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The Art Of Giving Suitable Advice Which Is Defensible
by Tony Vidler         The most challenging area in forming a professional opinion is ensuring that it is “suitable advice”, as what is suitable is subjective – until the time comes somewhere in the future to see if the advice actually worked.   Despite the issue of nobody actually knowing whether advice really was suitable much […]
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best-practice-advice
Best Practice Advice Means Meeting Client Expectations Too, doesn’t it?
by Tony Vidler        What constitutes “Best Practice” advice process is a constant work in progress, but it does not develop as rapidly as either technology or client expectations do.  In fact, there is a distinct probability that the gap between what professionals call best practice advice and what clients expectations of best practices are  continue […]
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How Much You Know Is Not That Important
by Tony Vidler        Professional financial advisers know way too much to be used in any given client meeting or engagement.  Yet too many think that how much you know is what matters.  One of the great skills of the super successful professionals in fact is figuring out what stuff they know which is not […]
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compliance-focus
Client Focus or Compliance Focus?
by Tony Vidler        I support a compliance focus 100% ….but I support a client focus 100% too.   All too often it is impossible to achieve 100% for both simultaneously though.   Where does a professional compromise? Or does one not compromise?   I think this picture captures the challenge of delivering compliant “best […]
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Creating a Value-Based Pricing Engagement
by Tony Vidler        Amongst all the debate about adviser remuneration there is little being said about value-based pricing and yet it is a concept which is most likely to match the clients perception of value with the professional’s desire to avoid conflicted models or time-based billing. It is simply setting a price based upon […]
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fixed-fee-advice
Scope Creep: The Number 1 Problem In Fixed Fee Advice
by Tony Vidler        “Scope Creep” is the killer for the Holy Grail of professional services business models: fixed fee advice.  That ideal model which so many aspire to is having clients who agree to ongoing fixed fees, and the practice income just rolls in month after month.   Fixed fee advice being delivered on […]
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Make your professional designations mean something to clients
by Tony Vidler        Why aren’t more financial advisers using their professional designations and qualifications better? There is no doubt that there has been an increasing proportion of advisers pursuing professional designations, and an increasing number of niche choices in doing so, and there are more advisers with more acronyms than ever before.   Do […]
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follow-advice
How To Make More Effective Advice Recommendations
by Tony Vidler        If we can make more effective advice recommendations we increase comprehension and engagement and shorten the implementation timeframe.  That’s good for everyone involved in the process.  More people will follow our advice, we help more people get the outcomes they are looking for, and business is better for everyone.   So […]
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professional-process
Professionals Have, And Use, Processes
by Tony Vidler        True professionals don’t just HAVE processes, they have processes they use everywhere in their work. All the time. Professionals are in fact process-driven.   We need to learn from those professions where the outcome of a poor day on the job is literally life or death.  That isn’t generally the case […]
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client-is-king
The Customer Is NOT King; The Customer Is Not Always Right
by Tony Vidler        The mantra of “customer is king” is rubbish.  The customer is not always right, and the customer is definitely not the stakeholder who provides permission to practice.  Yet we keep hearing that the customer is king from marketers and interest groups as if it were a commandment.   A King or […]
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