Growing your business during lockdown
As another lockdown becomes ever more inevitable your clients will need communication and reassurance, especially if markets begin to fall again.
The good news is that both clients and advisers are better prepared with technology already in place and your staff will be accustomed to home-working, even if they don’t love it.
The government is likely to dis-courage any non-essential face to face contact and given the age of many of your clients, its likely they won’t be keen for a face to face meeting either.
New ways of working, such as Zoom, Secure Messaging and Digital signatures have all increased dramatically during lock-down and for many advisers will continue to be the most efficient way of conducting business both in and out of lockdown.
I’ll give you some tips later in the article on how best to structure a virtual meeting but for now let’s consider how you might attract new business during another lockdown.
Attracting New Business
Adviser firms that can attract new business remotely, remove any geographic barrier from their business. So, consider how you can both attract new clients and onboard them digitally, to continue to grow your business. People will need financial planning more than ever but how do you find these potential clients or give them a way to find you?
Typical ways to attract new business have been professional connections and existing client recommendations so ask yourself what can be done to further encourage these referrals.
Optimising your website so it is found in Google searches known as SEO is another way to attract new leads. If there are searches where you’d like Google to find you, it is worth considering pay per click advertising to put yourself at the top of the page.
Your website needs to be structured to appeal to the type of client you are looking to attract with interesting articles and case studies that will encourage the prospective client to get in touch. Cut out the noise and really think about what you’d want to see on the home page to make you get in contact if you were a prospect.
Learn how others are attracting business by trying out searches that your prospect might type to find you such as “financial advice needed”, “how do I get financial advice”, “what is financial advice”, “what does a financial adviser do?” might all be searches that your prospect might try.
If you do these searches, you’ll find its possible to structure articles on your website that specifically answer these questions. Google might find them, if you’re lucky, but if you pay to put yourself at the top of the page – you’ll definitely get found.
Once you’ve attracted your prospect, you need to consider how to build a relationship remotely.
Meeting virtually
When meeting with your prospect, consider how best to get your message across. Zoom meetings can be great but don’t go heavy on the PowerPoint. It’s much better to talk through your points and keep yourself on the screen than filling the screen with a static PowerPoint or document. Using technology live with clients such as cashflow planning software to reinforce points can work well as they are more entertaining for the client to look at than pre-written slides. You’re trying to build a rapport so keeping it to a conversation rather than a presentation will be best.
Keeping them ’ appy
Once you’ve got a prospect on the hook, you need technology to support building the relationship. Deliver an app in your brand so that you can communicate securely and share and sign documents. The app can keep the client updated as their information is gathered, and recommendations agreed and will help ensure your prospect not only becomes a client but feels great about the process. Good enough for them to recommend you to their friends and family especially if you’ve got schemes in place to encourage these referrals.
There is new business out there.
Put yourself in a great position to capture it by being on the front foot with technology. Give us a call and we’ll show you what moneyinfo can do for your business, in or out of lockdown it’s the best way to securely communicate with your clients.
Sim Sangha is business development director at moneyinfo. For a 1-2-1 personal consultation click here.
03303 600 300
