OpinionJul 1 2015

Ken Davy: Pondering a successful career

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Ken Davy: Pondering a successful career
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I now know what it must be like to be interviewed by Jeremy Paxman! The MD of the Huddersfield Giants Super League Club gave me a Paxman-style grilling for the benefit of guests at a recent Giants Business Club Breakfast Meeting.

As his chairman I thought he may have give me an easy ride, but I should have known better. On the positive side, however, his probing questions about my career as a financial adviser brought to mind many long forgotten ideas about this great business in which we are all involved.

The first of these was the importance of transparency when dealing with clients. After my initial training with Abbey Life as a tied agent (yes, they really did train us) I decided that, when advising clients, I would follow four simple principles.

First, my clients would know what they were buying. Second, why they were buying it. Third, what it cost and, last, from whom they were buying.

This transparency enabled me to build a substantial bank of satisfied clients, along with a persistency ratio which was virtually 100 per cent. I have never accepted the premise that the persistency ratio of a tied agent should be worse than any other adviser. Ultimately it all comes down to the quality of the adviser.

My next ‘golden rule’ for success is to always under promise and over deliver. Take something as simple as delivering policy documents; many Abbey advisers would tell clients they would deliver the policy in two weeks. In reality, while they could arrive within two weeks, it was often a month or longer before the policies arrived, and, by that time, the clients were at best upset by the delay and at worst had cancelled the policy. My philosophy was to tell the client to expect the policy within a couple of months. When I then delivered the policy in, say, six weeks, they were delighted, which ensured a positive relationship.

Another essential element of success is an absolute commitment to client service. The whole purpose of being in business is to serve clients and the better job you do of this, the more successful you will become.

Another essential element of success is an absolute commitment to client service

The final Jeremy Paxman-style question was whether there was one single secret to building a successful practice. My answer was to outline my belief in the importance of a positive mental attitude, visualise what you want to achieve, do something about it and then, when the going gets tough, as it will, keep going.

That great motivational speaker Warren Greshes encapsulated it best in his Life Insurance Association talk in my presidential year. The 3 Ss of Success: See It – Start It – Sustain It. This simple formula has certainly always worked for me and, I believe, if you apply it, you cannot fail to build a successful practice as a financial adviser, or indeed any other type of business.

Ken Davy is chairman of SimplyBiz