The tech tools advisers should be using to convert leads

Speaking as part of XY Adviser’s Work from Home Tour on Thursday, Simply Kaizen director Patrick Flynn said there were a number of tools advisers could make use of to provide clients with useful and interactive insights on their financial situation before they walked in the door of their practice.

“If we talk about the client research [stage], where the client hasn’t contacted you yet and you don’t know they exist, which is more in the marketing realm, there’s a lot we can do to engage clients before they've reached us,” Mr Flynn said.

“That might include technology like calculators – there’s some interesting things you can use if you bundle it into broader client stories or other types of engagement as opposed to ‘here’s a calculator section’.

“No one’s going to Google your website to find a calculator, but if you’ve got a story saying ‘Hey, we helped this person to boost their savings and buy a home, here's how you could do the same’, and the client is then thinking ‘Hang on, what if I saved $200 more a month, what could that do for my lifestyle?’”

Mr Flynn recommended GBST Equate, which worked with a number of major banks on their calculator tools, and also said advisers could make use of online survey providers to find out more about prospective clients and tailor their marketing communications to the prospect’s needs.

“There’s things you can do around capturing data and using dynamic ways of feeding that back to people – TypeForm or SurveyMonkey have some interesting things you can do around heaving clients self-select stuff and educate themselves along the way,” he said.

“If we use the example of a questionnaire that guides someone down a particular form, they could then get a series of five tips from a MailChimp campaign that relates to the things they’ve told you they wanted – that is a powerful one.” 

When engaging with prospective clients, Mr Flynn said advisers could also consider more innovative ways to provide them with updates and insights, rather than the traditional email newsletter.

“You can take different types of communication like Canva, which produces quick graphics that you can slap together, or you can get people to sign up for SMS notification and engage them on a platform they are more likely to read than email,” he said.