How many of us order the same thing every time we go to our favourite place to eat? We may take time to look through the menu, explore the options, but end up ordering exactly the same thing we always do. My wife does this every time. I play the, “What’s he going to order this time?” game, refusing to disclose my choice until those magic words, “Are you ready to order?”
“I’ll have my usual please” is a phrase that confers a certain premium on consistency. The picture above is also a bit of a clue to the success of standing firm and not succumbing to the desire to remodel, relaunch or rebrand something that works perfectly well. Porsche’s classic 911 model is sixty years old and still going strong.
A word of caution here. Change is a tricky thing. Some people struggle with it. You have to introduce your clients to change carefully and sensitively. Your great idea to put passion fruit into the lasagne may add colour and texture, but will it win many followers? I doubt it. In the mid 1980s Coke feared it was losing market share to the sweeter taste of Pepsi. In an attempt to shore up its dominant market share, it introduced a new formula in 1985. It quickly discovered that changing the familiar can be a costly mistake. Coke sales fell away, and despite renaming the new drink twice, Coke went back to being its original and best, but only after suffering damage to the brand.
Some businesses have mastered the art of continuity, having the confidence to stick with their tried and tested design formula for products or services. The famed Porsche 911 was launched in 1963, yet from the outside, looks almost unchanged today. It’s what is underneath the car’s skin that has been continuously changing. The technology involved in modern vehicle manufacture has transformed the driving experience of thousands of drivers. However, there will always be those who will prefer their old Minis, MGs, Volvos, and Morris 1000s.
We at Stewardship Wealth constantly explore ways to improve yet we are conscious of implementing change for change’s sake. We avoid vanity projects. We focus on adding value behind-the-scenes through new technology.
We prefer to spend our time with you, not ploughing through paperwork. Almost everything we do now is paperless and driven by the desire to release more time for direct client contact.
Here’s an everyday example that can make a huge difference. When making changes to your plan, as the result of end of tax year planning, we need to get your approval to proceed. If you were away from home, or on holiday we may have a lengthy wait before receiving your instructions. Our new Stewardship app’s messaging service allows us to contact you securely and lets you check the message and respond immediately on your smartphone or tablet, regardless of where you are. It also allows you to check portfolio values, read documents, and sign them digitally, instantly forwarding them to us to be put into action. Email is becoming increasingly insecure, and we want to phase it out.
This change is designed to reinforce the established ease and comfort of working together. If we can borrow the approach Porsche have taken, things look the same from the outside, but what’s hidden under the bonnet takes the client experience to another level.
We are always interested in your thoughts and feedback. We have been helped by a compact and bijou team who have been testing the system with us. Our new app is in the final pre-launch stage, and we plan to make it available by the end of May this year.