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Practice Growth Requires Leadership More Than Management
by Tony Vidler        The most frequent thing I see that prevents great practice growth and holds advisers back from developing their dream business is a lack of vision. I don’t mean “vision” in the namby-pamby buzz-word sense of having a beautiful set of words on a plaque on a wall that nobody really cares about. […]
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How to take the “R” out of FREE Advice
by Tony Vidler        Traditionally the financial services sector has been almost entirely remunerated via commission, and many advisers are still grappling with the basic question of how to make the transition – even if only in their minds – from working solely on commissions to charging clients directly for advice and/or service. Consumers perceived […]
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Effective or Efficient? Which do Advisers need to be?
by Tony Vidler        Which is more important when running an advice business: being effective or efficient? You chose Effective? Wrong. You chose Efficient?  Wrong. The correct answer is that you have to balance both. In days gone by plenty of people in financial services could build a business just be being effective, regardless of how […]
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How To Get Buy-In From Clients To Full Advice
by Tony Vidler        Clients often want advisers to deal with just one element of financial planning…their current “burning issue” that triggered the need for advice to begin with.  Getting them to engage in full advice can be tough and they need to understand what you CAN do for them, and where your knowledge and skills […]
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How do you know your financial advice is suitable?
by Tony Vidler        Knowing that your financial advice is suitable for a client is something that every professional adviser is willing to attest to, but proving it when challenged can be incredibly dificult. Advisers are increasingly being challenged and therefore seeking assurance that their practices are robust and will withstand such scrutiny.  Whether that scrutiny […]
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5 Things You Need To Do Before Buying A Practice
by Tony Vidler        For many advisers buying another practice or book of clients will be a serious growth strategy to be considered.  It is a primary strategy for attaining scale and a viable (and relatively predictable) revenue stream quickly.  However buying another advisers practice is usually a much more complex matter today than it was […]
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Pro Bono work: it is still professional advice
by Tony Vidler        Oddly, I was asked whether pro bono work is still considered professional advice, implying immediately that it carried some lesser responsibility on the part of an adviser simply because they were not earning revneue from it. Why would pro bono clients deserve any lesser standards of ethical behaviour, professional competency or […]
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Building Your Reputation: Talk About The Elephants In The Room
by Tony Vidler        When Accountants struggle to be highly trusted then financial advisers are going to have a real battle doing so.  If the Accountants only get rated as “Highly trusted”  in professional ethics and honesty by less than half the population then what chance that an Insurance Broker will rank higher in the […]
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Imagine if we REALLY were 100% honest with clients
by Tony Vidler        We are expected to be 100% honest with clients, and total honesty with clients is a wonderful concept but 100% honesty in all things with our clients would kill the relationships and kill the industry. Don’t get me wrong: I believe in full transparency and ensuring consumers get all the information […]
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How to create a MORE effective client report
by Tony Vidler        The typical financial planning report or statement of advice produced for clients is ineffective.  An effective report gets the key points across as quickly and as simply as possible, so that the reader understands them, and is then able to make decisions relatively quickly and easily.  It will engage, motivate and rapidly […]
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