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Utilize the iPad to Boost Revenue with Three Simple Ideas

One in three financial advisors owns an iPad. The problem? They’re all using them the same way.

Advisors and agents are constantly looking for new ways to engage people and differentiate their services. The iPad is arguably the greatest engagement device available today. So, what are three simple ways that you can use an iPad to engage more people and generate more revenue?

One: Stand Out Use iPads in your meetings and presentations

Every agent struggles to stand out and engage people in a unique way. So, what if you could put an iPad in the hand of a prospect and then guide them through your pitch deck or a custom app? You can do this by easily connecting iPads so that the prospect can view what’s on your iPad. It’s certainly a unique way to present your services.

Do you give seminars, educational presentations or host client events? If you do, your audience can be holding iPads and follow along as you “pilot” them through your presentation. Since you are sharing your presentation with your audience or “passengers,” you can use in-app tools, such as highlighters or laser pointers to call out certain aspects of your presentation.

Think of how many more people would show up for your event if they knew they were going to get to use an iPad? This is the future. I predict that in 10 years the majority of seminars will be utilize iPads.

This approach provides a more personal connection to your content, while also putting you in control of the timing and exactly what your audience is viewing. There already exist apps, such as Conde Nast’s IdeaFlight app, that you can use to present over a wifi connection.

Consider this … you can lease 10 iPad2s from Apple for as low as $142/month. Even better, if the new smaller iPad Mini, which is expected to launch in October and come in at around the same price point as the Kindle Fire, you could lease 10 iPad Minis for as little as $57/month. If you put the iPads to good use, you could easily generate 10-20x in revenue over the cost of the device.

Two: Create Urgency Engage prospects around their key goals

It’s a fact that agents lose more business to stalled leads than they do to other agents. So, how can you use your iPad to create a sense of urgency in your first meeting and move more prospects to a formal fact-finder or proposal presentation?

The trick is to engage prospects around their financial goals and get them to enter their own data through the iPad. Get them to identify the goals that they want to accomplish, while they also enter information such as household income and total assets. Not only are your prospects now self-qualifying themselves, this results in greater prospect engagement and leads to different, more meaningful conversations.

Once the prospect enters their data, you want to show them their personalized result and whether there is a shortfall to reach their goals. If they do have a shortfall (and most do), it forces them to evaluate how serious the problem is and whether they need to make a decision to fix it. This is the key moment, where you can try to get them to acknowledge that they need to take action.

A big advantage that you have in this process is that since they have entered their own information, they are more likely to accept their financial assessment. The result raises their pulse and simply put, they are more invested in the outcome.

Once they decide to address their shortfall, you can continue to follow the sales process and present your solution on how you can help them get on track. Your solution may include a blend of insurance, annuities, investments and tax or estate planning.

There are already iPad apps that can help you with creating urgency, like the agent-branded Amp app and the more basic Goalgami app.

Three: Systematize Sales Use the iPad to create a repeatable process

If you’re like most advisors, you’re overworked and overwhelmed by the number of things you need to get done. You’ve also probably never set in place a systematic process that you take every prospect through, to ensure that you don’t leave anything out in the qualifying and follow-up process.

The iPad can help you systematize your prospecting process so that you ask the same questions each time and don’t leave anything out. You can also use apps available on the iPad to automate follow up through emails and reports that reinforce your value.

Another way to systematize your process is by developing a professional pitch deck using Apple’s Keynote software, which allows for impressive effects and transitions between slides. By sharing your deck on an iPad, you can ensure that you cover the same content each time, but deliver it in a way that is more engaging than what other advisors offer.

Besides setting in place a systematic process, you’ll want to easily track people through your CRM or monitor their progress from prospect to client in a way that you’ll actually use. Most CRM platforms have an app that is available on the iPad or through the Safari web browser.

The iPad truly is a magical device, and Apple’s market value is a testament to this. It’s time you let some of this magic rub off on you so that you can do a better job of standing out, creating urgency in a first meeting and systematizing sales so that you convert more prospects into clients.

Unlock the iPad’s potential to boost your revenue with these three simple ideas.

About Matt Iverson

Matt Iverson
Matt Iverson is a Director at Boulevard R and heads up product development. He recently led the effort to create the new Amp iPad app to help agents attract more prospects and turn them into clients. To develop Amp's engagement process, Matt collaborated with leading behavioral economist and NY Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely. The Financial Planning Association® uses the Amp web-based app to engage and educate consumers on their financial goals.

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