As wealth management and financial advice become increasingly competitive and commoditized, many financial professionals struggle to distinguish themselves from their competitors despite the valuable work they’re doing helping clients navigate financial challenges.
In the past, technology partners could help financial professionals stand out with unique planning or reporting solutions. Investment management strategies also served as a compelling differentiator, but rapid advancements in the industry have rendered these largely commonplace.
What distinguishes one practice from another in the eyes of today’s financial services clients? I believe it’s three distinct but interconnected components: vision, process and unique capabilities.
The magic happens when you can clearly articulate what you do, how you do it and why you do it. This clarity separates you from the competition while creating valuable consistency.
Develop And Articulate Your Process
To build an extraordinary experience, you must excel at the ordinary: keep it simple, create a proven process and brand it effectively.
In his book, “The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It,” Michael Gerber suggests that all small businesses (financial advisory firms included) should document their processes as if building a franchise operations model, an approach that embeds your unique way of doing business into your firm’s DNA.
This way, instead of giving prospects a generic sales presentation that sounds just like everyone else’s, you can clearly articulate and illustrate what makes you different, how you achieve great results for your clients and exactly what they can expect from you via your proprietary, branded process.
Developing your proven process allows you to accomplish several things, including giving existing and potential customers peace of mind about doing business with you. In addition, it creates a powerful, repeatable framework from which you can build a dynamic team, enabling you as a professional to transition from the tactician to the visionary as you grow.
Finally, it helps you build a powerful brand around your proven process.
Four Steps To A Competitive Advantage
I asked my friend Kelly Waltrich, Co-Founder and CEO of growth consultancy firm Intention.ly, which helps financial professionals identify and articulate their unique value proposition, how she approaches turning a proprietary process into a competitive advantage.
Waltrich suggested following this simple framework:
Identify what your process actually is from start to finish. Chances are, your process already exists. You just need to define it step-by-step and give it a name.
Questions to ask:
- How do we approach working with new clients?
- What are the consistent, repeatable steps to each new client relationship?
- What are some words that encapsulate what this process does for our clients?
Articulate why and how your clients benefit from the approach, as well as what it is about the process that makes you and your firm different from every other firm offering similar services.
Questions to ask:
- Why did we establish this specific process?
- What have we heard from clients about their experience with us?
- What makes us uniquely positioned to offer this process?
Gather feedback from your team and your top clients about how you’ve described both the process and, importantly, its value. Keep in mind that what they believe the benefits of your process to be might differ from what you think they are. Your clients are always right.
Questions to ask:
- Why did you choose to work with [your firm name]?
- What do you believe have been the biggest benefits of your work with our team?
- How would you describe your experience with us?
Optimize how you deliver your message about your process and the process itself as your firm, business model and audience evolve. As things change, keep your process up to date and make sure the language you’ve built around it reflects what’s most current.
Questions to ask:
- Has anything changed in our firm since we established our process?
- Is there recent client feedback to incorporate?
- Do we need to evolve our experience to meet new or different client needs?
This framework will help you translate your vision and unique capabilities into a proven process.
Leveraging this framework will help you translate your vision and unique capabilities into a proven process that helps you consistently deliver a differentiated, extraordinary experience.
Billy Hopkins is Founder and CEO of Silver Oak Securities, a broker-dealer and RIA that emphasizes advisor growth through blending client-focused ideals with innovation.
