Over the past couple of years alone we’ve seen fundamental shifts in the regulatory, political and economic landscapes within the UK.
Client demographics have changed too, with pension freedoms creating new opportunities and risks for advisers and clients alike. Meanwhile, technology has taken huge leaps with robo-advice now a reality.
Having to constantly change and adapt can leave even the most positive amongst us suffering from a sense of change fatigue.
While many advice firms have adapted well to this shift, others may find themselves so focused on reacting to external pressures, they fail to spend enough time ensuring their internal business processes are fit for purpose.
And although this is perfectly understandable under the circumstances, I believe making the time to tackle this now could save advisers a lot of pain in the long term.
Optimise your business processes
The demand for advice is higher than ever, yet many advisers are still relying on the same processes they have used for decades to service their clients.
Often such processes are manual and time-consuming, which not only means more work, but it also leaves firms open to conduct risk issues as there is no centralised process to ensure consistency when dealing with similar clients.
Ensuring your business model is robust and backed up by scalable, repeatable frameworks not only helps to mitigate this risk, but leaves you free to focus on the area you add the most value – giving advice.
Define your value proposition
The range of people looking for tailored advice is much broader than it used to be following pension freedoms. As such, it can be tempting to try to create a client proposition that’s broad enough to service each type of client.
However, the opposite is actually a more effective approach. By determining where your expertise lies and which segments will be best served by that expertise, you can align your business to the needs of your ideal demographic.
Whilst it might initially feel risky to focus on certain segments to the detriment of others, a well-defined proposition can help to differentiate your firm and carve you a place in a highly populated market.
Articulating the value of advice
Measuring any intangible service is difficult, and advice is no exception. As a result, advisers may find themselves providing lists of transactions in an attempt to demonstrate the ways in which they add value for their clients.
The problem with this is you might be providing a logical response to an emotional issue.
While it’s true your clients will need you to action transactions on their behalves, it’s actually the trust, relationship and overall confidence in your ability to keep their assets safe that they really value.
Your success is dependent on this trust, so it’s imperative that you demonstrate that you are a safe pair of hands.
A useful exercise to help you do this might be to try to describe your value proposition as if you have never actioned a single transaction.
Remember, in a robo-enabled future, clients will be able to access basic transactional-based advice easily and at a fraction of the cost, but the value of your expertise and intellectual property will persist regardless of technological advancements.
Putting it into practice
Once you’ve finalised your value proposition, you need to find the right providers to help you deliver your business strategy. To do this, I’d recommend you first think about your destination – where would you like your business to get to in the next five, ten, twenty years?
Transforming a business can be a long process, so it’s important to align yourself with the best collaborators to help you reach your goals. Determining where you want your business to be will allow you to choose a company you can trust and which aligns with your own views, values and principles.
I’d also recommend you look for providers that can demonstrate a strong track record of reacting to change. We already know that change is a constant consideration within the Financial Services industry, so it makes sense to choose providers that have proven their ability to not only react quickly and efficiently to change, but also help you to interpret and implement such changes within your own business.
And finally, I recommend that you look for providers that can add additional value to your business. As opposed to the traditional provider/consumer style relationship that is typically prevalent in the Financial Service industry, true collaborators will support both parties’ commercial models and add value to both businesses.
The scope for new opportunities is broad, and a quality ally for an adviser firm could help with market/customer insight; data analysis; project management; automation; networking; asset migration to name just a few.
The only word of warning is to beware of false economies – relying on a variety of cheaper processes can add unnecessary complexity and cost to your business while increasing risk.
Collaborating with Standard Life
I believe Standard Life can act as a strong ally and collaborator for advice firms whereby our collective efforts amount to greater client outcomes.
With us as your provider, you will benefit from our long, solid history of working with advisers and our strong team of experts who constantly monitor the industry and world economics.
We have everything you need under one roof – technical expertise, world-class investment solutions and two distinct platform offerings designed to cater to different segments of the market: Wrap is our bespoke service supporting progressive advisers to create long-term business value through comprehensive functionality.
Elevate is aimed at supporting advice scalability with an intuitive transactional platform that meets adviser regulatory obligations.
In addition, we also offer a range of support services – business service toolkits, technical expertise and CPD learning modules, for example – all of which have been designed to help make your life easier.
Stronger together: the right way to deliver change
Achieving real change requires grit and determination. Generally people don’t like change, but successful people know that if they want to make a difference they have to embrace it. Standard Life aims to help you take the steps necessary to take your business forward.
Everything we do is done with you in mind. We know you could do it without us, but we want you to know that we are here to support you.
We care about you and your clients, and we’re here to help you make effective changes and to work with you to build on your successes. As a team, we can build strong futures together.
This information is based as at today’s date (13 November 2017) and is subject to change. Standard Life accepts no responsibility for advice that may be formulated on the basis of this information.
Standard Life Assurance Limited is registered in Scotland (SC286833) is registered in Scotland at Standard Life House, 30 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH1 2DH. Standard Life Assurance Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. www.standardlife.co.uk © 2017 Standard Life Aberdeen
Noel Butwell, distribution director, Standard Life
