11th October 2011

For new customers only

Don’t you just hate it when you are sucked in by great marketing and a fantastic offer from your bank or your media provider or even your sports club and then just as you think I’m up for that you hear or read the words 'for new customers only'.

How does that make you feel? How warm do you feel towards that company? Yes you’re still a customer but do you feel slightly less valued?

When developing a service proposition every advisory business needs to avoid the “for new customers only” syndrome.

There is a school of thought that suggests that as we develop our RDR service propositions we should test them with or even launch to new customers.

This is a concept that I totaly disagree with. 

A client proposition is what you say you will do for the client; something they value and are therefore willing to pay for. We already add so much value for our existing clients so surely we should use the dialogue and relationship we have with them to discover the following:

• What do your clients want?
• What do your clients need?
• What do your clients expect?
• What do your clients value?

Once we have the answers to these we can start to design a service proposition that delivers the value they expect and seek.

Why should we ignore the years of experience we have with existing clients to start this dialogue with new prospects and clients.

Once we have these answers we can then decide what we can afford to provide and begin our RDR transition conversations now as we conduct our 2011/2012 annual reviews.  We do sell products our commodity is our

• Experience
• Empathy
• Expertise
• Problem solving
• Links to other professionals
• Peace of mind

We have delivered these for our existing clients surely we should capitalise on this and when each of our existing clients is aware and comfortable with our RDR client proposition then that is the time to consider new clients.

You know how you feel when you hear the phrase for new customers only make sure your clients never feel this way when it comes to your RDR proposition. How will your clients react if they learn about RDR from the press or another source of financial advice?

Don’t take that risk start your RDR transition conversations now.

For RDR transition support please visit www.aegon.co.uk/businessbrain

John Joe McGinley Business Consultancy Manager Aegon October 2011

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