Along with ‘social distancing’, ‘furlough’ and ‘lockdown’, the ‘new normal’ is a phrase that had not really entered our lives until a few weeks ago.
It seems incredible that only four months ago this seemed like China’s problem as we carried on with client meetings, conferences and working in the office with colleagues.
Will you still go to an office, or will you now work from home more?The pace of change to our business lives as well as our social lives has been astounding, but as we edge back, will you go back to the same way of working?
Will you still go to an office, if indeed you did before, or will you now work from home more?
In larger businesses, will you still have a large office or look to reduce the costs and have more people working from home on a regular basis?
How well have you and your processes adapted to working from home and remote meetings with clients?
Will you go back to travelling to see clients at home or in an office; or will you continue with video calls for some, if not all, of your meetings?
Can you deliver all you need to a client remotely, presentation online, documents delivered electronically, rather than in person or post?
Have the providers you use stepped up to the mark or been found wanting?
If not, will you continue to use them going forwards or place new business elsewhere, and will you transition existing clients away from those providers stuck in the 20th century if you can?
Have the investment managers and discretionary fund managers you use stood up well during the turbulent markets? Really?
The mantra of active managers in particular has been that they will protect you on the downside. Well did they, or did they plummet downwards with the markets? When the crunch came, did they actually earn their fees?
Now is the time, before we all go back to normal – whatever that might be – to review some or all of these aspects of your business and proposition.
You have been handed a golden opportunity to step back, review and rebuild your business while the world has stopped.
Grab this opportunity with both hands to build a better, stronger, and more efficient business for you and one that can deliver better outcomes for clients.
Darren Cooke is a chartered financial planner at Red Circle Financial Planning
