Why you’ll be out of business unless you focus on what clients need next

In my long career, I’ve found this important lesson to be true: If the rate of change outside your business is greater than inside your business, you are out of business.

One area where we see a lot of change is technology, and using technology is no longer a choice. They say 80% of the internet is now video. We see robo-advisors, we find advice-free online sales of mutual funds and what was known as identity theft is now known as synthetic cyber identity creation. Technology will not replace advisors; however, advisors who use technology will win over those who don’t.

Technology in business

What does this have to do with retirement? Everything. It’s easy to give clients what they want. In fact, most millennials do their own research online — they shop online, they are the biggest group who buy cars online and they buy food online. Domino’s Pizza sales are now 65% from digital channels, and it employs 15,000 corporate workers, not including the 135,000 who work in the franchises.

Successful companies are not the ones that focus on what clients need. They are the ones that focus on what clients need next.

Adapting for clients

For example, I was in an advisory meeting with one of our mutual fund companies, and they were asking how to sell to millennials. “Why don’t you build a mutual fund designed especially for millennials and populate it with companies they already know and currently buy from?” A week later, it was announced they were creating such a fund.

If a fund company can create a product almost instantly, advisors need to be adaptable too. The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what you are selling, but to be a leader, stay ahead of the curve. If British entrepreneur Richard Branson owned your company, what would he change first?

Corry Collins is a former 20-year MDRT member from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. This blog post was excerpted from his 2020 MDRT Annual Meeting and Global Conference Virtual Event presentation “Insurance: Winning without dying.”  [MDRT member exclusive]

For more technology ideas to move your business forward:

• Watch “Virtual reality meeting with clients: Innovate and win with millennials!”
• Read “Utilize new technology to help your practice move forward” [MDRT member exclusive]
• Watch “ The robo-advisor is an advantage for advisors” [MDRT member exclusive]