Any time you set out to capture insights, it’s likely that you’re looking to fill gaps in, or add to, your team’s knowledge to drive your business forward. Speaking to your target audience will always be a key aspect of achieving those goals. But to truly understand an issue, there are times when capturing the perspective of people who specialize in a particular financial services topic or area of interest is critical to achieving well-rounded insights. We often need the perspective of experts to build a solid action plan.
Financial services expert interviews
Incorporating conversations with experts in whatever Financial Services field you are focusing on will deepen your knowledge, enhance your insights, and give you greater confidence in your path forward. The value they bring make expert interviews worth adding on to any qualitative or quantitative project you’re initiating.
If you’re wondering whether your team or organization would benefit from conversations with experts, here are a few questions to help you make that decision:
- Does your organization, team, or stakeholders have a complete basis of knowledge on a specific subject matter, or are there gaps that need to be filled?
- Are you in need of case stories, history, or specific examples on a topic of interest to learn from?
- Are you concerned that you may have a myopic internal perspective that would benefit from the knowledge of unbiased, outside experts?
- Do you have a topic that you understand at a high level but know that more depth is needed to move forward with your plans?
Speaking with just a handful of industry experts for 45 minutes each will enhance your insights and inform a more complete and robust path forward. Here’s an example of how expert interviews helped a recent client maximize their learning:
Case Story: Experts provide the key to repositioning
A leading asset manager had entered a new investment category a few years back but was struggling to build brand equity and market leadership despite aggressive marketing campaigns and delivering consistently stronger returns versus competitors.
This client was following its typical brand extension playbook, and it wasn’t working. They began to wonder if it was even possible to reposition as a leader in this newer space, after many years of being the established category leader in a very different area.
To ensure they left no stone unturned on their quest for success, our client sought to learn from what other financial companies had done during their repositioning initiatives. They wanted to know more about what tactics they used, what worked, what didn’t. The client team did not have the long history of industry knowledge to identify such case stories on their own.
To truly understand an issue, there are times when capturing the perspective of people who specialize in a particular financial services topic or area of interest is critical to achieving well-rounded insights.”
To help them uncover these insights, we recommended a C-suite executive recruiting panel to identify industry experts who could speak to repositioning efforts in their category of interest. We identified 20 industry experts to learn from, vetted them through LinkedIn and phone screenings, and our clients selected the three they wanted to speak with.
Paired with internal stakeholder interviews, these expert conversations allowed our client to identify several examples of financial services companies that had successfully repositioned their core competency and what tactics they used. These expert conversations identified the right success stories and strategies to learn from, test out among target clients, and emulate in our client’s market strategies.
When combined with one-on-one interviews among client’s target audience, these expert interviews helped discover that this specific market required an on-the-ground presence to build brand power and successfully reposition. Traditional marketing techniques were not going to work. Speaking with experts helped our client highlight an opportunity to build deeper personal connections with its target market to convey the expertise needed to be seen as a serious player in this new space.
Also see: Financial services innovation isn’t just about digital transformation.
For more information on how you can benefit from expert conversations, please contact us.
