Probably not 3 words that you were expecting us to put together, but where there are opportunities to be spotted, we can’t help ourselves but to try and find them.
Having spent the last 15 years of my career marketing financial services to IFA; from Discretionary Fund Management through to General Insurance (albeit with a brief foray into working in an IFA practice), I’d like to consider myself au-fait with the mind-set of an Independent Financial Adviser. However, there are always exceptions and new ways of thinking, that’s why I regularly call upon my ever-expanding adviser group of contacts to conduct research. They’re the perfect way to validate an idea, create some magic or just having a natter about the latest industry developments.
Afterall, I’m in the ideas business.
The nature of the Beast
I’ve found over time that advisers are generally tenacious and entrepreneurial when running their business, and analytical and empathetic when responding to the needs of their clients – a real dichotomy of qualities for a human to have. With so many things for an adviser to be thinking about, I can’t really blame them for not seeing this opportunities heading their way. Obviously there are exceptions who have embraced the challenges.
One challenge was the introduction of Auto Enrolment – the new work-based pension which ensures to automatically enrol anyone who qualifies for a scheme. The responsibility lies with employers to enrol their staff. But where was the opportunity for independent financial advisers?
When we started working with Creative Auto Enrolment (a service designed to help employers, employees and advisers meet the new responsibilities and duties with limited impact); we were already ahead of curve most other creative agencies; we understood the legislation and the impact that it could have on their target audiences.
How could we help advisers identify that they have individual clients who were business owners and that should be considering an auto-enrolment solution?
Whilst this may not be considered a significant income stream by many advisers, such a solution would certainly help to maintain client loyalty (or ‘stickiness’ – as I like to call it).
Research conducted indicated that the fear of losing a client was a key driver in initiating action.
So what did we do?
We dramatised the possibility they could lose control of their clients to another adviser who could offer a solution. By embracing auto-enrolment, advisers could generate stickier relationships with their clients as well receiving an introduction fee and unlimited revenues from future fee-based services.
And to prove their creative effectiveness, the online adverts achieved an enviable click thru rate of 0.18% (compared to an industry benchmark of 0.04%).
So that’s how you get sticky beasts into auto-enrolment.
If you can see a business opportunity or challenge that you’d like us to work some magic on, give us a call.