Diary of an adviser: Guy Myles

From a standing start in January we now have 30, but must build from personal relationships. Leading technology, practice buy-outs and client lead generation are great, but do not mean anything without understanding, trusting and liking each other. So that means getting out and meeting people. Today it was Manchester to meet three prospects. It reminds me of the early days starting Octopus Investments and I love it. A 6am start allows me two hours with each adviser to try to get into their situation and design a personalised plan to help them. I slightly regret swapping my big car for something more sensible. Home to Ascot at 9pm to a slightly cross wife, after a lot of driving.

Tuesday

A lot of my time is spent finding ways to connect FC advisers with new clients. A FC, we do not think the existing routes are working well enough. I had a brilliant day on this. After a lot of work on the project, a large national magazine publisher agreed an exclusive national campaign with us in which we share the risk – so no payment without results. Nothing like getting your partners aligned with you. This deal should be starting in late 2017 and there are several other partners in the pipeline with similar deals. I am getting used to working with media partners now – it should come naturally to me because both my parents were journalists. In the afternoon I was working with our new office in Lincoln to help build a shared culture and agree its plan for growth.

Wednesday

After a positive start to the week I am feeling grounded today. Yesterday I got an email from a client unhappy with the service she had received from one of our advisers at head office. Somehow this client had slipped through the processes we have. The time taken to complete the report was longer than it should have been, but looking at the details I completely agree with her. I had a quick meeting to identify the exact reasons, check no one else was affected and the actions to make us all confident it can not happen again. I then called the client and apologised, accepted full responsibility, explained how it happened and agreed a plan to look after her. I hate bad feedback, it can kill a business, but I have learnt one golden rule – you have got to front up to any problem and accept responsibility. Any attempt to defend yourself is likely to make a bad situation worse. In the end this client told me she was now happy. I hope so.

Thursday

A few weeks ago we were approached by a large group of international financial advisers looking for a lower cost, more transparent investment service for their clients. They told me the product available in their markets was very poor by UK standards. I travelled with a colleague to Asia to meet them a few weeks ago and today I have been arranging a trip for three of them to come to the UK to complete their due diligence. That means understanding our performance and investment process, the features and technical background to the platform and the client servicing platform. As always it also means meeting all the people and forming a strong relationship. Even if we are not responsible for the advice and are just acting as a service provider, we still care about cultural fit and starting friendships. With colleagues, I spent much of today designing their itinerary for a three-day trip in a couple of weeks. Hopefully it is not too boring for them, but there is a lot of technical information to cover.

Friday

I tend to use Friday as the day to catch up on any presentation or documents I need to prepare, write blog posts or work with journalists. It is my creative day. Today I have the pleasure of writing this piece, but I also finished a presentation for the London 50+ show, talking about the value of financial advice. We are also redesigning our website because it is now out of date for the business we are building. Adapting a website feels like painting the Forth Bridge sometimes, but that is entrepreneurial life.

Guy Myles is chief executive of Flying Colours Wealth based in Ascot