best practice advice Archives - Page 5 of 8

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Bring Back The Long Lunch…it will be good for your business!

by Tony Vidler Tom Peters suggested many years ago that one of the most effective marketing activities a professional could engage in were weekday lunches. 250 of them in fact over the course of the year. That is perhaps a bit excessive in today’s environment (and for ageing waistlines), but the concept […]

How to introduce a “Guarantee” into your fees

by Tony Vidler It has been proven repeatedly that providing a guarantee in your fees for prospective clients certainly helps them decide to engage – and it is not a difficult thing to do, even though “guarantee” is a dangerous word for financial advisers. Financial advice fees can seem to be enormously expensive […]

Use Visual Aids To Create Better Advice Engagement

by Tony Vidler Advisers try to create simplicity from complexity, and the most effective way of doing that is to use visual aids. They create quicker understanding and better engagement simply because most people find it easier to comprehend new or difficult information when it is presented visually. We all know from personal […]

How does culture create lasting success?

by Tony Vidler If you doubt that culture can create lasting success, then consider this: Imagine a sports team (or club if you prefer) that competed continuously for well over 100 years and during that time had a winning record against all comers of over 83%? The best that every nation on earth can […]

How To Deliver The “Right Advice” In The “Right” Way

by Tony Vidler Delivering the right advice consists of getting 2 things right: delivering advice that will work for the client, and delivering it in a manner which will result in the client taking action upon the advice. Getting both of those right is no simple thing. The first of them is […]

Beware of…well…just beware when giving advice!

by Tony Vidler Times have never been more dangerous for giving advice..and it is a time for financial advisers themselves to beware of consumers. Well, perhaps not consumers per se, but certainly all the interested parties who say they represent consumers interests. It is not just the increasing oversight from regulators and professional scrutiny from […]

The Myth Of Independent Advice

by Tony Vidler The search for “independent” advice is rather like the Quest for the Holy Grail. It doesn’t exist. The search is fruitless and doomed because there is no Holy Grail. Independent advice simply does not exist. The argument for those wanting to say they are independent (or being allowed to by regulators) […]

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