Conceptual Financial Advisors: Finances On Track

For this week’s client showcase I had the pleasure to interview Chad Nehring from Conceptual Financial Advisors. I was excited to talk with Chad and learn the story behind the theme and design of the firm’s new website, since the look and feel of the site is so modern, yet the photos used are original historic images from the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI (near where the firm is located).

I was first curious to learn about what got Chad started with Financial Advising in the first place, and to my surprise he has not been working as financial advisor for his entire career. Prior to entering the Financial Industry, he actually had a 7 year career in law enforcement. What introduced him to the industry was actually a family friend who was a financial advisor and asked him the simple question “Ever think about doing this?” followed by “Why don’t you come work for me?”. Eventually Chad started at an entry-level role and obtained his various licenses and designations and was mentored into a client-facing role. In 2002 he switched firms to a more fee-based/planning office and has been there ever since.

As a financial advisor who has had various career paths, it was really interesting to hear about Chad’s favorite part of the day, which is the drive back from visiting a clients at their home or farm out in the country for a meeting, which does not happen too often as the majority of clients meet in the office. Chad described the joy he gets from the feeling of knowing he has helped someone in some small way and remembering there are thousands of financial advisors before him that built their practice the same way…meeting with people at their kitchen table.

Learning more about Chad’s personal background and his philosophy on financial advising helped me further understand what he was trying to achieve with the look and feel of his redesigned website. I wanted to hear more about the history behind some of the images and ideas for the site, especially the idea to use trains and transportation as the theme.

As Chad explains, his aim was to steer away from the usual images that are part of financial advisors’ sites, as he describes “shiny happy people on sailboats” or “compass pointing north”. When asked what he does for a living, Chad often responds that he helps people “Get on Track and Stay on Track” with their finances, which eventually evolved into the firm’s tagline. Later on, the company changed the logo to incorporate a set of railroad tracks, which they introduced along with their new taglines at an event for clients that was held at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, WI. In this way, the whole theme and ‘story’ came together in a very organic way, and Chad finds that it is a concept that most anyone can relate to.

3 key things that Chad loves about Conceptual Advisor’s New Website:

1. Expert Design: Chad says: “I didn’t have to do it!”. He shared that his experience working with the Twenty Over Ten staff was fun and the team always had an open-mind in regards to his ideas, yet they really drove the process and offered expert advice on design, content layout (for improved SEO), and structure all along the way.
2. Mobile-Responsive: Chad loves the scalability across devices (also known as a mobile-responsive site), which in the past few weeks has become a necessity as Google rolled out their mobile-friendly update on April 21. By being mobile-friendly, Conceptual Financial Advisors’ site will be boosted within the first few searches in mobile and therefore have a potential higher rate of visitors that are in search for a financial advisor in the Appleton, WI area.
3. A Unique Theme: And last but not east, Chad describes his third favorite aspect of the site are the images taken at the Railroad Museum, as he was able to get a lot of historical, local pictures that are used as a background, which spurred a lot of clients’ memories, and ties perfectly into the “Helping you Get on Track & Stay on Track” tagline.

Conceptual Financial Advisors’ unique new website has accomplished the task of having a great modern feel while building on the foundation and history of the local past. One of my favorite things about their website is how unique it is in regards to approaching current and potential new clients with the idea of helping people “Get on track and Stay on track” which is depicted through the use of train imagery. There is no doubt that this new site will help enhance the Conceptual Financial Advisors’ brand image and continue to connect them to clients efficiently in the short and long term.