WHAT FINANCIAL SERVICES CAN DO TO BECOME MORE PRODUCER-LED

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1 WHAT FINANCIAL SERVICES CAN DO TO BECOME MORE PRODUCER-LED

2 Could your financial services firm benefit from targeted B2B enablement and demand generation strategies? Elastic Grid and SiriusDecisions explore the possibilities. WHAT S THE SITUATION? You know that producer-led programs can help financial firms tap into warm markets. But you haven t had to rely on these marketing channels as a source of revenue growth. But now, pure push or pull strategies (making product based on customer needs, or building a solution then telling them why they need it) no longer work. Many organizations now rely on producer-led marketing to grow demand and revenue. While the reasons behind this change are many and varied, the result is simple power in channel marketing has shifted from supplier to buyer, with producers now taking a critical role in the marketing process. Many financial producers don t know how to make use of this new power. They re struggling to succeed in their enhanced role. Why? Because producers excel in dealing with cutomers they are not specialized in marketing your solutions. As such, many lack the time, resourses, staff and marketing skills to drive demand on their own. While inbound marketing solutions offer a proven way forward generating interest and growing thought leadership these stakeholders need dedicated assistance to manage these solutions effectively. In response, many firms have altered their strategies, aiming to grow their market reach by empowering their producers to drive demand. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 2

3 THESE BUSINESS PARTNERS NEED DEDICATED SUPPORT. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MY FINANCIAL INSTITUTION? In their research brief, Financial Services: Producer Marketing Enablement SiriusDecisions recommend suppliers focus on augmenting the marketing capabilities of producers so they can become more effective in their efforts to find new customers, or upsell existing customers to new offerings. Clients across a range of industries use Elastic Grid s suite of digital marketing products to enable B-to-B channels, delivering automated, actionable marketing tools that enhance lead generation and the sales process. The same tools that are enabling companies like Amazon, Brocade, Cisco, Symantec, VMware and others to grow their channel marketing revenue can be utilized by financial services firms to gain greater leverage from their business partners, and effectively engage them in marketing programs. The market restructure currently affecting your territory is similar to the one that saw IT organizations scrambling for better revenue drivers. Consumerization has empowered customers with unprecedented levels of choice and they are unafraid to shop around. While you may not have adopted what SiriusDecisions called a growth through recruitment strategy to engage with your target market and guide their purchase decisions, chances are that s where you re heading in the near future. This means the smart move would be to learn from a field that s already undergone a similar shift, and get ahead of the curve by enabling your producers from the start, rather than when revenue starts tapering off. Elastic Grid s solutions synchronize with the fundamentals identified by SiriusDecisions (see the article Six Steps to Driving Higher Adoption and Performance of Channel Programs ) and make it easy to empower, control and direct your marketing activities across a broad range of channels. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 3

4 THAT S A FAIR POINT. WHERE DO I START? In their research brief, Financial Services: Producer Marketing Enablement SiriusDecisions has identified three broad components that make up a comprehensive program for financial institutions to effectively support their producers. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 4

5 TARGETING PROSPECTS Train your producers to identify the variables that matter most when assessing potential customers. Areas you need to cover include: DEFINING THE CUSTOMER ASSESSMENT TRAINING Draw up profiles of likely candidates based on your knowledge of the target markets. Make it easy to identify distinguishing demographics and key factors that make them more likely to buy. Show your producers how to determine a prospect s suitability for a particular product or package. Develop talk-tracks or guided scripts that help producers identify whether a prospect has existing policies or products that can be transferred to new products while complying with local statutes. PROSPECT CRITICISM COMPETITIVE PRESENCE Develop training programs that show producers how to spot prospect signals that indicate criticality about your products. In cases where producers are required to communicate risk statements, show them how to deliver the content without alienating the prospect. Show them how to identify whether prospects have either bought similar products from the same firm in the past, or hold current, competitive assets from other firms. Regardless of whether your firm regulates which products your producers can sell, or works with independent producers who handle products from multiple firms, you still need to offer obvious competitive differentiators for your products. Develop professional marketing materials such as FAQ responses that help producers easily communicate your advantages to prospects and handle objections from prospects familiar with competitive offerings. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 5

6 SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE Empowering producer responsibility for growing your revenue is one thing, but you still have to make sure they know what they re talking about. While there s no doubt that they are experts in their particular field, a little preparation before giving them a new product to launch, or new campaign to run, will pay off in the long-term. THOUGHT LEADERSHIP BUYING PROCESS Give producers the knowledge and authority that marks them an expert in their field. While marketing and advertising can capture prospect interest, word-of-mouth selling still has a powerful effect on how much confidence a prospect has in the product. Help establish producers as thought leaders by giving them quality content on topics important to your customers. Pass your knowledge of the customer buying cycle on to your producers. Educate them on the stages of the cycle, as well as the common questions raised along the way. Give them access to this knowledge in the form of campaign playbooks and other reference materials. Doing this ensures that producers are capable of addressing prospect issues on the spot, removing obstacles from the prospect s path and streamlining the purchase decision. Then, give producers the support they need to nurture these conversations as they develop through online media. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 6

7 LEAD MANAGEMENT To succeed, producers, new and old, must acquire or refine their ability to find new leads. And then, take them from cold to close. Online marketing offers highly effective approaches that can augment your producers ability to generate and nurture insurance and financial services leads. But, your producers need training and supporting services around online approaches to lead generation and nurturing, eg, through social media, marketing and other online tactics. Start with these lead management components: LEAD NURTURING SALES ENABLEMENT Most producers want to flood all prospects with the same brochures and other content, then attempt to arrange meetings and make sales pitches as soon as possible. Digital lead nurturing programs avoid this scattershot approach and instead apply a more effective multi-touch strategy (eg, via a scheduled series) that offers unique content in each communication to approach the buyer s situation from multiple relevant viewpoints. As prospects advance in the buying process, they are more likely to compare offerings to determine which product is best for their circumstances, or ask producers for proof points (eg, performance data) to help them determine how much to invest or purchase, relative to their means and goals. Firms should help producers identify which tactics or resources (eg, white papers, individual case studies, call centers) they should use to approach and address these queries. Instead of creating a portal loaded with assets (which producers are unlikely to use), engage producers in programs (eg, customer referrals, financial illustration development) they can leverage to meet prospects needs as the selling process requires adaptive approaches which help them to specify and respond to the buyer s needs and circumstances. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 7

8 THE RESULT? Together, these three parts cover every element in your new marketing channel. Followed correctly, financial firms like yours will be able to invest in marketing strategies that enhance and build on your producers existing marketing capabilities. The net result is a marketing channel where producers are educated, enabled and empowered to drive lead generation and grow revenue, closing bigger deals, more often. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 8

9 ELASTIC GRID CAN HELP! Every market and channel is different. So you need an agile, responsive suite of marketing enablement, empowerment and education tools that can drive engagement, grow demand and enhance revenue. Elastic Grid offers proven strategic tools that deliver measurable benefits across your marketing channel. Our approach actively enhances the capabilities of producers, and matches the points identified by SiriusDecisions as being essential to sustainable growth for financial service providers. Let s take a second to see how these assets meet the needs of your growing financial organization: What financial services can do to become more producer-led 9

10 TARGET PROSPECT = SETs When you re educating producers on how to identify potential customers and new selling opportunities, or how to handle critical thinking and competitive offerings, you need a framework that ties it all together. Producers will get better results when they have a simplified, structured point of educational reference that guides them to a point where they are confident in their marketing know-how. At Elastic Grid, we worked hard to develop a platform that delivers all the assets and resources needed to identify and act on new opportunities as they arise. We call them Solution Enablement Toolkits. This proven platform is then tailored to suit the products or services you sell, and give producers everything they need to close bigger deals more often. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 10

11 SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE = STOs Educating producers on the specific use cases for products can be a difficult task. On one hand you need to deliver comprehensive material and measure their understanding, but on the other hand you need to make the material accessible and compelling. Elastic Grid s response to these challenges is the SolutionTrack Online, or STO for short. An STO is made up of a number of simple whiteboard animations that reduce complex products, services and solutions into manageable modules, streamlining the education process. These STOs also feature deep-dive sections to cover important points in detail, as well as built-in assessment sections, so you can track and rate producers as they develop an understanding of your products. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 11

12 LEAD MANAGEMENT = THE GRID Lead nurturing and sales enablement are two areas where sales and marketing tend to get blurred. So it s good to know that there s a proven platform that helps producers develop their contacts into validated leads and then into customers. Elastic Grid is an easy-to-use demand demand generation tool. It gives producers a secure, structured, and automated way to access professional collateral and co-brandable campaigns. The Grid gives organizations a dedicated way to deliver proven lead-generation modules to producers ranging from quickstart promotional sites that drive interest, through animations and webinars to grow thought leadership and market awareness, and on to full-blown muti-touch campaigns designed to run for months on end. The leads generated are forwarded straight to producers in real-time, along with actionable call-scripts and collateral designed to drive the sales conversation. Together, these integrated solutions make it easier for your producers to close bigger sales more often by taking the guesswork out of lead nurturing and sales enablement What financial services can do to become more producer-led 12

13 REMEMBER THE CREATIVE! In addition to these powerful digital solutions, Elastic Grid offers Creative Services. Our dedicated team delivers decades of demand-generating experience, producing campaigns and collateral that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of leads. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 13

14 ABOUT ELASTIC GRID Elastic Grid makes it easy for you to generate leads. Elastic Grid, a simple and effective demand generation platform, is supported by dedicated Creative Services and Concierge Services to help your producers get the most from your Grid. With over 4,300 partners, the Grid generates thousands of leads every week, in 20+ languages, across 100+ countries. In its first three years it generated forecast revenue pipeline in excess of $1.2 billion dollars. If you feel that your marketing efforts could benefit from the combined attentions of Elastic Grid, supported by our dedicated, channel-experienced Creative Services and Concierge Services, please get in touch. What financial services can do to become more producer-led 14

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