New Zealand firm Wise Advice boost client retention with white labeling

Challenge

Wise Advice wanted to tie all their branding together. They’re known for being tech-savvy and wanted to prove it in their offerings. They wanted to embrace advisory services but in a sustainable way. Some staff were resistant to change, which made it difficult for Owner Brad Golchin to roll out their new way of working. Client referrals and satisfaction were ok, but the team knew they could do better.

Solution

Measuring KPIs helped clients feel more in control of their cash and has led to higher client satisfaction. White labeling has helped staff feel a sense of ownership over the tech they’re using in the firm. They’ve also had clients more engaged and excited about their figures. Staff are more confident and that’s being picked up on by clients.

Results

Resistance towards changing their offerings to advisory has disappeared. The increase in referrals has led to staff being more content. They’re also more engaged in their work, impacting positively on clients. With clients more involved in their figures, they’re seeing higher success rates. Overall, the team and their clients are performing better, with reliable branded software tying everything together.

Interview in full

What were Wise Advise’s top motivations for white labeling the app?

Our brand is everything to us. Investing in the white-labeled product, we’re reinforcing our branding to clients across the board. Having them see our logo and colors wherever they go in their accounting space has really got them on board with what we’re doing here. We can make sure that our clients have a good experience with our brand, and know they’re being exposed to it throughout the day.

We’ve set up the majority of our clients to track their KPIs, which Futrli software allows us to do. Our clients feel more in control of their cash, and understand far more about their accounts than ever before. Tying that in with our branding has allowed us to spread our message. It’s all about customer loyalty and creating a bigger value for our brand, which white labeling has allowed us to do with ease.

I’d much rather charge a client for adding 20% to their bottom line, rather than tell them they’ve got to pay 0k in tax!

How have your clients reacted to the implementation of the white label product?

The businesses we work with are impressed to see our client dashboard area gives them a seamless experience while they are on our website. We’ve noticed a boost in client retention, and speaking with clients, we’ve seen them a lot more excited to meet up and discuss their finances. There’s a lot more customer loyalty since we white labeled Futrli.

How have your team taken to the shift to advisory services?

As we feared, we had resistance from our team in the beginning. It’s understandable as it’s a huge change for our staff, and they’ve been working in the traditional way for a long time. However, since we implemented the white-labeled product, our staff are seeing better results from client meetings, and referrals come off the back of that too.

My team is becoming much more engaged in their work and are taking more interest in their clients’ business growth. I think the clients have noticed our team’s new lease of life, so to speak, as the feedback we’re getting is really positive.

How is this helping you lead advisory services in ANZ?

We have approached the move to advisory in stages. We tried it with existing clients for a time, which got a great response. Since then, we’ve developed a stand-alone advisory service too, which has helped a lot of our clients.

Many of our customers have their compliance done by us anyway, so now they’ve seen the scope of our advisory services, they are all really happy and have come on board for both sets of services.

How have you drummed up interest and got the word out about your new advisory services?

So far, we’ve directed our website traffic via a client login on our home page. It’s amped up interest from prospective clients as they’re wondering what it’s all about, and it’s a clean and simple way for existing clients to access their accounts. We’ve been running a series of webinars for our existing clients and new leads to show them how we can help them too, and the audience is growing steadily.

Where do you think the forecasting industry will be in 3 years' time?

Compliance services are a commodity, and they don’t add any value to what we’re doing. Now tax departments are using technology to automate processes as much as they can so in three years, I don’t think there will be much earnt through compliance. Being a trusted advisor and adding value to client businesses is the way to go.

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