Financial planners contemplating a move from adviser to manager should develop fail-safe business strategies before making the leap, according to Heraud and Harrison director, Ian Heraud.
Heraud, the newly elected Financial Planning Association (FPA) principal representative, says advisers really need to put the client first, and be prepared to offer a quality service as a manager.
Speaking at this year’s FPA convention on making the transition from a one man band to a highly profitable medium size practice, Heraud will offer an indepth account of current business issues that face a new financial planning manager.
Heraud made the leap himself more than five years ago in moving his own practice from what was a one man business to a company with 16 employees.
“I’m going to talk about the move from planner to manager in the content of current issues. But I’m going to be interspersing this discussion with a description of how we do business,” he says.
“Its really going to be a no secrets description of the way we deal with clients, as
well as adding a smattering of what our philosophy is of doing business.”
Without giving too much away, Heraud says the nature of business philosophy has changed for many advisers.
According to Heraud, the number of advisers who originally focused on selling products rather than thinking of their clients has dropped. He says the veteran advisers who started out as insurance salesmen and then took their philosophies into financial planning have either moved on or have retired.
For an adviser to become a good manager, Heraud says they need to be prepared to confront their short comings. He says advisers need to seek external help to deal with these, suggesting business coaches, external directors on the adviser’s own board or part time management consultants might help.
Heraud says as much as looking after the client’s needs, an adviser should also pay attention to his/her staff members. He says advisers should never assume that simply paying staff more money will solve any problems.
Ian Herraud will present his views on the shift from planner to manager at 10:30am on Friday.
