Mobile computing is a lot more than taking the back office on the road. Advisors who get their brand on other people’s iPads have a lot to gain.
There’s a turf war brewing over the nine-inch real estate on your clients’ tablet screens, and if you’re too busy staring at your own iPad, you’ll miss out. 
Figure a tablet computer is the hottest toy for high-net-worth Americans. Even low-end financial apps that focus on cash flow management and bill payment are getting millions of downloads.
And getting your name and contact information on those apps effectively makes you the go-to authority for those millions of Americans, each well-off enough to be playing with an iPad in the first place.
How you make that happen is high on the agenda for ByAllAccounts’ next free webinar this Thursday at 2 PM EST: “Are you an iPadvisor? The Essential Guide to Utilizing Tablet Technology For Your Practice ”(Register HERE)
Becoming the iPad advisor
And from there, it’s only a short cognitive hop to turning those apps into prospecting tools.
While I haven’t heard of any advisors who are using branded apps to aggressively prospect to strangers via the app store, I suspect there are already geniuses working on it.
Think about the psychology. Someone who sees your app doesn’t know who you are.
All they know is that they have a financial question and are turning to their iPad for the answers, instead of turning to an existing advisor.
That’s a classic opportunity. Sure, people who download your app may not be in the right part of the country or have a big enough net worth for you to take them on as a client.
But think of it as a national media opportunity, like a spot on CNBC or Bloomberg TV.
Just getting your name out there plants the seeds in minds across the country that you’re the go-to person in your area. You might not get any direct prospect calls from app users, but you might get your share of recommendations.
And for a service that’s not costing you any time or attention once it’s up and running, that’s not a bad trade at all.
Running a better meeting
In the here and now, other apps can help keep local prospects and B-level clients on the line while you deal with the big fish.
Amp, designed by Boulevard R, is tailored for face-to-face prospect meetings and seems especially promising where it comes to small groups -- think retirement plan participants or wealthy families who come in together.
“Say you've got a lunch-and-learn and you bring in 5 iPads tethered to a MiFi mobile hotspot,” says Matt Iverson, who runs Boulevard R’s product group and will be presenting at Thursday's webinar.
“You can put the app in the hands of five people and in 10 minutes you've delivered way more value than you possibly could through the typical 60-minute presentation.”
Let them plug in their own financial data while you talk, and that value will add up even faster.
Remember, your app doesn’t have to restrict itself to assets you personally manage -- account aggregation lets clients and prospects alike see what you can do with all their holdings.
And as a bonus, when you get their call, they’ve already pre-qualified themselves. The app does a lot of the heavy data gathering on its own.
Ultimately, that’s what tablet computers do best.
There’s a lot of effort going on in the financial services world to make these awesome little toys more serious, like desktops you can take home so the work never stops.
Keep it simple. Keep it fun. And keep it in front of as many people as possible.
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