Written by: Sue Viskovic | Elixir Consulting
There is so much change happening for advisers right now that you could be forgiven for falling into the trap of introspection and worry. You may be juggling thoughts of compliance, education requirements, rising costs, obsolete (or inadequate) pricing models, falling business valuations, licensee issues ..... all the while trying to do your best for your clients. It's times like these that can really test your resolve and your passion to build a business delivering great quality advice to clients. And yet, there has never been a more important time to do just that!
If you'd like a break from reading compliance updates and FASEA guidelines, and you want to read something much more uplifting and inspiring, I highly recommend getting hold of the 2019 Value of an Adviser research report from Russell Investments, or the recently released ASIC Report 627 - 'Financial Advice: What Consumers really think'. I'm serious - this is a publication from ASIC that is indeed, uplifting! It confirms what you already knew - that while the statistics from the general public showed significant levels of distrust in the financial advice industry, " people who had recently received financial advice had more positive attitudes towards financial advisers than those who had not recently received financial advice". What may surprise you, is that less than a year after the Royal Commission into Financial Services, 41% of Australians intend to get financial advice in the future, and 25% in the next 12 months. That's great news for businesses wrestling with the challenge of replacing or transitioning grandfathered revenue that's being switched off... if you're unlikely to convert enough of those previous 'customers' into fee-paying clients, you'll be inspired by the opportunity to service new clients for whom you can deliver value. This news might be inspiring for some, but also a little nerve racking. For many of the businesses we're working with right now, finding new clients is not a problem - it's efficiently, compliantly and profitably servicing those clients that is the current challenge.
As thoughts indeed turn to running sustainable businesses without grandfathered revenue in future, we've been working with even more businesses than usual on their pricing models, and we are consistently finding an overarching realisation for many, that they are now in a world where every client needs to be serviced on a profitable basis (or intentionally pro-bono). For many, that will mean charging more than they have in the past because they won't have trails subsidising their cashflow in future. And to survive, not only will they be charging new clients more than they ever have, they will likely need to lift the fees of their existing clients too.
What does that mean? Not necessarily that advice will become unaffordable for those who need it - don't get caught in that rhetoric.. but what it does mean is that you need to develop your ability to demonstrate value, to DELIVER on that value, and to ...
...propose your fees at the right time in the right way to secure the right clients who will enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship in future with you - where both of you will get a great return on investment from working together.Sometimes in order to do this, we find that means helping advisers to tweak their ongoing advice offer, or maybe their client review experience - sometimes we help advisers reinvent their whole new client experience and the breadth of services they provide.... and sometimes all that's really needed is for the advisers to recognise just what a valuable service they bring to their clients. Especially in times like these, it's easy to fall prey of the noise around you and feel undervalued - then fall into the trap of doing it to yourself by undercharging for your services. Confidence is required to charge what you're worth, and if you're feeling overwhelmed, under threat and questioning your abilities as an adviser, you need to get some help with this, or you'll struggle to get out of that downward spiral that will make business growth and profitability impossible for you.