Now's the time to focus on mid-market clients
It's too blunt an approach to define mid-market clients simply in terms of their net worth.
We prefer to define the mid-market by client need rather than by the amount of wealth they hold individually. We see the mid-market as cost-conscious clients who want simple investment solutions able to meet straightforward financial planning needs. This approach both reflects individual clients' needs and, importantly, doesn't exclude clients due to the level of their investible assets.
We've developed the Aviva Platform to cater specifically for mid-market clients. It reflects the simplicity of their needs and, more importantly, it doesn't put financial advice out of their reach just because of the size of their investible assets.
The Aviva Platform offers clients simple, cost-effective investments. In fact it's one of the lowest-priced platforms on the market. With flat annual management charges of 0.25% for the ISA and Investment Portfolios and 0.40% or less for the Pension Portfolio, you have more flexibility to charge affordably for your services.
We offer a choice of over 2,300 funds through our Platform portfolios. From single funds to specific fund preferences to model portfolios, there are investment solutions that help meet your clients' needs.
With the advantages of Aviva's scale, we've also negotiated substantial discounts with fund managers. This minimises costs to your client. In fact for most funds, we've brought down initial charges to zero.
Why is the mid-market important?
However you define the mid-market, its size is significant - as is the potential if you can offer the right service proposition. Although individual clients may not be wealthy, the mid-market as a whole holds much of the nation's wealth.
The question is: how do you profitably attract and keep mid-market clients? Here are a few things we believe you need to look at:
Servicing costs
You can minimise your costs by using technology to streamline your administration and client management processes. Functionality like bulk switching on the Aviva Platform lets you manage groups of clients simply and quickly, significantly reducing costs to you and your clients. Say an adviser has 100 clients they want to switch from one fund to another. The switching process costs to an adviser with access to bulk switching functionality would be one hundredth of the cost to an adviser without.
Functionality like this will play a key part in adviser business models as it becomes easier, quicker and cheaper to manage clients together instead of individually.
Time constraints
The more time you can spend with your clients, the better as that's where you're most likely to add value and generate income. Reducing the time it takes to complete admin and management tasks frees you up to spend more time with your clients. It may also improve your profit margins.
Clear communications
For your mid-market clients, it makes sense to focus on communicating mainly by phone and email. However, the written communications you send to clients will be the most visible part of your service, so it's vital they reflect the quality and value of your service.
Any reports you write need to be clear and easy to understand. The Aviva Platform offers client reporting and portfolio analysis tools to help you do this effectively.
Technology plays a vital part
Technology is becoming more and more important to running a successful business. To help make things easier for you, we've integrated the Aviva Platform with Aviva for Advisers, bringing everything together in one place.
This lets you see and manage all your clients' Aviva life and pension portfolios in one place, whether that's investments, protection, pensions or retirement products. You can also quote and apply for all our current products, including the platform portfolios. That means you can apply for one of our platform portfolios on behalf of your clients without signing up to the Aviva Platform.
Not only will it make life easier for you, the integration of the Aviva Platform and Aviva for Advisers will help reduce costs for all your clients, new and existing.
Support when you need it
How many of us know specific parts of the technology or software we use regularly really well, but don't know the benefits we're missing by not using all of its functionality? We want to make sure that doesn't happen with advisers adopting our technology into their business. The Aviva Platform has all the functionality you need to help you carry out your day-to-day business more effectively.
We want to help you make the most of all the functionality we offer through the Aviva Platform. That's why we're keen to support you in getting the optimum benefit from this time-saving technology.
To make sure advisers are getting the best from our technology, we have;
- created a single, dedicated Platform Service and Support team for advisers using the website (Tel: 0845 309 3999, Mon-Fri 8:30-17:30)
- fully trained all our regional and telephone sales teams so they can support their accounts adopting the technology (Tel: 0845 366 6805, Mon-Fri 8:30-17:30)
- the Platform Adoption and Development team available if your advisers require more detailed consultancy, or training on our online proposition.
And finally...
We believe we're a compelling choice for advisers looking to effectively target and service the mid-market. Here's why:
- Our recent product and online developments make financial advice more affordable for mid-market clients.
- We recognise the importance of advisers in bringing financial education and expertise to clients.
- We offer you the comprehensive support you need to run your business.
We believe that both the Aviva Platform and the wealth of material available through Aviva for Advisers can help you target mid-market clients and remain profitable.
To find out more, speak to your Aviva contact or visit aviva.co.uk/adviser
For financial adviser use only. Not approved for use with customers.
LF90021 03/2013
Aviva Life Services UK Limited. Registered in England No 2403746. 2 Rougier Street, York, YO90 1UU.
Aviva Life Services UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Registration No 145452
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