A picture says a thousand words

(October 2006) Product and price are two factors that most advisors are still using to compete for new business. Unfortunately, neither of these are enough to win the clients that you really want. In my experience, in fact, the clients who come aboard based on product and price are generally lower-tier clients.

The only enduring way to compete in this commoditized industry is to brand your business process — to craft and refine, then artfully articulate who you are, what you do, and what your clients can expect. This brings up an important question: How do you communicate a complex value proposition and keep people engaged?

One answer is the graphic overview, a simplified illustration of how you do business with clients. By distilling the many parts of your business process into an easy-to-understand illustration, the graphic overview clearly and succinctly demonstrates how you are different from the competition.

What it looks like

Graphic overviews can come in any number of forms. But at their most basic they all attempt to simplify the complex experience of being your client. Using a step-by-step “roadmap” structure, you’ll explain how your business process works and show the prospect what you are going to do for them in the coming weeks, months, or years.

The most common example is the “wheel” diagram — a large circle, with arrows moving in a clockwise direction around the circle. At various points, there are smaller circles with short comments within them, each describing distinct steps in the overall business process.

For instance, at the top of the circle there might be a small note labelled “getting to know you.” “Establishing priorities” falls in at the 3:00 o’clock position, followed by “implementing the plan” and “monitor and refine” at 6:00 o’clock and 9:00 o’clock, respectively. The clockwise arrows denote progress through the entire process.

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Of course, this is a very simplified version of a graphic overview. It’s rather vague, and it certainly isn’t what I would call distinct, but you get the idea. Normally, it would take several months for a prospect to understand exactly what they were getting from you. By distilling that process into a simple diagram, you can show them right now, and demonstrate your professional discipline at the same time. Taken together, this gives the prospect a reason to choose you over a competitor. If you would like to see a sample of a graphic overview, please email gov@youfoundation.com.

When creating your graphic overview, keep the following tips in mind:

• Keep the illustration itself as simple as possible — your goal is to communicate quickly and clearly. Geometric shapes work best: Think circles, squares, pyramids, etc.
• The best graphic overviews show motion or progress toward a goal. A ladder, a pyramid, a series of steps or a rotating wheel are all easy-to-understand images that suggest advancement or evolution toward a target or goal.
• How detailed should you be when describing your business process? It’s a fine line. You’ll want it to be detailed enough to accurately communicate what clients can expect, yet simple enough to be easily understood. My advice is to simplify your process as much as possible, then create your graphic overview and show it to someone else, preferably someone from outside the business. If they give you a puzzled look, or ask you to explain what it all means, chances are it’s still too complicated.
• Unless you’re an artist, hire a professional to create a printable copy of your graphic overview. Given a rough sketch of what you’re looking for, a good graphic designer or illustrator can craft a professional-looking graphic overview relatively quickly, for a lot less than you might expect. Chances are it will look a lot better than anything you could produce on your own.

What does the graphic overview “say”?

As the saying goes, a picture says a thousand words. This is exactly the point of the graphic overview — it says a number of things about you that can’t readily be verbalized, and would take a good deal of time to explain even if they could.

What exactly can a graphic overview “say” about you?

• you follow a disciplined, professional approach to wealth management
• you are focused on the client’s well-being and interests
• you are up-front and honest about what clients can expect from you in the coming weeks, months, and years
• you are a proactive advisor with systems to back up your promises
• you have implemented business systems and processes that make it easy for everyone who does business with you to achieve success

All of these have a number of significant benefits for your practice. But the graphic overview’s most important benefit is a little more subtle than any of these. By introducing the graphic overview at your initial meeting with a prospect, you change the way you are evaluated and judged. No longer are you competing on product, price or investment returns that are largely out of your control anyway, you become a professional who competes using process and systems. Your graphic overview is the proof that you have a unique way of transforming your clients’ present situation into a better future. That’s an extremely persuasive argument for doing business with you.

Jeff Thorsteinson is the creator of the YouFoundation, an organization that has helped investment advisors build world-class practices through innovative concepts, tools, and systems since 1993. With over 3,500 investment advisor marketing projects and business cases behind him, Jeff has become a well-respected speaker in the industry and over the last three years has delivered his practice-building programs to thousands of financial advisors throughout Canada. YouFoundation has recently launched its Cross-Canada Going UpMarket tour. For more information please visit www.youfoundation.com/events/goup2006.

Contact strategicadvisor@youfoundation.com or 1 800-223-9332, ext. 1, for more information about YouFoundation, or visit the website at www.youfoundation.com.

(10/17/06)