From the lake I head straight into the office for our weekly management meeting first thing with my fellow director and our practice manager.
We have been directly authorised since 1 June, so as a practice we discuss our client novation progress and our value service proposition along with an overview of this week’s new and existing client meetings. This particular afternoon we have two new clients booked in to see us in the office.
Tuesday
My co-director Andrew and I are on the 7.30am Sheffield to St Pancras train as we have a meeting with Mas. They are keen to hear our views and experience of the adviser retirement directory as we had been a part of the build and consultation process. After our meeting we head to lunch with one of our London clients to conclude his new family protection strategy with Vitality as the terms have been accepted by their underwriters. As it is a large case we would prefer to meet our client to discuss in person, plus it always nice to treat a client to lunch.
Wednesday
6.30am, and this time I am heading out on my bike into the Peak District for a couple of hours before I get to the office for 10am. Being out of the office all day yesterday means we spend the first part of the morning dealing with all our new inbound enquiries and any existing client queries. We regularly have two to three new potential client enquiries each day. My particular new client has found us through Unbiased, and wants to arrange a review of his personal pension portfolio and retirement income strategy.
Thursday
The bulk of today is set aside for existing client contact as we have neared the end of the novation process from our previous network, having just gone direct, and I have plenty of long-standing clients to catch up with.
We have partnered with True Potential as our back office provider, so it is great to provide online demonstrations of all the new functionality we have rolled out. I call some time with our practice manager and our admin team before the end of the day, to run through this week’s workflow progress before heading out for a group pizza in town.
Friday:
Andrew and I have a breakfast meeting in Sheffield with a potential new adviser for the business. Having long-term expansion plans, we are aiming to take on board at least five advisers within the next 12 to 24 months. This particular chap would be a great asset to the business, and he is equally as impressed with our plans for the future. We directors both have client meetings this afternoon, so it is back to the office to get the files ready.
I have got a pizza to burn off, so after another hectic week I am off out for a steady run to set me up for the weekend.
Nicholas Pratt is senior financial planner of Pension Planner
