beliefs, thoughts and ideas relating to existing content or to create their own helpful blogs. That is all knowledge and it’s definitely a commodity that holds significant value and advice businesses have it.

If Advisers can’t or don’t convey that they are the source of this knowledge there are significant opportunity costs.

Ability to educate:

Many Advisers are realising that they need to charge a lot more for their advice, advice is becoming unaffordable for many people. Many Advisers are needing to turn off trail commissions and will only engage with clients when they need advice, obviously, their good clients will be on an agreed fee-for-service model. So the question is, why would you want to lose touch with many people that have been clients for years and all of a sudden they are not.

The ability to educate clients and contacts at low cost should be an attractive and very important marketing and communication function. The opportunity is that many of these ex fee-paying clients could still have some type of relationship with the business in the future. When the client needs advice they will turn to the business that has been trying to educate them.

The mind shift for me:

Building relationships by simply saying that you care, is getting a bit old for me now, every adviser that I speak with says this, but what does it actually mean and how can you demonstrate it? That is the key difference, we need to dig a little deeper.

At Feedsy we strive to give Financial Advisers the freedom to express their knowledge and ability to educate.

An automated service to stay with their client’s thoughts on a regular basis. Something for clients to see and to read to prompt a phone call that may lead to a meaningful conversation.

Feedsy offers a turn-key client communication ecosystem, bringing together email automation, engaging content and a social media launchpad. Helping advice businesses to be the source of knowledge where clients can make informed choices.

Welcome to Feedsy for Financial Advisers and a way to future proof your business in a post COVID-19 world.

Steve Holmes
Co-founder & Director
Feedsy