COLUMNS • SALES & MARKETING
Time to update your business in 2021 Advisers need to conduct a thorough review of their digital and social media offering each year, writes Paul Watkins. BY PAUL WATKINS
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t’s time to reflect on a strange year and get 2021 right. Things have changed. Not only the obvious, like lower interest rates, house prices screaming up and lots of clients wanting to refix at lower rates, but electronically too. So here is your 2021 checklist. These are items to check on or update as the year gets underway.
Regulation First the obligatory regulatory stuff. Is your handling of client data in line with the Privacy Act? Is this a page on your website? A link in your emails? Is it appropriate to show it anywhere else?
Terms of Trade Next is your written Terms of Trade. I hope you have one. Have you had it legally checked recently, in the last year, to make sure it stacks up in the event of disagreements with clients? A badly worded Terms of Trade agreement can have consequences, as was demonstrated recently by one broker who had to repay a client.
Your website Now move on to your online presence. First your website. No matter what platform it is written in, it is likely to need regular code updates. This is particularly the case if it is written in WordPress. If an outside agency manages your website for you, it is likely to be fine. But if it is managed internally, the code, plugins, and links need to be checked constantly. As websites get bigger and more complex, links and plugins can stop working. Get a team member to click every link on the site and see if it is working okay. 030
TMM 01 • 2021
‘A badly worded Terms of Trade agreement can have consequences, as was demonstrated recently by one broker who had to repay a client’ Once the technical components and coding are checked, next check the correctness and relevance of the content. Start on the home page, and see if you pass this test: within five seconds, can I identify my main offer, any speciality area, or a clear “why me?”. If not, rethink the layout, wording and images. Try to avoid smiley, American, perfect happy-family images – which abound on NZ broker websites. Make it more real. Before moving to the other pages of your website, think about what clients want to see. The simplest way to do this is to note the questions clients ask you. Write down the last 20 opening questions you received. Clients may ask about accessing KiwiSaver for a first home, or how to break a higher rate mortgage to refix at a lower rate. Maybe clients are asking about being declined by a lender or asking how much they can borrow before house hunting. Some questions may be about the process of borrowing for investment properties. It will be different for each of you, but patterns will quickly emerge. Why is this important? Because it’s your clue to organic Google search traffic and how to word your website.
