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Our profession is like the fifth emergency service (after Ambulance, Police, Fire and, apparently, the AA). It is said in almost every financial planning blog, but, we have the ability to completely change someone’s life and even add quality years onto their lives. Who else can do that?
Lawyers have often said that they’re jealous of financial planners. A lawyer’s clients, for the most part, never want to see them ever again and are glad to see the back of them. Not because they’re horrible or unprofessional, but because of the circumstances they need them in.
Same as accountants, how many of you actually enjoy seeing your accountant? Why do you think they bring you cakes and stuff when you go to see them?
Our clients are different. Most of them will actually want to see us.
Here I’m going to discuss why you should be using this to your advantage.
1. P.E. for adults – Physical Evidence.
With tangible things like clothing and gadgets, you get the chance to try before you buy, or even just try after buying. If it’s rubbish, you won’t buy it again. The risk is low.
You have probably already heard about the ‘Extended Marketing Mix’ for services. The 4Ps (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) are important in both products and services, but when we’re offering a completely intangible and customisable service (like financial planners do) we need to add a few more elements in as the risk that the consumer takes is higher.
These are People, Process and Physical Evidence. The latter P describes the elements of a service that give the client a reason to trust that we know what we’re doing. So, this could be the tidiness of our office, the quality of the documents we produce for them, or the fact that our colleagues don’t turn up in offensive T-shirts and Speedos.
OK, Google Reviews aren’t physical. But they are evidence from something physical (i.e. your clients). They give prospective clients a reason to trust us, and trust is the biggest thing when someone is putting their entire financial (and personal) future in our hands.
2. It’s easy.
This is the one we can’t make excuses for. They are ridiculously easy.
How long would it take for us to add a step in our process/workflow which says ‘Email the client a Google Review link’ for 1 months after we’ve produced our work?
I had a go at it:
Add to workflow: 3 minutes
Send the client a pre-populated (canned) email: 30 seconds
Time for client to fill out a review: 5 minutes
8.5 minutes to get a testimonial from a client that everyone who comes across us on Google will see, everyone will read and gives people a reason to trust us. Our clients are the best piece of proof we have that we do a good job.
Also remember that getting a Google review is much cheaper and much easier than asking clients to come to our office to film a glossy testimonial video.
3. It moves you up the rankings on Google Maps.
This is a bit more complex, but getting Google Reviews results in a big thumbs up from Google in terms of our Quality Score (QS).
Reviews tell Google that, firstly, we’re an operating business, and, most importantly, that we’re doing a good job.
Google Maps is now included when people search for a service on Google. This means that, although we may not come ‘first’ in the search results when people search for ‘Financial Planners in Darlington’, our firm has a better chance of appearing on that first page if we have more reviews than other firms in the area.
How do I get started?
If I had no Google Reviews, I would start by asking my favourite client (or closest client) to have a go at doing one for us. Then, I would promote it on social media to let other people know what people think about the service I offered.