professional services firm Archives

Compliance Can Be Torture For Consumers

by Tony Vidler Compliance has a lot to answer for. Compliance can be torture for consumers, and that is not good for them or the industry. One of the truly negative consequences of evolving best practice advice standards is the trend to torture clients with excessive paperwork. Now torture is a rather harsh word, and […]

Why your FREE service is a barrier to getting the right business

by Tony Vidler Most professionals at some point offer complimentary initial meetings or consultations with clients as a “free service”. It simply isn’t true, and that in itself prevents the right sort of clients coming your way. The fundamental reason why this just doesn’t cut it with consumers is because they don’t believe […]

What you need to know if you buy to grow

by Tony Vidler As many advice businesses reach maturity it is common to consider whether they should “buy to grow”. Should they buy another practice, or more commonly, should just buy a book of business from another practice. The typical reasons suggested for wanting to grow through acquisition are: 1. Get new […]

Innovation, not originality, is the key to better business.

by Tony Vidler Everyone wants to grow their business, and everyone is looking for new ideas to do it. But nearly everyone wants the magical original idea that nobody else has ever thought of before, that will guarantee results quickly. Innovation is by definition original, but originality is not necessarily the same as […]

How To Get Paid For Each Piece Of Advice You Give

by Tony Vidler Here’s a simple strategy for getting paid fairly for the advice you give….and I mean getting paid for ALL the advice you give…every step of the way. There are broadly three possible parts to any client work: 1. Planning 2. Implementing, or “putting in place” any planning recommendations 3. Ongoing […]

Fix the prospecting problem forever

by Tony Vidler You can fix all prospecting problems forever if you generate enough referrals. It is that simple. Get this right, and prospecting problems are non-existent, as the number one source of professional prospecting is going to be “word of mouth” for some time to come. The theory on getting more refrrals […]

Understanding why people buy…anything.

by Tony Vidler When it comes to advising clients to change course or do something new we should remember the reasons why people buy anything, including “advice”. If we want our advice to be effective (and lead the client to do something better than they are currently doing) then it is best to make […]

A 15 Step Plan For Creating Constant Referrals

by Tony Vidler The best way to generate constant referrals is by having “centers of influence” delivering qualified and interested prospects to you regularly. To do this successfully – especially with a number of COI’s – there 15 steps you have to work through. It is a simple idea, and like so […]

Does “Growing” Really Mean “More Clients”?

by Tony Vidler Just about every adviser says they want to be growing their business and need more clients….and they also want fresh ideas; the business satisfaction of solving new problems for new people; they want to do something NEW. So they say they want more clients plus more interesting work plus more […]

Maybe Financial Advisers Could Be Selling Coffee?

by Tony Vidler Do you remember when petrol stations competed on client service? Fundamentally they were all selling the same basic commodity, at about the same price, to anyone who drove up. That included the regulars who lived in the area and who had high lifetime value and the out-of-towners cruising through who just needed […]

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