A great point as to the who is the success of your Firm based on. For most advisors they understand this. Most product creators fail to see that the client is not a distribution channel it is a consumer. Advice however is like the kids in the back seat being driven by Mum or Dad. Never knowing when they will get there or if in fact the parents a lost. The parents much prefer it if the kids have a "sleep". Product creators don't understand your clients and don't understand the value you bring to them. That is why the products themselves are not about client outcomes but about maximising opportunity in a distribution channel. Simply look at dispersion in real risk adjusted terms in investment products as an example of the way product providers discuss solving the unadvised issue. Everything is about scale not outcomes for the consumer. #financialadvice #financialadvisors #superannuation
Founder Principals Media / Modern Storytelling for Business Leaders / Former Global Head of News Product at Bloomberg
Bloomberg offers a perk for clients known as the “lose-your-job free trial.” It works like this: if you are a paying customer who gets fired, you can request access to a Bloomberg terminal at no cost for some number of months. The program helps explain one reason Mike Bloomberg has been so successful: he understood his real clients are the traders who use his product, not the firms that pay for it. The idea was hatched early on during a bump in the market. It was pretty straightforward: Wall Street is a volatile place where people are constantly getting fired and rehired. Mike wanted to help smooth out that process. The Bloomberg terminal was one constant in the professional life of traders who were frequently forced suddenly to find new jobs. The terminal’s vaunted message system in particular served as a communications lifeline, allowing continued access to the community. The offer was as generous as it was unusual. It’s hard to think of another professional information system paid for by an employer which is offered for free to individuals after they are fired by the company footing the bill. It’s worth unpacking because it sheds light on one of Bloomberg’s deep competitive advantages: it’s connection to the individual user. The Holy Grail for many software and fintech companies is to establish a one-to-one relationship with users. Bloomberg, like most vendors, is usually purchased by a company for the benefit of financial professionals like traders or portfolio managers. By offering a free trial when people are fired, Bloomberg garnered goodwill and cemented a direct relationship with the individual user of the product. When those same individuals went looking for their next job, many would insist that the new package include a Bloomberg terminal. This is why Jeff Cohen, who headed terminal sales at Bloomberg in the 1990s, says that the real sales people at Bloomberg are the customers. Jeff said Mike figured out better than most how to get paying customers to sell the product more effectively than any salaried employee. The lose-a-job free trial has become a part of the Bloomberg culture. It is — like the legendary $1.50 hotdog at Costco – both a brand marker and super effective marketing. Officially, the name for the lose-your-job free trial program is Stay Connected. Nobody on the Street calls it that, of course. Jeff and I were talking about the program because we came across an old email from Nov. 20, 2002 sent out by Lex Fenwick who was running the company at the time. The market was reeling from the dotcom crash. Amid widespread pessimism, Lex wanted the sales force to remind customers that if fired, Bloomberg would help them try to stay in the game. Wall Street is portrayed in Hollywood films as a cut throat place. And there’s a lot to that. But it’s also a place that remains to a surprising degree a relationship business. (Part of a series of business lessons I learned from three decades working at Bloomberg LP)
