4 Keys to Building A Solid Advisor Transformation Program

Customer expectations are evolving as rapidly as technology. Because of this constant evolution, brands need to adapt how they interact with their customers. Financial organizations are turning to their advisors as an additional marketing channel. However, to adopt this sort of marketing strategy requires implementation of new technologies and processes. This is why it is important for any organizations to be agile in order to get behind these evolving strategies and to implement transformational programs.

If you have decided to take the next step and implement an advisor marketing program, we want to provide you with 4 keys to building a solid advisor transformation program. The 4 keys are: connecting strategy to transformation, get adoption in check, positioning for growth, and check your vendor surroundings. Let’s dive in…

Connecting Strategy to Transformation

If you are looking to improve your advisor marketing because you want to use a platform with name recognition or to try a different platform, you may be setting yourself up for failure. To properly implement a transformational program, it needs to be closely linked to the organizational strategy. To ensure the transformation and strategy are connected, these are some questions you will want to ask:

– What does the end look like?

○    Can you visualize what your programs will look like after achieving full transformation? If you cannot visualize it, you probably haven’t connected the transformation to the strategy.

– Is there a clear link between the transformation and a tangible business objective?

○    Regardless of what the objective may be, if the transformation is not tied to that objective, it will be difficult to apply tactics to reach that goal.

– Do you have a decision-making framework?

○    Having a proper framework will help you stay agile and determine when to take on new initiatives.

For example, these are some of the key questions we use at Veriday when working with our clients to help establish a decision-making framework.

Get Adoption in Check

After you have implemented your transformational strategy that will accommodate new initiatives, it is important to understand adoption. Look to document the most important user actions that equate to a business value. Whether it’s a single action or a process, the purpose it to equate “Action A” to “Business Value Y”.

After creating this adoption checklist of the important user actions, ensuring that these actions can be measures is crucial as it enables the program success to be quantified and keep the checklist simple. Furthermore, the list of user actions should be kept small. Don’t go overboard – only keep a list of 3 to 5 actions. In keeping the list small, it will result in a greater ability to measure the actions. In keeping this checklist to monitor adoption overtime, it is important to measure at an established frequency and consistency. If the list becomes too large, the frequency will suffer.

In the simplest terms, here is how we may measure adoption and their impact on the business.

– Advisor wrote a blog post = 70% traffic increase in organic traffic

– Reviewed a piece of content = 10% increase in review times

– Create a new lead form = 60% forms are lead-based

– Size of their email list = 50-60% open rates

Positioning for Growth

The goal of implementing any new program regardless of industry or department is business growth. To ensure your organization is lined up to grow after the transformational program, these of some key question to ask.

– How many different departments or groups are aware of your advisor marketing program?

– How many different departments or groups participate in your advisor marketing program

– Are the conversations meaningful?

Check Your Vendor Surroundings

The fourth and final key to building a solid advisor transformation program is examining your vendor options. Take the time to critically examine your vendor ecosystem and what their strategic fit is within various marketing areas. Some questions you will want to ask about your current, as well as future vendors are:

– Do your technology vendors have a roadmap?

○  Have they seen your organizat    ion’s roadmap?

– Have they shown you their roadmap?

– Have they aligned their roadmap to yours?

– Are your vendors adaptable to changes?

As you start to implement a transformational program, the adoption and success of the program remain unknown. Only until it’s in the wild, will you know how it will be received by customers. For this reason, it is important that your vendors are agile to these changes.