Where we have concern is around the pace of that change, and the often overlooked opportunity for the most immediate response, which is in the hands of front-line go-to-market teams that can help secure market position and improve customer perception. They can be executing these actions while long-term efforts (business transformation, completely new products) are being developed.
In creating a response strategy, incumbent firms must focus on understanding their customers with data and insights that can be actioned immediately through go-to-market efforts.
Hortz: Any other recommendations from your research and ongoing educational efforts that you like to offer our financial services readers?
Lewis: The most interesting insight that came from our research was that at a time when in-person or face-to-face interactions have been so dramatically impacted, we have seen incumbent firms continue to successfully leverage their presence with consumers by phone, video and other 1:1 communications. The observation really opened our eyes to the impact incumbent firms can have using the Presence Advantage in creative ways beyond the in-person for consumers. It also highlights the advantage these firms have over disruptors and the need for renewed omnichannel coordination.
All in all, we can’t stress enough that Go-to-Market innovation provides an immediate pathway for incumbent success at any stage of disruption. We would welcome any of your readers to join us on Tuesday, October 20th @ 1:00 PM ET for our “Activating Competitive Response to FinTech Disruption” webinar (click here for complementary registration) as we discuss more tactically what incumbent firms should do at the Go-to-Market level. If you can’t attend the live event, we suggest you still register today for access to the on-demand recording.
The Institute for Innovation Development is an educational and business development catalyst for growth-oriented financial advisors and financial services firms determined to lead their businesses in an operating environment of accelerating business and cultural change. We position our members with the necessary ongoing innovation resources and best practices to drive and facilitate their next-generation growth, differentiation, and unique community engagement strategies. The institute was launched with the support and foresight of our founding sponsors — Pershing, Voya Financial, Ultimus Fund Solutions, Fidelity, and Charter Financial Publishing (publisher of Financial Advisor magazine).