Despite advisers’ use of lead-generation services, referrals from existing clients continues to be an important source of new business.
Speaking to FT Adviser, advisers shared their experiences of using lead-generation services such as VouchedFor and Unbiased.
Scott Atkinson, chartered financial planner at GPFM Financial Planners, discussed how his firm had previously used Unbiased but decided to stop and swap to VouchedFor.
He said: “Unbiased only works if you are available to accept an inquiry within a few seconds of receiving an email. This means the potential client gets an adviser based on how quick someone responds, not if they are appropriate for the client.
“We found with purchased leads that the potential clients are poor at responding. If we get no response from the lead, there is a limited window to get a refund, which is actually a credit so Unbiased keep the money. Unbiased also says that the client is not required to respond to us so getting a credit is difficult.”
According to Atkinson, Unbiased was also expensive and the firm had to pay more the higher the potential asset value of the lead was, even if they did not respond.
“Overall it didn’t suit the type of client we were looking for and we see referrals from existing clients as a better route to work with the right profile of client. This is why we use VouchedFor.”
Atkinson explained how his firm initially began using VouchedFor to capture genuine client feedback to assess how well it was delivering its service and areas it could improve.
“We have embedded VouchedFor into our processes to make sure we are asking all potential, new and existing clients for feedback, which has proved extremely valuable.
“It enables us to improve in some areas having listened to clients and also to significantly increase the number of leads we get from existing clients.
"We noticed a trend amongst our advisers that clients rate our advice and service very highly but no advisers were proactively asking clients for referrals. We have addressed this internally and seen a big jump in leads from clients,” he added.
Atkinson said the feedback and management information the firm receives from VouchedFor highlighted opportunities for referrals which GPFM acts upon regularly.
He also added that the firm tends to be contacted directly by potential clients who have read GPFM’s profile on VouchedFor’s website rather than getting referrals straight from the platform.
“If you are going to use VouchedFor you then you need to commit to it and make it an integral part of your operation,” Atkinson urged.
Referrals
Dennis Hall, chartered financial planner at Yellowtail Financial Planning, discussed how the firm has interacted with lead-gen services over the years but referrals still remains the “most valuable” source of business.
