Financial services marketers: Are your sales aids actually aiding sales?

Financial services marketers: Are your sales aids actually aiding sales?

Here s the deal

The consumer is as sophisticated as they ve ever been. Financial products are as sophisticated as they ve ever been. But the sales and disturbance techniques just haven t moved on at the same rate.

Patrick Biddiscombe, CEO of New Brand sums it up rather nicely Back in the day, sales reps armed themselves with static and clunky tools such as trifold posters, data sheet print-offs and inperson demos. This was also when cold calls and door-to-door selling were effective methods of customer acquisition. These tools focused on the company and product themselves. They spoke at prospect, rather than with the prospect.

Take a long, hard look at your sales aids To what extent are they about your product vs your potential customer? If they re largely - or exclusively - about the finer details of your product offering, you ve got a problem... Because when you actually ask financial advisers what marketing materials really help them to sell, there s a disconnect

The thing we hear from advisers time and time again? Stop giving us marketing materials that are productcentric. Give us agile content that can help us to illustrate different outcomes quickly Give us something that we can use in face to face conversations with clients to add value.

Are you listening to the right people? Whatever your sales model, if there s one thing as marketers we should do, it s to listen to the people on the front line - the ones talking to your customers and driving through sales - the ones that experience the ups and downs of the (often peculiar), but always human, buying decisions. In the financial services industry, this often falls to intermediaries - financial advisers. Sure, advisers need to know about the features of your product (and, by the way, all of your competitor s products). Of course they do. But if you re expecting these resources to cut the mustard when it comes to driving purposeful sales conversations, you ll probably be disappointed.

There are better sales enablement resources out there Ones that help financial advisers to a better and more informed advice process and really drive sales.

The Challenge The key to creating sales aids that actually aid sales, is to give financial advisers resources that help them to get personal, fast. But it s hard to make a single piece of content that can actually do the job of illustrating different client scenarios. They re so diverse and varied, right? Oh, and did we mention it has to be engaging for financial advisers? They re humans too. Reams and reams of pricing tables for smokers and nonsmokers won t do. There is one obvious sales enablement tool that can tick all of these boxes, arming financial advisers with individualised, outcome-based information that changes mindsets and quickly focuses conversations

We re talking about digital, interactive calculators and online tools.

But how exactly do they help financial advisers to drive sales?

Interactive calculators and tools can be useful at multiple different stages of the sales journey. From helping a client to identify a need, to calculating the value of specific products. Online With calculators 60% of people and in UK using tools price can comparison be useful tools research at multiple or buy financial different productsstages 1, consumers of the sales journey. are increasingly familiar with the value of consumer-facing online tools and calculators in buying journey for financial products. A with Millennials becoming an increasingly important audience, you re going to need to find ways to make your marketing digitally savvy, easy and convenient to use on the go. In our experience, feedback from financial advisers that use interactive digital tools in their client conversations is overwhelmingly positive. Lead generation Identify or establish a need Demonstrate value Comparisons / quote tools Performance monitoring Purchase 1 Mintel report, published September 28, 2011.

Get personal, fast. A good financial adviser always sees things through the eyes of their client and the things that matter to them in their world their mortgage, their children, their world cruise retirement fund. Money is deeply personal and this approach is crucial for building rapport and demonstrating the value of financial products. Give them the tools to present the benefits of your financial products in this context.

Open up conversations Often, especially when it comes to protection products, financial advisers are trying to sell a concept that people don t want to think or talk about, and it s hard to get across the tangible benefits. That is, until you use interactive tools to turn it into a what if? scenario using the information your client has just given you. Do this, and you ve got a create stepping stone to open up a serious sales conversation.

Mind shift There s something different about seeing results that have been calculated based on your own personal data. The added disturbance factor can really help to hammer the need home and focus conversations. It s suddenly not about averages and benchmarks, it s about you, your future and your finances.

Ask the right questions. All of them. Tools and apps are great prompts midconversation. They can help financial advisers make sure they ve gathered all of the information they ll need for their advice process. And asking the right questions can be a great way to highlight exclusive features and benefits of your particular product offering.

Make their life easier. Online calculators make life so much easier for financial advisers - massively reducing the amount of manual effort and spreadsheets involved in gathering different quotes. If your calculator is designed right, it s really not a very taxing process. And it s not just a question of making their life easier with interactive digital tools, advisers can do things that wouldn t have been possible before, weighing up different, inter-dependent scenarios almost instantly.

Credibility and Authority on the spot. For whatever reason, people tend to believe computer-generated results. Online tools can help financial advisers to avoid sweeping statements and guestimates, and present the facts, there and then, with a few clicks. There s definitely something different about using the client s data rather than industry averages. It really makes clients sit up and listen. Andy Barrett, Chartered Financial Planner

Focus on the important. The financial adviser s brain contains a ridiculous amount of information about products, legislations, clients, compliance. They pride themselves on being independent experts in their field. Give them a digital calculator, and they don t need to retain reams and reams of intricate details about rates and prices. And this all mean that they can focus on the things that really matter to their clients.

Great for compliance and due diligence. From your point of view it s great financial advisers can recommend your product in the full confidence that they re using the most up to date, compliance-safe information. Any updates or changes are managed centrally within the tool. Deploying new versions becomes really easy unlike printed product collateral. And for the adviser, they have a record of the fact that they carried out thorough fact-finding before giving their recommendations.

Let s take a look at a real-life example of how an interactive calculator totally transformed the sales and advice process for LV=, the UK s largest friendly society

LV= were finding that the biggest barrier to boosting their protection sales was that financial advisers were having a hard time getting people to perceive that they had a need for protection. They needed a smart way to alter people s perception of risk. From It will never happen to me to Am I really prepared?

The LV= Risk Reality Calculator Using just 5 simple personal details, the LV= Risk Reality Calculator instantly works out the chances of you being diagnosed with a serious illness, and dying before retirement. Within seconds, you have personal, hard-hitting stats that make you question your previous assumption of Oh, I don t need protection, I m fit as a fiddle It s really simple. And it s a great way of changing people s attitude towards protection products and opening up a difficult channel of conversation.

Try it out for yourself. The LV= Risk Reality Calculator s client-scenario based approach proved to be a brilliant way to make people sit up, pay attention and think again about the value of protection products. The tool works brilliantly when used by advisers alongside their client to guide them through the different protection options available to them. Using the calculator, one of the UK s leading adviser networks increased sales by 53%. The calculator is simple, powerful and thought provoking. The feedback we ve had from advisers has been overwhelmingly positive. Justin Harper, Head of Intermediary Marketing at LV=

The different types of digital calculator It s worth remembering that a calculator can be used both independently by clients, and and advisers in client conversations. Of course, you can limit access and determine a more controlled audience. But consider the audience and required level of complexity strongly in your design. Client facing Simple online calculators are a really accessible way of getting customers to engage and experiment with your financial products. Keep them simple, interactive, and clearly signpost the next steps you want them to take. For intermediaries Calculators can be useful for intermediaries in two main contexts 1. Demonstration tools to steer and focus face-to-face conversations 2. Easy ways to draw up different, more complex options and calculations to send on to clients in advance of, or after, conversations.

It s time you started delivering sales aids that really aided sales...

At Moreish, we ve helped to transform thousands of conversations. We ve designed and developed countless award-winning online calculators for financial services companies including LV= and Wesleyan. What makes us unique? We combine deep knowledge of the financial services industry with the digital skills to design and develop beautiful, intuitive tools. Already got an idea for a tool? Great - we can work with you to shape that idea and help with the design and delivery. Or maybe you like the idea of creating a tool but want some guidance? We ll take a long hard look at your product and sales cycle and advise you on some ideas. Let s talk...

moreishmarketing.com