Abstract
Legal and medical professionals are attractive targets for financial services firms, in light of their high earning potential. Self-employed professionals are an especially attractive group, as they need financial service providers for both personal wealth management services as well as small business services, to help finance, operate, and manage their practices.
This report details attitudinal and behavioral information for healthcare and legal professionals, and also specifically describes their attitudes as they relate to financial matters. Mintel then examines current financial product usage of professionals, uncovering unmet needs and potential opportunities. These insights lead us to recommend marketing practices that are likely to be especially effective with these professional groups. These questions include:
- What are the overall attitudinal characteristics of self-employed professionals, and how do they compare to other self-employed individuals, as well as to the general public?
- How do these personality characteristics, such as risk tolerance, optimism, and perfectionism relate to choices in purchasing financial services?
- What financial products do they currently own and use?
- What are the best marketing messages to use to appeal to these groups?
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
