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Small Businesses: Marketing Financial Services to Professionals - US

Published by: Mintel International Group Ltd.

Published: Jun. 1, 2007 - 89 Pages


Table of Contents


Scope and Themes

What you need to know

Definitions - Professionals

Abbreviations and terms

Abbreviations

Terms



Executive Summary

Attitudes and worldview

Attitudes towards financial services

Marketing to medical and legal professionals - what works?



Consumer Profiles


Changing demographics

Attitudes of self-employed healthcare and legal professionals

Risk taking

Figure 1: General attitudes of self-employed healthcare professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006
Figure 2: General attitudes of self-employed legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

General outlook

Attitudes about money

Figure 3: Attitudes about money, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Figure 4: Attitudes about purchases, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Friends and family

Figure 5: Attitudes about personal relationships, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Ambition

Figure 6: Attitudes about work, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Interest in the arts

Figure 7: Attitudes about education and the arts, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Fitness

Figure 8: Attitudes about fitness and appearance, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Religious beliefs and ethics

Figure 9: Attitudes about religion, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Environmental issues

Figure 10: Attitudes about the environment, self-employed healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006



Attitudes, Opinions and Self-Concepts of Self-Employed Professionals Compared to Other Groups

Attitudes and opinions

Figure 11: Attitudes, opinions and interests, all self-employed respondents, all self-employed in healthcare or legal, by gender, January-October 2006

Risk taking

General outlook

Attitudes toward work and family

Environmental and ethical issues

Self-concepts among the self-employed

Figure 12: Self-concepts, all self-employed respondents, all self-employed in healthcare or legal, by gender, January-October 2006

Self-perceptions among self-employed healthcare professionals

Figure 13: Self-concepts, healthcare professionals that are self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Self-perceptions among self-employed legal professionals

Figure 14: Self-concepts, legal/education or training and are self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006



Financial Attitudes and Practices of Self-Employed Professionals

Figure 15: Attitudes towards financial services, self-employed legal and healthcare, by gender, January-October 2006

Financing business needs

Figure 16: Sources of funding for self-employed professionals, February 2007

Investments and savings

Figure 17: Investments owned by all self-employed, by gender and income, February 2007

Banking

Types of accounts

Figure 18: Banking and investments currently owned by all self-employed, by gender and income, February 2007

Primary bank

Figure 19: Primary bank used in past 12 months for legal and healthcare professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Ideal bank characteristics

Figure 20: Most important traits when choosing a bank, by age, June 2006

Lending

Figure 21: Loans held by all self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Credit cards

Incidence of credit cards

Figure 22: Have or use credit cards, self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Types of credit cards owned

Figure 23: Type of credit card have or use by healthcare and legal professionals, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Types of credit card used

Figure 24: Credit card have or use for all self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Credit cards used in past 12 months

Figure 25: Credit card used in the last 12 months by all self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Credit cards used in past 30 days

Figure 26: Credit cards used in the last 30 days by all self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Credit card usage by medical/legal professionals

Figure 27: Type of credit card used most frequently by medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, or lawyers,

Figure 28: Type of credit card used most frequently by medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and lawyers, by income and profession, February 2007

Primary reason for using a particular card

Figure 29: Primary reasons for using a particular credit card, by medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and lawyers, by gender and employment status, February 2007

Figure 30: Reasons for using a credit card for medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and lawyers, by income and profession, February 2007

Retirement savings accounts

Figure 31: Type of firm used for retirement savings account by medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, and lawyers, by gender and employment status, February 2007

Figure 32: Type of firm used for retirement savings account by medical doctors, and lawyers, by income and profession, February 2007

Insurance

Life and health insurance

Figure 33: Self-employed who currently have life or health insurance, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Figure 34: Self-employed, life/health insurance—types owned, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Auto insurance

Figure 35: Company used for automotive insurance, by gender and income, January-October 2006

Homeowner’s insurance

Figure 36: How property insurance was obtained for all self-employed, by gender and income, January-October 2006



Professionals and Their Advisors

Ideal financial advisor

Figure 37: Qualification of types of advisors for financial needs, by medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians and lawyers, February 2007

Ideal financial advisor—by gender

Figure 38: Best qualified advisors for financial needs, for medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians and lawyers, by gender, February 2007

Figure 39: Qualifications of types of advisors for financial needs, male respondents, February 2007

Figure 40: Qualifications of types of advisors for financial needs, female respondents, February 2007

Ideal financial advisor for self-employed professionals

Figure 41: Most qualified advisors for financial needs, for medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians and lawyers, by employment status, February 2007

Figure 42: Qualification of advisors for financial needs, respondents with own practice, February 2007

Importance of attributes in choosing advisors

Figure 43: Rating of advisor qualities, all respondents, February 2007

Gender differences for financial service provider attributes

Figure 44: Most desired qualities (ranked most important) in an advisor, by gender, February 2007

Figure 45: Rating of advisor qualities, male respondents, February 2007

Figure 46: Rating of desired qualities in an advisor, female respondents, February 2007

Medical doctors vs. lawyers

Figure 47: Most important qualities in an advisor, by medical or legal profession, February 2007

Figure 48: Rating of desired qualities in an advisor, medical doctors, February 2007

Figure 49: Rating of desired qualities in an advisor, lawyers, February 2007

Biggest challenges for professionals

Figure 50: Biggest challenges for professional practice, February 2007



Marketing to Professionals

Impact of advertising

Figure 51: Top U.S. Financial Services advertisers by total ad spending, June 2007

Importance of referrals

Figure 52: How relationship with advisor was initially developed, by gender and employment status,

Figure 53: How relationship with advisor was initially developed, by respondents with a financial advisor, February 2007

How financial services companies currently target self-employed professionals



Suggestions for Targeting Professionals


Financial services and trust

Word of mouth marketing

Loyalty drivers



Appendix: General Attitudes by Age


Figure 54: Attitudes towards financial services, by age, January-October 2006



Appendix: Advertising and Promotion

Figure 55: Chase Business Card with Premier Cash Rebate, February 2007

Figure 56: Visa Business Platinum Card with No Hassle Rewards from Capital One Bank, February 2007

Figure 57: Professional Insurance Programs, April 2007

Figure 58: Discover business card, May 2007

Figure 59: CapitalOne No Hassle business loan, February 2007

Figure 60: Wells Fargo business line of credit, March 2007

Figure 61: Citi Professional Card with Thank You Network from Citibank , May 2007

Figure 62: Two Rivers Community Bank Print advertisement, November 2006

Figure 63: Allsouth Professional Liability, Inc., September 2006

Figure 64: Zurich Medical Practice insurance, October 2006

Abstract

This report discusses important data regarding the acquisition and maintenance of professional consumers for financial institutions. Important insights include:

  • The most important service where professional consumers need attention is cash flow, which brings an opportunity to develop communications channels in real time that are precise and relevant.
  • The success of a brand depends on matching a client’s expectations with what is offered by the company. Mintel’s data indicates that the main expectation of clients when making business with a financial corporation is to have a trustworthy relationship with their financial advisor or financial institution (81% selected trustworthiness as the most important feature of financial advisors).
  • Mintel’s data shows that the price to pay for financial services was placed with a lower priority (24%) than other features such as specific knowledge of financial products (68%), high degree of personal attention (32%), knowledge about their profession (29%), and a wide range of financial products (28%).
  • Mintel’s data of market share in the financial industry are highly coherent with the distribution of the most valued characteristics in a financial advisor. Customers prefer companies whose marketing strategies are not focused on price wars, but instead are branding in a way that resonates with customers’ views.
  • Customer can be unprofitable, because the costs of serving them might be higher than their consumption rates. This phenomenon might be more noticeable in clients that are attracted to a company because of the lowest prices they provide. Mintel’s data indicates that as income grows larger, the attention that clients pay to the cost diminishes.
  • Investment coaching can be a way in which financial corporations get a closer relationship with professional clients. An investment coach can be a figure that represents trust and related values for the consumer.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel has analyzed data from the Simmons National Consumer Survey, Spring 2006. Fieldwork was conducted from May 2005-June 2006 among a nationally representative sample of 24,438 adults aged 18+. This survey was balanced by gender, age, income, and region to reflect the U.S. population.

Mintel has also commissioned exclusive consumer research through Greenfield Online to explore consumer usage of, and attitudes towards, financial services. Fieldwork was conducted in February 2007 among a nationally representative sample (weighted against the total population for estimation) of 250 medical doctors, dentists, veterinarians, lawyers and other professionals aged 18+.



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