In a recent Investor Daily article, BT Financial Group’s Advice General Manager Mark Spiers discussed the service and support they give financial planning businesses to help meet the challenges of a rapidly changing financial advice industry.
He stated that FOFA reforms, meeting high compliance standards, additional Technical Training requirements and the challenge of finding new clients had Advisers concerned that they would not be able to focus on what they saw as the main ingredient in the recipe for success — ‘time with clients’.
‘Future success is all about client-facing time,’ Spiers emphasised.
Spiers highlighted other areas of concern for advisers as:
· growing and managing their business
· increasing business acumen
· becoming better business managers
· recruiting, retaining and rewarding the talent needed to deliver consistent client service
· sustaining and FOFA-proofing their business.
Against this background, it is interesting to compare the feedback Kaplan receives from Financial Advisers regarding our diploma and advanced diploma workplace skills assessments.
In the professional development plans that advisers submit as part of this process, feedback consistently shows they want to increase their expertise in the areas of:
· more ‘soft skills’ topics to enhance the client engagement process
· the skills to build and consolidate their client base
· time management.
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing financial advisers is maximising their ‘client time’. Such situations often call for innovative solutions. We are now seeing financial practice support staff upskilling and completing technical training in order to free up financial advisers to spend more time with clients and work on the business rather than in it.
Taking Small Steps and making time to consider simple changes can have positive and powerful effect on a business. In effect, they are good companions to complement formal, accredited training and should never be downplayed.
www.kaplanprofessional.edu.au
Posted by Vicky Labroski Follow us on Twitter @kpeaustralia
