Why Dirty Harry wouldn't win a Gold Medal

by Tony Vidler.

One of the great movie lines spoken by the character Dirty Harry was "a man's got to know his limitations".  A line which always seems to apply to financial advisers.

But this doesn't apply to Olympians does it?  

I am captivated by the incredible achievements of humans that is demonstrated at the Olympics, and their ability to continually re-define their (apparent) limitations.  

You cannot help watching them, admiring them, and then wondering how you can apply what they know and do, to the non-Olympic and mere-mortal world we live in.

At the London 2012 games 2 athletes standout for me personally, on the basis of how they continually have re-defined their own expectations (or self-limitations).  

Michael Phelps must be considered one of the greatest athletes of all time, and his record is remarkable.  The second athlete to stand out for me is also a swimmer - who did not win a medal.

Lauren Boyle, from New Zealand. What a remarkable young lady - and the epitome of a "champion".

She came 4th in the 800m freestyle final.  But to get there she had to continue, race by race, to swim faster than she had ever swum in her life.  Breaking her own national records to get to the final, and then under the immense pressure of the final of an Olympic glamor event, she lifted another notch again.   And at the end of the race, was she upset at getting 4th?  Not on your life...she recognized that she had challenged her own beliefs, re-defined her apparent limitations, and found a new confidence and performance level.

So what do Lauren & Michael Phelps have in common?

Well, they both have a coach that they listen to and learn from.  They apply process and systems to enhance their training and "professional development".  They take advice from their mentors.  It is up to them to put that advice into action and performance though.

According to a study of Olympic Champions here are their common denominators for success:

Characteristics of Champions

  An ability to cope with and control anxiety.

  Confidence

  Mental toughness/resiliency

  Sport intelligence

  An ability to focus and block distractions

  Competitiveness

  A hard-work ethic

  An ability to set and achieve goals

  Coachability

  High levels of dispositional hope

  Optimism

  Adaptive perfectionism

Source:  Psychological characteristics and their development in Olympic champions.

Gould, D., Diffenback, K., & Moffett, A.

If you want a self-improvement checklist of things to work upon, you will not find a much better list than this one.

On this basis, would that excellent pistol shooting Dirty Harry have got a gold medal?  

I don't think so...at the very least because he wasn't too "coachable", or open to learning.  There are a couple of other attributes that he didn't share with the Olympians either, and we can't overlook his tendency to adopt a cynical "me versus the world" attitude combined with a mindset of "my way is the only way, and winning is everything".  Brute force as a method of problem solving also has its limitations too I guess.

What led me down this line of thought in recent days is the realisation that there are more business owners like Dirty Harry than there are business people thinking and behaving like Olympians.

Champions challenge themselves, and are continually focused on incremental improvement, open to new ideas and learning, and reinforce all they learn with sheer hard work.  

Any professional advisers or professional service firms looking to develop or just get business ideas and inspiration should think about adopting the mindset of an Olympian rather than Dirty Harry. 

You don't have to actually get a gold medal or be first in the world to be a champion.  You only have to have seen Lauren immediately after NOT winning a medal to realise that.

 http://www.3news.co.nz/No-medal-but-still-glory-for-record-breaking-Boyle/tabid/1706/articleID/264158/Default.aspx


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Will you marry me?

 by Tony Vidler.

I have no idea what the actual statistics would be, but I am willing to wager that the success rate of popping the question "will you marry me?" onto a prospective partner who you have not yet dated is probably pretty low.  

If you've dated for a bit, the odds get a bit better, though only marginally so.  If you've been engaged for a while and everyone knows what the end game is, then the odds are pretty good that you will get a "yes" to "will you marry me?".

How does this apply to financial advice?  Well...the biggest problem with financial adviser marketing is the tendency to pop the "will you marry me" question to people who haven't decided yet whether they want to spend a Saturday night with you. 

This lies at the heart of dealing with a common adviser question: "How can I make my marketing more effective?"

Before answering this question though it is important to understand a more fundamental question: What is the difference between marketing and selling?

Many advisers seem to think that these are one and the same thing.  Or, if pressed a little further, "marketing" is often confused with "advertising".   Marketing does include advertising... as it also includes having a clear value proposition, understanding the target market, the branding of the individual and the branding of the business entity, and a number of other things.

Thinking bigger picture though; marketing is really about creating opportunities to gain a client or some new business.  Selling is the process of converting that opportunity into an actual piece of business that your accountant can see.

To answer the question posed at the outset then, one has to understand that while there may be many components that go into creating really effective marketing, the underlying question that the adviser is really asking is "how can I create more opportunities to engage with people who would be willing to take the actions I would recommend"?

The part that really matters in this underlying question is "opportunities to engage with people".  THAT is the piece that you must concentrate upon to create "more effective" marketing.  This revelation is the point where advisers often say "aha, I get it" and their marketing efforts lift as they begin to focus upon creating new opportunities to generate future new business.  It makes sense to them that if they are able to attract attention, and engage with people, then they begin to establish a relationship of trust. Surely having done this the prospective client will take my advice and work with me?

It is at this point though that the bulk of such marketing efforts fall down in a heap.

The reason?  Lack of patience and understanding of the engagement process.  It's akin to having a couple of Saturday night dates and then wondering why the dream date doesn't want to marry you yet.  A lot of adviser businesses at this point are creating a lot of Saturday night dates....but there's no follow through.  It's just lifting the initial activity level really.

Engagement (in this business sense) is really about inter-acting with people on a regular basis in a way that they feel comfortable with until they decide they want to be with you.  Your marketing purpose is to get, and then hold, their attention and build their level of interest in what you have to offer in the way of valuable advice and solutions.  At some point in the engagement process you - or more likely some other event unrelated to your marketing and positioning - will trigger "desire" on their part to act.

That is when the marketing process is finished, and selling begins.  Although, if your marketing and engagement process is done well, the reality is that there is very little selling involved. 

The necessary level of trust and credibility in you as the right adviser has already been established.  The rest is process and technical competency being applied to the clients' need.  

The reality for a financial adviser business though is that engagement is forever.  The actual marriage part - your client buying you or your solution at some point - is actually just a moment in time.  It is a purchase. A transaction.  A fait accompli....if the engagement was a fulfilling one.

Engagement with clients, for the successful advice business, is long term.  Once you have them as clients, then the engagement and ongoing interaction becomes even more important, as they can add significant value to your business if you can move them from supporting you to the point where they are advocates for your business.

To make your marketing more effective - to get better results for your business - stop asking the marriage question.  It's not about the big moment and the big "sale".  Build systems and processes to engage people in a way they feel comfortable with, and share information and insights, and help them help themselves.....and they will want to take it further!

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What are your clients REALLY worth to you?

by Tony Vidler.

How much do you really think a good customer is worth to you?

Most financial advisers will easily (I hope!) work through the basic formula of the average fee/sale per customer multiplied by the number of transactions they have with you each year, and then multiplied by the number of years you expect to work with them (see graph below).

That is all simple enough - if you know these averages and key business metrics for your firm.

But is that the total measure of what a good customer is worth to your business?

How many referrals to other great customers could you get from a really happy customer over the expected lifetime of the relationship?  What extra value can be attached to your brand, or business value, from having great advocates in your clientele?

How about a working example for a typical adviser who looks after their clients well and provides great value....

Let's assume that your client pays monitoring and service fees of $500 in fees each year (not all that much really) to you, and on average your customers require (significant) new advice every 3 years or so at about $2,400 per time.  So that's another $800 p.a. on average - meaning that the average annual revenue is about $1,300 p.a. for a happy client valuing your advice.

If you provide good service and advice they will be working with you for the rest of your working life - call that another 15 years for this example.  

So far this happy client that paid $2,400 in initial planning fees and provides ongoing revenue of $500 p.a. has an apparent lifetime value to your business of $19,500 - which in itself is pretty impressive.

However if that happy client refers other good clients to your business then their value to your business exponentially increases.  It is not as simplistic as using the same formula above for each additional referral, because over time (if your expected business time frame remains the same) then each new client in subsequent years has a lower incremental value, and it would be wildly inaccurate to attribute every new customers own "lifetime value" to the referring client .  But the acquisition cost per referral will be lower than most other forms of marketing, so that saving can in fairness be attributed to the lifetime value of the original referring client.

A typical advisory firm might spend (say) $250 in marketing for each new client it brings in each year.  so using the client example from above, there is another $7,500 in "value" in that client providing the referrals.

Not bad really....that $2,400 initial client is now looking like they have a lifetime value of $27,000 to your business over the next 15 years.

But the REALLY big value is within the impact these advocate customers have on your overall business valuation.  To illustrate the point let's continue with some further really simple assumptions.

If an adviser business had 500 clients, averaging $1,300 p.a in revenue (as above), it has a nice little turnover of $650,000 p.a. gross.  Depending on what valuation methodology is used, and what market conditions are prevailing, that business valuation might typically be (say) $975,000.  However, premium value is attached to those businesses where there is strong loyalty, constant referrals, and turnkey business operations.  The valuation on such a business (in comparison to one with little referral business and strong client loyalty) could be expected to be closer to $1,600,000 - a difference of $625,000 in this example.

That can be the difference for a retiring advice firm business owner between having a great boat to play on in their good retirement, or just having a retirement.

The concept of "lifetime customer value" is not just a simple one of how much revenue they generate for your business.  You should also be thinking about how much those engaged and happy customers can SAVE your business.  Get it right though, and it really becomes a matter of how much more your business is worth because you have happy and engaged clients that love dealing with your firm. 

That's where the real value is.

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Hustle while you wait!

by Tony Vidler.

One of the constant themes that comes up in coaching advisers to greater business performance, is the little matter of "hustling".

I'm not referring to getting out and pulling fast cons and sharp card tricks on unsuspecting folk of course...but the really simple and somewhat unpalatable fact that a seriously large part of any business persons success can simply be attributed to their ability to hustle while they wait.

It's about a work ethic.

As a general rule, very few advisers can afford to simply wait for the right, well qualified, potential customer to come walking through the office door announcing "I am ready to engage in a comprehensive financial review process - who wants to serve me?"

The unpalatable fact is that in the financial services business, advisers are usually as busy as they want to be.  There is a definite correlation between getting stuck in with a strong work ethic, and getting good business results.

As the diagram above shows, you have to be willing to make a good effort on the basic activities that generate results in your business, AND you do have to get stuck into it as quickly as possible IF you want to put the odds of success in your favor.

Make a little bit of an effort....eventually....and you cannot really expect great results can you?   You will probably get some results if you make a massive effort eventually....or perhaps put in just enough effort right now to get by.

Fantastic results come from getting into doing what you have to do as soon as possible, and putting maximum effort into it at that point.  

Not every week in business goes according to the grand plan...in fact, usually no week actually works out the way we imagined it would (or should).  That elusive customer who is going to walk in demanding your services at a premium price may well be coming, but in the meantime you have to get busy if you want to prosper.

Good things come to those who hustle while they wait.


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More Bulls**t Jargon on its way?

by Tony Vidler.

Heaven help us...the financial services sector is apparently getting new jargon! Because we need it.

It can only be a matter of time before the new buzzworders suggest we also need new qualifications to qualify for the new buzzword, possibly with a recommendation for new acronyms to describe the new Jargon.

In the last 24 hours two interesting articles appeared on my radar screen suggesting that financial services - or more specifically, financial planning - has some new buzz words now because we need them.

Yeah, right.

In one story I read with interest that "Finology is the new buzzword in US Financial Planning circles". In the other, I read that "financial life planning" has arrived. Dammit....I think I'll have to call myself a Life Finology Planner. Actually, I thought the Financial Life Planning wave was rather late in being reported given it has actually been around for quite a few years now as a school of thought. Nevertheless, I am now reassured to learn that it has in fact arrived.

Finology though? More on that shortly....but it does sound rather like the scientific study of the back end of rockets doesn't it?

Let's begin with the tardy Financial Life Planning that took so long to arrive. Well this is the "core of a fast-growing American financial advice movement that is spreading across the world", and credited to George Kinder. According to one practitioner quoted in the story this discipline is about "connecting money with life rather than sitting down with people and telling them they need to buy a pension". The Financial Life Planner quoted contends that ordinary financial planning consists of planners attempting "to find an individuals secret sorrow".

This intrigued me, as I have never heard - from the hundreds of financial planners, or the many more hundreds of other types of financial advisers that I know who effectively do financial planning work - that the business is about finding someone's secret sorrow. Doing a little digging via Google around the financial planning world didn't reveal anyone focused upon uncovering sorrows or vast regrets for individuals either.

The focus of the Financial Life Planner is oddly enough precisely upon doing what your common garden-variety financial planners say they try to do: ask clients questions and get to know their aspirations, and then helping them to put together a plan that is most likely to help them achieve it.

So back to "Finology"...with full credit to my faithful assistant Google....it seems the founding Finologist is a chap called Richard Wagner, who claims credit for inventing this word. In an interesting article he says that the profession needs this new word because there is no word that describes the relationship between an individual and money in the English Language. What about "dependence" Richard?

Just as an aside; the word "relationship" itself is defined as "a connection, an involvement or an association". So conceivably the apparently missing word to describe a persons relationship with their money is "relationship"? Just sayin'...y'know?

Regardless, Wagner postulates that the profession's progress is limited by the absence of our own vocabulary to describe this link, and the term "Life Planning" is dismissed as being too broad a term to accurately describe what planners do. Ergo: Finology. Hurrah!

What a huge yawn....and that is just for those in the business. It will be an even bigger yawn for consumers.

The questions that arise whenever this sort of nonsense is mooted should be:

1. How will coining a new term to describe an existing professional competency help the profession or the consumers of its services?
2. Who is this term being developed for? (i.e. for whose benefit?)
3. If the new term is to be valid, how is it really differentiated from existing disciplines?

When reading of these latest hot pieces of jargon sweeping the world of financial planning, I could not work out an answer to the first question. Neither of these buzzwords describe methodology or systems or competencies that apparently differ from what good planners - indeed, from what good financial advisers - already do.

The terms appear to be feverishly capturing the imagination of the advisory community only. Or not maybe. But there is no discernible cry for these "different approaches" from consumers, or even necessarily the majority of the advisory community that I can find. It does seem more likely that the driver is advisers struggling to articulate their own value proposition to clients - or desperately wanting to distance themselves from the image of being seen to sell anything.

Hello? You're in business. You ARE selling something. Do you honestly think that a new piece of jargon will obscure that? Even if that jargon is meant to convey you don't "do product" or somesuch?

The broad claim of differentiation between conventional financial advisers or planners and the Finologists or Financial Life Planners seems to be a disassociation from product recommendations. The buzzworders appear to be driven by understanding the real issues that drive human behavior, in order to be able to help behavioral and circumstantial change.

But then not use manufactured products perhaps. (This is not actually entirely clear though).

Funnily enough, the process just described is what you get taught in financial planning. It is also what you get taught in other financial services specialist training. It is what most professional financial advisers do every day with their clients. But you also get taught and learn how to use products as tools. 

Products are merely a means to an end. A New Zealand consumer who wants a fantastic holiday in London may well choose to work with a professional travel consultant. That person will inevitably recommend a mode of transport because even our best triathletes would struggle with the 18,325 kilometer run/swim/cycle leg, and probably not enjoy the holiday part quite so much. So a product (e.g a plane ticket) is often a necessary component of the advice. The advice however is absolutely centered upon how to achieve the goal of the fantastic holiday, and ensuring that the details required to make it work as seamlessly as possible, and to be as enjoyable an experience as possible are thought of and covered.

It is absolutely true that in times gone by - when the industry was young and still thought it knew everything - products were the center of the process. As the profession has learned and improved though, products are secondary. Advice is the key value component.

Financial advice is no different in reality to the example of the travel agent, and it doesn't require new labels or buzzwords or jargon to highlight that. Professional financial advisers do try to know and understand the "soft" issues - the needs, the aspirations, the goals of the clients. Often they have to help the clients actually define those things as many consumers haven't really done it. In putting together plans to help the clients achieve those aspirations and goals, products get used. But the products are tools.

The advice and the coaching make the difference. No matter how you label it.

The story on Financial Life Planning that caught my attention:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/9319327/A-new-kind-of-financial-adviser-or-a-waste-of-money.html

More on Finology by the very Finologist himself....
http://www.worthliving.com/2010/08/seeding-the-garden-of-knowledge/


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How to spot a Dinosaur.

by Tony Vidler.

I have wondered if, with all the changes in financial services over recent years, any of the dinosaurs survived our own dramatic financial ice age.  "Surely not", I thought.
But they ARE still out there!

Over a period of some 6 months I have observed a dinosaur up close as I attempted to change its DNA to ensure its survival after the big thaw of the current Ice Age.  Despite (logically) knowing that it was a virtually impossible task, as scientific intervention doesn't change the DNA of the living creature and nor is the creature able to change its own essential nature in its own lifetime, you fool yourself into thinking it just might be possible.  I was plain silly, what can I say?  Mea Culpa!

I did however learn a lot about the topic though from close observation, and there are some lessons here for everyone who ever has anything at all to do with financial services.  We shall begin by identifying the stock standard carnivorous dinosaur (and bear in mind everything I know about dinosaurs has been learned from watching all the Jurassic Park movies - twice.  I am therefore something of an authority on this topic!)  The dinosaur I refer to has the following characteristics:

• it is programmed internally to hunt for every meal.  That is its base instinct.
• it simply eats whatever it kills.  It is not a particularly discerning diner, as long as it gets meat.
• if it cannot catch and kill new prey, it will resort to cannibalism and attack its own kind
• it cannot be tamed or domesticated.  It will always be a wild creature that will turn on any other.
• it has a poorly developed mind.  Logic, rational thought, understanding of consequences are non-existent.
• it has very basic emotional development.  The entire set of emotions consist of "happy" ("have just killed and eaten something"), & "angry" ("have not killed and eaten something").
• it is noisy and attempts to impose its presence with sheer volume.  Of the roaring kind.
• it stomps about crushing things underfoot willy-nilly. It's environment exists solely for its own benefit in its mind.

Comparing this to the small and dying breed of Financial Adviser Dinosaurs (FAD's) - of the sort I inspected closely for a little while - you find distinct parallels.  I provide this list of identifying traits as a matter of public service.

• The FAD has no concept of investing in future food sources
• The FAD lives sale to sale.  Often it spends its commission twice - the day a sale is "made", and then again the day they actually get paid for the sale they made.
• The FAD has no target market (preferred prey?).  If it is still breathing it is prey.
• The FAD will cannibalize its own business for another sale.
• The FAD cannot be improved through regulation and rules.  Like a leash, they are effective only when directly applied to the beast in question and under the watchful eye of a handler.  The leash in itself does not change the animals behavior.
• The FAD has no technical qualifications at all.  Nor does it really want any.
• The FAD operates at the barest minimum legal standard, hovering just on the barely legal side of business. Mostly.
• The FAD has no aspirations for self-improvement, professional development or for achieving any of the higher purposes in life.  The mindset is consistently narcissistic - focused only on what makes them feel good in the moment.
• The FAD has limited emotional development.  Whilst they cover the stock standards set of human emotions, they have not quite evolved to the point of having innate sense of fairness or justice, and the emotional set does not include "guilt".
• The FAD is consistently upbeat and positive and talking enthusiastically - about themselves - to any audience.  A mirror is of course an audience to a FAD.
• The FAD is not interested in creating legacies or thinking of tomorrow.  Bulldozing is a method of movement for the FAD.

Now I really should stress that these FAD's are increasingly difficult to find, there are less and less by the week.  Speaking personally, as a person who has watched Jurassic park movies from under the blankets the first time around, it is not a good thing having dinosaurs roaming freely amongst humans and their pets.  Fortunately for us, there is little doubt that the dinosaurs are totally hopeless at breeding and raising the young - in a purely commercial sense that is.  

They simply cannot build successful businesses with their inherent characteristics, and nor can they congregate successfully for commercial gain with other dinosaurs - or even other non-dinosaur-creatures.  That base instinct of killing to eat, combined with nonchalant cannibalism whenever hunger demands it, puts paid to their commercial prospects.

Regardless of your place in the financial services life - be it a consumer, potential business partner or ally, consultant or coach, or just someone with a spare seat at a conference - it is worth being able to identify a FAD as quickly as possible.

Should you hear one coming (and you usually do hear them first), then spot the predatory look as they size you up as a potential meal while they bulldoze their way into your conversation/life/spare seat, then run.  Quickly.  It is the only safe course of action.

The good news though is that these dinosaurs are dying out.  And if you can stay out of their kill-zone, they will die out even quicker.


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The BEST "Prospecting" Question Ever

by Tony Vidler.

I thought I'd share the best prospecting tip I ever heard....so simple, but soooo clever.


Many years ago a fantastic adviser that I knew well (since retired) working in rural town in New Zealand managed to be one of the top producing agents for well over a decade using this simple technique. 

He would simply ask the people he knew - but who were not clients - as he wandered around doing his business a question. Well, it was two questions really.


The first queston was "Do you mind if I ask you something?" 

Invariably people respond: "of course not". Think about the psychology of that simple opening; a courteous request, seeking permission (so not in obvious control of the discussion), and virtually impossible to deny if you are the person being asked the question. It would be rude to say no, wouldn't it, and nobody wants to appear rude? So everyone agrees that he could ask them a further question.


The key question that followed was: "Can I ask you why you have never done business with me?" (said very politely, quizzically, and most emphasis upon the "me"). It is an almost apologetic approach that caused no offence or discomfort to people as he was careful to set it up correctly, and ask the question in the right tone.


Responses varied of course, but could be grouped into a simple set of about 4 types of responses:
1. I have a great adviser and am happy
2. You never asked me to do business with you
3. I thought you were too busy/tooexpensive/too....something or other
4. I don't know why I never have/I've never thought about it.

In the case of the first response (I have a great adviser!), the best course of action is to congratulate them, thank them for answering, and move on from that topic. Stay engaged in the conversation of course, but leave that topic. In doing so you have been just as courteous and respectful, and unintrusive.


In all other cases though, the opportunity for a business discussion has just been created....

This is an incredibly simple technique for determining whether you should be having a business discussion with people you know. It causes no offence (if asked correctly), the prospective client has given you permission to ask the question, and then feels compelled (having given you permission) to respond sincerely.


The follow up to engage the prospecive client in the business conversation was also a very politely framed question, that usually started with "I'm sorry I never explained properly how I help people, do you mind if I go through that with you sometime?" 

The overwhelming proportion of people would then agree to meet up later and have a business chat....and that is how a single adviser working in a small rural town became one of the best producers and most popular people in the region.


Try it sometime, and you'll be amazed at how many people you know will be willing to talk business with you - if you just ask the right questions, the right way!

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Re-kindle the (almost) forgotten art of selling!

 by Tony Vidler.

Advisers: Good advice process is not enough. Being technically competent is not enough.

You have to sell.

There, we said the dirty word out loud. "Sell". You have to sell if you are going to be effective at your job as a professional financial adviser.

Over the last couple of years there has been a shift in emphasis to providing advice that is centered upon "good process". In fact many advisers have become so focused upon the process that the advice itself to the consumer is almost hidden somewhere deep in the bowels of the process.

More importantly though, "selling" has become an ignored (or forgotten) skill....sales are deemed to almost be a bit grubby, and not worthy of professionals.

Too many advisers have erred so heavily on the side of deploying professional process that they have forgotten that one of their primary roles is to help facilitate a change in behavior, or habits, for their clients.

Think about it: if most consumers knew what was required to achieve their financial objectives, and had the ability to determine the optimal path, and had the will to create the necessary change by themselves, then there would be little need for financial advisers at all.

As an adviser you can have the strongest technical skills and knowledge base in the world, and it is almost totally useless if you never use it for the benefit of a client. You can have the ideal best practice advice process and standards of documentation - but never have the opportunity to display it.These elements are critical of course to acting professionally, and providing your services in a manner that is aimed squarely at doing the best work you can for clients.

However at some point in the relationship or engagement with the client, you have to get selling. You have to convince a client to take a particular course of action - naturally the course of action that is best for them. To do that effectively the adviser must utilize sound sales skills. On that basis I would argue that it is imperative for a professional to have strong selling skills - and to know when & where to use them.

During some recent discussions with a number of advisers it became obvious that for many who have entered the business in the last 5-10 years there has been little emphasis upon this aspect of their professional development. It truly has been treated as a "dirty word", and those advisers (and their clients) are the poorer for that lack of training and development.

For example, I have found myself explaining the very fundamental concept of the emotional buying cycle that most humans move through - and it has been a revelation to a number of very technically competent and highly ethical advisers. the oft-used acronym A.I.D.A. to describe this process that consumers move through emotionally is largely unknown to the new adviser generation.

A quick recap for readers: essentially the position you have with a consumer (who is not yet a client in the sense of having followed your advice) is that they begin from a place of blissful ignorance. They are not perhaps even aware of a particular problem or issue that you are aware of, let alone how it may impact upon them or what they can do to manage it. At the end of the process you are wanting them to act upon the logical advice to solve their problem. In between those two points though there are a series of steps that the consumer has to move through in logical sequence, if the advice is to be acted upon. It is this sequence, that is firmly in the realm of "selling skills", that many advisers seem to be oblivious to. The steps are:

• Awareness
• Interest
• Desire
• Action

First the consumer has to become Aware of the particular issue. The adviser uses sales skills at this point to create that awareness and get their attention.

Once the issue is firmly raised and on the consumers radar screen, then you have to create Interest on their part in the issue. Again, sales skills are essential in doing so successfully. You are wanting them to engage with you and the process of problem solving, and they have to be interested to do so.

At some point that Interest has to be converted into Desire on the consumers part to do something about it. They must want the problem solved, or the proposed solution that will bring the benefits they had not previously thought of. Transforming the consumers attitude from a place of being engaged (Interest) to one where they are assuming ownership and wanting it fixed (Desire) is pure sales skill. Technical competency is merely supporting the logic of the decisions during this process.

Finally, you need to just get on and do it - put the solution in place. Action must be taken to complete the advice process. Once again, this is the domain of pure sales skill.

The critical point of course is that "sales skills" and "professional advice process" are NOT mutually exclusive. In fact they are both essential components if one is to be an effective professional adviser who is actually providing practical solutions that lead the client to better outcomes.

Selling is not a dirty word. As a professional you have an obligation to have and maintain strong sales skills - and to use those skills effectively and wisely in the interests of the client.


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5 Marketing "places to be"

 by Tony Vidler.

Free marketing always appeals, and it is often said that "any publicity is good publicity"? That's an exaggeration of course as not all publicity is actually good - some can cripple a business or brand. However, any publicity (or marketing) that is free AND where you can control the content has to be good.

Talking with advisers about the topic inevitably leads to the question:
"which social media platforms should I use?".

The answer (as it often is), is "it depends". In order to work out the right answer you need to understand the evolving trends, the broad differences between the most popular platforms, and then match that with your own skillset and target market.

Social media has progressed well beyond just being a convenient way of seeing the latest photo's of your overseas relatives, and the explosive growth of business and end-consumer users is phenomenal. Twitter grew from 6,000,000 to over 250,000,000 in just 3 years. Facebook has over 800,000,000 users now. Little old Trademe in New Zealand has over 700,000 posts per month on its message boards.

That's a lot of traffic and users engaging in the social media world. It's where you are most likely to find, and engage, likely future prospects for your business in a non-threatening and collaborative way.

The greatest benefit though for the business owner is the ability to grow your personal and professional network and reputation - which is valuable over the medium to long term. The connections you make, and the conversations you have with them, will provide good marketing opportunities. You will have an opportunity to engage with, and get to be known and trusted by, people you would not otherwise come into contact with.

Social media as a method of marketing is not totally free of cost of course - though it doesn't cost hard cash generally. It does however take some time and commitment from you. There are an array of really useful platforms and tools to help you manage multiple social media marketing efforts fairly rapidly and efficiently however - and many of them even have good free versions (e.g. Hootsuite), meaning you can manage the time commitments pretty well on a day to day basis.

For New Zealand businesses the 5 social media channels well worth considering are:

1. LinkedIn. For business to business connectivity this platform is without peer. If you want to be talking to business owners or executives/management then you need to be here. It is professional in its approach, there are interest groups for any market niche it seems, and there is a wealth of intelligence to gather. Linkedin appears to have the highest success rate of the social media platforms for generating new business.

2. Facebook. More than 2,000,000 users in NZ alone, it is without doubt the largest and best known social media channel. Particularly useful for engaging with consumers (as opposed to other businesses), and with an ability to provide quite a variety of content (images, links, video's, blog's). There is an abundance of evidence that consumers who engage with your business (or "like" you) on Facebook are far more likely to purchase from you.

3. Twitter. Still a little "wild west" in social media terms, as there is very little content control, and everything is short and sharp. It is essentially the internet in 140 characters or less...that is, there is an abundance of useful and interesting content on virtually any topic you can think of. It is extremely useful as a resource - communications, content sourcing, becoming a thought leader - or following thought leaders. An often under-estimated element is that it is often humorous and a little light-hearted, which is in itself excellent for a social channel.

4. TradeMe. Often under-estimated by NZ businesses as a marketing platform, beyond the obvious use as a place to sell the old office furniture. It truly is the social channel that Kiwi's flock to, and apart from the core auction-focus, there are advertisements, message/bulletin boards & market intelligence in abundance. Distinctly useful for any business aiming at retail consumers - they are here in their thousands by the minute.

5. You Tube. This ones surprises business owners when you talk about it, but it is the second most popular search engine in the world (after Google). This is a place where consumers go looking for things, so if you are looking for consumers.....here they are. Interestingly there is strong evidence indicating that businesses that use video in their marketing (via website, YouTube, etc) have far greater consumer engagement and dramatically increase the chances of obtaining new business. Most consumers seem to prefer watching a video rather than reading a detailed article.

Whatever social media platform appeals to you in your marketing, it is important to look at it as an element of the overall marketing strategy for your business. The more marketing tactics that are interwoven, the more effective the overall marketing strategy will be. It is smart business to create content for your own website, and then share it via social media channels (plural!) and extend the reach of your message. The social media platforms can extend the reach and knowledge of your brand beyond the passive "billboard" that many business websites are.

So; 2 big tips for being effective in your use of social media:

* Be Relevant. It is social - so remember to engage with people, communicate, inject fresh ideas into the mix, and above all - be interesting.

* Don't blatantly (and boringly) self-promote. Nobody wants to be bombarded with advertising, and people will switch off to your brand entirely if their only experience is being directly marketed to constantly. By all means let people know what you do - but no more than a third of the time in your communications. Make the rest interesting, engaging, entertaining, informative and so on. It has to be worth their while to continue following you.

Final thought: don't expect overnight dividends. It may take many months of actively engaging with the market before you have established the credibility and authority for your target market to decide you are worth hiring. But hang in there, with relevant and useful content being delivered to your target market via multiple mediums, you will become a trusted expert, and logical person to turn to for their business needs.


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