The Encore Group developing client engagement tools

The Encore Group is developing a desktop solution that aims to assist financial advisers transitioning to fee-for-service who are concerned about having the ‘value of advice’ conversation with their clients.

The practice management consultancy worked with a number of financial planning groups that were transitioning to fee-for-service, and Encore managing director Graham Peatey said part of the challenge was “breaking the shackles” of the old ‘set-and-forget’ strategy.

Through his work with financial planning groups, Peatey said it was refreshing to see a “whole new breed of adviser coming in”. However, one of the main issues that kept coming up was how advisers could articulate the value they presented to the client, he added.

“One of the biggest challenges is how you actually have those conversations with your clients,” he said

“Actually how you engage those clients and articulate your value to those clients — beyond how you build and price the service packages — is of most concern.”

Peatey said based on this feedback from advisers, The Encore Group was set to launch a new company called the Black Box Factory, which he said would develop the financial adviser’s “desktop of the future”.

“It’s not going head-to-head with COIN or Xplan or anything like that,” Peatey explained. “It’s just looking at engagement tools for clients.”

He said the company would look to partner with other software developers to create a desktop toolkit that would enable a more “collaborative” approach to the client’s total circumstances. He added that the software would enable the adviser to map out the client’s life and store documentation online, which would enable them to add value to the client aside from providing financial advice.

“This is all about how do you run the business better, how do you engage the clients better and how do you provide value to client,” said Peatey.

Advice groups should also think about what younger advisers wanted, and what their younger clients were looking to get out of the adviser/client relationship, Peatey added.

“Are advisers thinking about what Gen X and Gen Y want, because the way that financial services are being delivered may be different than it has been in the old way,” he said. “My view is that fully integrated, finger-tip stuff that makes them feel that they are in control of their life and know that their adviser is providing them with what they need is different to the old days of wanting a product and them ‘set-me-and-forget-me’.”