Financial Advice Archives

Crisis Communications: Sending Virtual Hugs

by Tony Vidler ok…maybe it isn’t appropriate for professionals to actually send virtual hug memes. But then, maybe it is. It all depends on the relationship you have with the client doesn’t it? For some it might indeed be right….but that isn’t really the point of this article. It is the concept of “sending virtual […]

The Essential Soft Skills Needed To Influence

by Tony Vidler To influence others requires softs skills rather than hard core sales skills and techniques. The financial adviser is supposed to be an influencer…our role is to influence others to make better decisions than they would otherwise have made. In order to become a more effective adviser the ongoing development of the […]

How to validate your preferred solutions

by Tony Vidler Most experienced advisers have preferred solutions that they go to first. But the variety of preferred solutions from those very good advisers often concerns regulators and industry observers…and that’s usually because there is a process lacking for validating those preferences. Everyday the situation arises where one adviser recommends Company A as a […]

Change Is The New Normal For Financial Advice Businesses

by Tony Vidler Financial advice is not going through some changes; constant change is the new normal. Whatever regulatory stuff you are going through now in your particular jurisdiction will not be an end to it. It will be ongoing. More importantly though, compliance and regulation are not the important constant challenge for financial advice […]

If you want people buying your advice, then dumb it down!

by Tony Vidler When it comes to getting people buying your advice one of the best tips I can give is “dumb it down- but don’t treat them like dummies“. There is a big difference between “dumbing it down” and treating people as if they are dumb. The first is about simplifying the message in […]

Why we get fee resistance

by Tony Vidler Whether we like it or not there is always the possibility of fee resistance in delivering financial advice, and how we present our service is a large part of that problem. Price is always a problem in the absence of obvious value. It doesn’t have to be…we just need to think through […]

Is Insurance Churn Really The Issue We Think It is?

by Tony Vidler Any time an insurance product is replaced by an adviser with an alternative one someone complains about “insurance churn” or the “twisting of policies” and the immediate inference is that something unethical just occurred. Sometimes that is true of course, and there are undoubtedly bottom feeders in the industry who survive by […]

The Top Challenge In Shifting From Product Sales To Advice Delivery

by Tony Vidler Lots of financial advisers are still figuring out how to get paid for advice delivery, not just implementation of product solutions. Now, the simplistic answer is of course: “easy…just position for it and tell clients that’s how you work now.” That answer really is glib though and doesn’t touch upon the […]

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 […]

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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