How to train the advisers of the future and comply with consumer duty

Why spend time and money on the lottery that is recruitment when you can promote those from within who already understand your clients, your proposition and your firm’s culture. Investment in people pays dividends in the future.

Approaching clients

RDR aimed 'to ensure financial products and services delivered to clients were clear, transparent, and met their needs as well as promoting standards of professionalism that inspire consumer confidence and build trust'.

I recall our first team meeting post-RDR when there was genuine fear amongst the advisers about going into detail regarding charges.

How we countered this was by maximising the opportunity provided to build trust with a client by talking through the need to be more qualified to provide advice and the protection this afforded (credibility), providing more information on the solutions being presented and the associated cost (intent) and delving deep to really understand clients so that you were in possession of all the facts before making recommendations (commonality).

I remember getting ticked off by one of my managers for talking about football, soap operas and current affairs with every client.

It may have seemed fairly low-level chat but it helped me remember every client when I met them annually or in the street, but more importantly, they remembered me and appreciated that I was interested in them as an individual and not just how much they had to invest.

Soft skills

I’m often asked about best practices when it comes to development and an absolute must is completion of both a company and individual training needs analysis.

This will help you align the needs of both parties so that your training and coaching is meaningful, providing tangible benefits to you and your clients.

The traditional response from an adviser would have been that they want support in passing more exams or understanding more complex investment and retirement planning solutions, but now the training and coaching support I get asked for on a daily basis is around soft skills.

Do not get me wrong. I am delighted that chartered status is the benchmark for the majority of firms that I work with, which has been a real cultural shift over the past decade.

However, regardless of how qualified you are, it is academic (pun intended) if you cannot connect with a client, particularly one who is maybe three times your age with completely different life experiences.

There are significant training needs linked to key elements of consumer duty.

I was speaking to a client last week with a bancassurace background who spoke about their experience with a lifetime planner they used back in the day.