One of our core aims is to help more people benefit from financial planning. To demonstrate the value of planning, we regularly interview the clients of planners and publish the results on their website.
We want to hear more about a prospect’s journey to their planner’s door though. So, over the coming weeks, we’ll be interviewing the clients of financial planners and sharing the results online.
We hope the interviews will offer fascinating insights into the behaviour and thought processes of prospective clients as they move from awareness to action. We also want to understand the element of ‘hidden competition’, which might occur online if a prospect considers multiple planners before deciding who to contact.
The data set will naturally be small to begin with, so what we discover can’t be taken as evidence of wider patterns of behaviour. Nevertheless, the interviews will provide valuable insights into the journey from someone becoming aware of a planner to taking action.
We also believe that the granular nature of the interviews will throw up things which might get lost in a larger data set. That’s certainly the case with this first interview.
We hope you enjoy the series and find some useful marketing tips in each.
It started with a pen
The first interview we conducted was with, Duncan, a client of Darren Cooke at Red Circle Financial Planning.
Why did Duncan need advice?
He wanted help with both his business and personal finances.
How did Duncan find Darren?
Referred by an accountant.
Did Duncan search for Darren online before getting in touch?
Yes.
A Google search, which led to a visit to Darren’s website and checking out Red Circle on Companies House to “get confirmation that Darren was who he said he was”.
How did Duncan get in touch with Darren?
By calling him on the telephone.
What can we learn from Duncan’s journey?
There’s nothing unusual, to begin with; referral from an accountant, Google search and then a website visit.
Then things take an interesting turn when Duncan looked up Red Circle on Companies House. That’s certainly a new one to us!
It shows the extent to which some prospects will take their due diligence. Furthermore, the results of such a search could be interesting too. Imagine if the firm in question were late filing their accounts. That wouldn’t impress a prospective client and could lead to negative conclusions being reached about their organisational capabilities.
As an interesting side note, Duncan contacted Darren after a recommendation from an accountant Darren had met some months previously.
The initial conversation between Darren and the accountant didn’t progress. However, Darren left the accountant with a small reminder in the form of a pen. It was the pen, which the accountant used regularly, that provided a handy reminder when Duncan asked which financial advisers she knew.
The moral of this tale? Clients could check you out in places you’ve never even considered, while regular touches with your brand, from merchandise to newsletters, are never a bad thing.
Can you help us?
We’ve got several further interviews lined up, but we need more. Ideally, we’d like 12 in the first series.
If you’ve enjoyed our blogs and content over the years, please email phil@theyardstickagency.co.uk if you would be happy for us to interview a client you’ve recently taken on.
We’d be very grateful for your help.
