Given the recent uncertainty in the markets, client attention matters more than ever.

Financial professionals are often in the position of not only playing the role of subject-matter expert, but also the role of chief marketing officer amongst the other responsibilities of building and maintaining their business.

In episode five of The Big Picture Advisor, Jay Baer, inspirational marketing and customer experience keynote speaker, shares how success depends on the delivery of your customer experience.

Listen to the podcast now to hear why and how to define what differentiates you.

Deliver a differentiated experience

The reality is that the fundamental services offered by financial professionals don’t really differ much. Yes, perhaps they sell different products or approach service differently. But from a client perspective, advisor A is offering the same services as B, C, and D. Customer experience really becomes your product.

So for financial professionals, the question is, what can you do to set your brand apart? How can you treat clients in a way that is meaningful that not only keeps your current clients happy but helps them encourage others to also seek your service?

Baer says advisors have to stop talking about themselves and the services they offer, and to start talking about the experience they deliver and in different ways. “There are multiple ways to differentiate your practice. You just have to go through the system to understand which one makes sense for you”, he explains. “Competency does not create conversations. Clients will not talk about good- they will talk about different.”

Put it into practice

To put it into practice, Baer suggests creating a client advisory board. Except, think creatively and call it something else. The client advisory board holds you accountable for delivering the experience you want to embody.

Don’t limit yourself to the standard client breakdown: your biggest and those you know best. Utilize new, smaller clients. Older and younger. You want your advisory board to be as reflective as the totality of your client mix as possible. Otherwise your experience is only true to a subset of your clients.

Unlock the power of word-of-mouth

So much of this industry is really word-of-mouth. At the end of the day, you want your clients to be so inspired by the experience you provide that they go out of their way to share who their financial advisor is.