Growing your business: Making your business relevant and valuable for the next 10 years - For yourself or for a sale!
Experts: Keith Hare, Benchmark Capital
Facilitator: John Chapman, Orion Consultancy
State of play
The session focused on the four key strategies for growth:
- Increase fee income per client
It is important to understand your client proposition and where you can add value. Consider delivering an improved proposition but, more effectively. Increase your client fees and the richness of the service proposition.
There is value at different elements of the supply chain and firms should consider where they can add value and partake in different elements of the supply chain. Providing DFM services is often a clear example of where value can be added by IFA firms.
- Service more clients with the same number of advisers
This section is about attracting more clients and servicing these increased numbers with the same number of advisers.
Look at systems and processes and the support of paraplanners and administration staff and where processes can be more efficient and where adviser intervention in non-client facing activity can be limited.
Firms should consider segmenting the client service proposition (maybe by client need) in order to provide efficiency within their business but, also to add value to client interaction.
The use of digital client interaction has been limited to client portals and firms should consider how to engage more with clients through new technology. Clients are often not encouraged to adopt new technology and thought needs to be given on how this can be seen to benefit both the client and adviser. There is considerable productivity gain to be had with digital client interaction.
Firms should consider how they market for new clients and ensure that any marketing is client focused. Referrals are the most common source of new business for successful firms and building partnerships with local professional firms can be very successful in introducing new clients to the firm.
- Increase the number of advisers
Recruiting good quality advisers is always a challenge but, focused marketing strategies can be successful.
“Developing your own” is seen as the ideal solution but, this take time and providing firms have a “Long-term” strategy can be very rewarding as advisers are steeped in the culture of the organisation at an early stage.
- Non-organic growth
Selective acquisition should be seen as a by-product and is rare the core strategy for an IFA business. When acquiring a business, there are a number of key criteria to be aware of but, the most important is cultural alignment.
Successful companies will develop a growth strategy that encompasses all four of the above.
