How to develop your client-centric proposition

In an extract from their book Get the Adviser Advantage: How to Survive and Thrive in the New World of Retail Financial Services, Informed Choice's Nick and Martin Bamford explain how to develop client-centric propositions.

It was claimed some time ago that people used to buy Black & Decker power tools not because they wanted a drill but because they wanted a hole.  We can apply this to financial services. Clients do not want pension plans or Isas - hat they want is financial security and the resources to do whatever it is that they want in their lives. In other words what they want are solutions (holes) rather than products (drills).

Advisers need to apply this same thought process to their client proposition. A client-centric proposition should be to appeal to those needs and wants and then back that up by describing the service offering and providing evidence of how that service offering will be delivered.

If we want to people to part with their hard-earned cash, we have to ensure that what we have to offer them is valuable. If we do not, they simply may choose not to pay. One of the real challenges with which we are faced is convincing a sceptical audience - one who for years has been taught that advice is for free - that they now have to pay for it.

The client who is presented with a proposition which enables them to save time, effort and money is more likely to value a proposition than one who is presented with a weak proposition. We might offer two examples of a weak proposition to put perspective on this.

If I claim to be an independent financial adviser who can choose the best product from the whole of market, I have a weak proposition. Equally, if I claim to be able to choose the best investment fund, my proposition is definitely not client centric. If not today, then very soon, product and fund selection will become the preserve of the internet. You may, of course, disagree - in which case you are very brave because you deny the power of the internet.

Mission statement

Like them or hate them, a mission statement may well be the way to start the process of describing the client proposition. Keep it short and sharp but do not think that a one or two sentence statement on its own is going to be enough. The mission statement is a so-called ‘elevator’ speech. It is simply designed to raise interest and help the prospective client decide if he or she wants to find out more.

Marketers will tell us that the best client-centric proposition should be aimed at a niche market that you can then fully understand, exploit and dominate. This has some appeal but you may consider that what you do might appeal to a broader market.

We started off with the following mission statement:  ‘We are trusted advisers who help individuals and small business owners in Surrey, London and the Home Counties build, manage and protect their wealth.’  It works for us but I am not claiming that it is perfect. For example, some say that the very act of describing yourself as trusted is off putting. And do we all not help our clients to build, manage and protect their wealth? So perhaps that is not a big enough differentiator.

However you may, like us, consider that a client proposition is something that evolves over time and I am not sure that anyone gets it right first time.

Ask your clients

A good starting point for the client proposition might be to ask your clients what it is that they want. You may be surprised by their answers but they may tell you about things that they value and you are able to deliver them at low cost.

I had a very good example of this recently (and it goes to show how insular we can become particularly in respect of existing clients) in the form of a client for whom we have delivered an annual review report on his pension plan for the past 20 years.

At the end of the last meeting, he thanked us yet again for making it clear to him and for the advice that we provide - and then the bombshell. He asked: “What is it exactly that you do?” He had just inherited a large sum from his parent’s estate and wondered if we could provide investment advice as well as advice on his retirement planning. 

As you can imagine we decided then and there that we needed to communicate our proposition to existing clients as well as new clients. How dim are we?!

Two added-value items we delivered recently were the identification of a particular plant in a client’s garden (is that a regulated activity?) and helping another self-employed client improve the Google rankings of her website. Nowhere are these mentioned in our client proposition but they go to show how value can be added.

Describe what you are going to do

The old British Army adage was that the corporal was going to tell the men what he was going to tell them, tell them and then tell them what he had told them. The client proposition should be the same. Repeat, repeat and then repeat again.

We will provide advice to you in the form of a written report. We will present that report to you. We will answer any questions that arise. We will review your investment portfolio on a half-yearly basis. We will provide you with quarterly valuations and internet access to your portfolio. We will provide you with our Monday morning email newsletter. We will provide you with face-to-face advice. We will be available on the phone or by email if you have a question.

Build on all the things that you are going to do for your client. And, of course, make sure that you have the systems and processes, people and resources to actually deliver them. If there is one thing worse than a weak proposition, it is a strong proposition which you fail to deliver.

Evidence

Finally, you may want to provide some evidence of what your proposition is - a website or brochure or both. Whatever material you use, it needs to appeal to the problems with which your clients are faced and then a description of how you can solve those problems.

Evolve your proposition. As I said earlier, you may not get it right first time, but without a proposition how can any know if you can be of help to them?