A new business which aims to help advisers with their marketing, branding and business development has been launched by a former law firm marketing director, who says now is the perfect time for advisers to be thinking about their image, client engagement and referral pipeline.
The BD Ladder works with a range of professionals including financial advisers, lawyers and accountants on various aspects of their growth and marketing, and founder Ben Paul says that for advisers, a listening ear and strong empathy are the two most important things in a COVID-dominated world.
“When talking to clients, you need to really remove the thoughts or concerns you have about your own business, and focus on them,” Paul told Insurance Business.
“It is really about listening intently, and using the opportunity to solve a problem rather than immediately thinking about which product to pick up off the shelf.”
“It’s said that the best question you could ask someone is ‘tell me your story’ – and right now, everybody has a story,” he explained. “At the end of the day, the ones who listen will be the ones that clients keep coming back to.”
Paul says that in the current climate, an adviser may ultimately feel more like a counsellor, but hearing out a client’s worries and concerns is an important part of offering a good service – and one that will be much more likely to produce referrals. He says it is also important to listen to all feedback, both good and bad, and fine-tune your offering.
“If a client gives you feedback that you then put into a drawer and never look at again, the client will see that your service hasn’t changed and that their effort was not appreciated,” Paul said.
“There are a lot of ways in which an adviser might be able to fine-tune their offering, and it’s really important to listen to all feedback, both good and bad. The problem with referrals is that, often, advisers don’t know how to ask for them – but at the end of that process, asking if they might be able to recommend you to anyone else will simply become a natural part of the conversation.”
“Ultimately the key thing is to be picking up the phone and having those conversations,” Paul concluded.
“You should be asking clients how they’re doing and helping them get some peace of mind, preferably sooner rather than later.”
