Industry Leaders from Allstate, Fidelity, Prudential, and Starbucks Share Vision on Building More Authentic Client Relationships
Hearsay Systems, the trusted leader in compliant digital communications and workflow solutions for the financial services industry, announced it held its 8th annual Hearsay Summit in a virtual event on April 21-22, bringing together the top leaders in fintech. The two-day Summit featured keynote presentations and breakout sessions with executives from Allstate, American Family Insurance, Ameriprise, Facebook, Farmers Insurance, Fidelity, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Northwestern Mutual, Prudential, SIFMA, Starbucks, and more. These innovators led thought-provoking discussions on the most difficult challenges advisors and agents face in building stronger, more authentic client relationships at scale. In addition, Hearsay Systems announced its 2020 Innovator Award winners, who were honored during the virtual Summit.
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“These circumstances inspire amazing and innovative practices. I am thrilled that we can honor these Innovators and collaborate together, sharing best practices as we reimagine the advisor client journey,” said Clara Shih, CEO of Hearsay Systems.
Sessions at this year’s Hearsay Summit included various TED®-style talks presented by the industry’s biggest disruptors and innovators on various key topics, including:
- Glenn Shapiro, President, Allstate Personal Insurance, Esurance, Encompass, Answer Financial: Shapiro delivered an impactful keynote presentation on customer centricity.
- Brady Brewer, Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Starbucks: Brewer delivered a talk on How Starbucks Puts Human Connection at the Center of Digital Strategy.
- Brooke Forbes, Head of Technology, Fidelity Personal Investing: Forbes provided The CIO Perspective on Technology Imperatives in her insightful fireside chat with Clara Shih, Hearsay CEO.
- Naveen Agarwal, Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Financial: Agarwal provided key perspective on the Importance of the Last Mile in a lively fireside chat.
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The key learnings and highlights from this year’s Summit discussions, included:
- Crises like COVID-19 accelerate the need for human touch at digital scale. While COVID-19 highlighted things financial services firms already knew, it also exposed the gaps. The crisis has accelerated the human digital transformation the industry has been working toward; and while the crisis is temporary, the behavioral change is not.
- Human connections must be built on the clients’ terms, not the advisors’. It is important for advisors to focus on creating a cohesive, customer-centric ecosystem that gives customers control and allows them to choose the channel they prefer to connect or receive information. It’s the financial firms’ responsibility to create an authentic experience across each of these channels.
- Omnichannel is not just digital – it includes face-to-face interactions, too. Digital transformation strategies must account for the human element and a full understanding of what role technology plays for their audience. In-person interactions reinforce and solidify the human connection and strengthen the impact of the digital touchpoints.
- Product and price are no longer enough. Advisors and agents must be “approachable authorities.” The advisor’s role is to listen to clients and execute on fewer things – done well – and aided by technology. Technology will not replace advisors and agents, but non-technology-using advisors and agents will replace themselves. Firms must help them eliminate friction throughout the process, create scalable connections that add the most value, while pursuing a relentless focus on internal consistency so that each advisor, agent and wholesaler performs like your best.
- Leadership + Humanity = Trust. Advisors and agents must ensure they are engaging clients in a thoughtful, compassionate and authentic way across every channel to establish trust in an advisory role.
