Each month Financial Planner will be interviewing a leading planner to ask him or her to share best practice from their business. This month we talk to Ben Westaway CFP^CM of Jessop Financial Planning in Sheffield.

Financial Planner: You previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers - what inspired you to make the switch to Financial Planning and establish your own business?

Ben Westaway: Working at PwC and qualifying as a chartered accountant was really beneficial in that it provided great training and allowed me to make valuable friends and contacts. Following qualification in 2003, I felt that working in a very large organisation was not for me and I also wanted to work in a more creative environment than auditing large companies offered. I learned about the power of Financial Planning and the value it would provide during my time at Asquith & Partners (now Fleming Family & Partners Wealth Planning) working with Richard Bertin. After attending George Kinder’s two-day workshop in 2009, my wife Julia and I decided it would be an eternal source of regret not to take on the challenge of creating our own business and to return to the North.

FP: How have you found setting up your own business, especially in such harsh economic times and so close to the RDR deadline?

BW: There has been the odd sleepless night with lots of work to do. We are fortunately now at a level when the recurring revenue means that our next goal becomes whether and how to expand the firm. We have found the process exciting and rewarding and we think that it will continue to be so. We haven’t found the current state of the economy to be a barrier to us. People still need to build and implement financial plans when times are bad just as much as they do when times are good.

FP: Are you ready for the RDR?

BW: Yes – we are ready. I’m a Chartered and Certified Financial Planner^CM professional and have obtained a Statement of Professional Standing. We offer a defined service for our fees, which are completely transparent. For us RDR is not a problem, as we have no legacy issues.

FP: How have you found working for yourself as opposed to as part of a firm? What are the positives/negatives?

BW: The birth of the business was a very important event in our lives. The lack of security during the initial phase of establishing the company was difficult, but overall creating the business from a clean slate has been a liberating and exciting experience.

FP: How has your company changed since the launch and what has the journey been like? How many clients do you have and what’s the annual turnover?

BW: My wife Julia (Jessop’s operations director, who makes sure things run smoothly) and I continue to run the business by ourselves. We currently look after 12 families and run assets of £6m. We estimate that our turnover in 2012 will be around £75,000, and we aim to increase assets under management to around £8.5m.

FP: What type of Financial Planning do you offer to clients and what are your fees and charges?

BW: We only offer comprehensive Financial Planning to our clients. Each client receives their individual ‘Masterplan’ which is updated at least annually. Ideally, we take on the investment management of client portfolios that are managed using passive funds. We do not carry out transactional business. Our ongoing charge is one per cent of the assets managed. This tapers down for larger portfolios.

FP: What sort of clients do you target and what type of service do they get? How do you differentiate your service from other companies?

BW: We don’t have a ‘typical’ Jessop client. It is important for us that our client criteria are met when seeking new clients, and that there is recognition that we are about to embark on a relationship that we hope will last not just years but decades. Because of the potential length of the relationship, it is imperative that we feel comfortable personally with our clients.

Our service is defined in our client service charter and clients receive this service. We don’t differentiate between levels of service – we think it’s an unnecessary complication. To be honest, we don’t know what other companies’ service packages look like. As long as we are providing a service to our clients that they value and appreciate and which we can prove is valuable to them, we don’t worry about other companies.

FP: How do you find new clients and what have been some of your best practices in terms of sourcing new clients? Please give examples of what works most effectively?

BW: We have gained a number of clients following referrals from existing clients, as well as contacts made from university and PwC. Referrals are a lovely compliment and are great because they already know broadly what we do and are therefore receptive to the services that we offer. We’re especially keen to work with more clients in the Sheffield area and have engaged a PR company to raise our profile, which is beginning to bear fruit.

FP: What makes Jessop Financial Planning different to other Financial Planning firms?

BW: We think that our background working in a professional firm like PwC (as well as being a CFPCM professional and a Chartered Financial Planner) means that our credibility and competence is immediately established when dealing with potential new clients. We also make it very clear to clients that our own personal pensions and investments are managed according to exactly the same philosophy that we recommend to them and we use ourselves. We think that putting our money where our mouth is and being able to prove it to clients is important and helps to give them confidence in what we do.

FP: In terms of running your business, what software applications do you use (particularly in reference to Financial Planning and back office software) and what sort of internal processes do you run to ensure everything runs smoothly? Do you have a weekly practice meeting, for example?

BW: We use Voyant for our cashflow planning. We have found the Voyant team to be very responsive to queries and to changes in legislation. At the moment we do not use back office software. Given the size of the business at present, we feel that it can be run using our own internal processes and checklists. We conduct a weekly meeting where we agree on the tasks for the week and assess the delivery of client work against our internal timescales.

FP: What has been your greatest source of achievement in running your business and what are you proudest of? What tips or advice would you share with others looking to set up their own firm?

BW: Once we passed £4m of assets under management, we knew that the business was viable. That was a great day. The thing that always gives me a great buzz is the moment when we can tell our clients “It’s ok – you don’t have to worry about the future – you have enough money.” To someone starting their own firm, we’d say make sure that you reserve enough personal capital to ensure you can live for a couple of years without taking an income from the business. We’d also say, do not underestimate the amount of time it takes to define the service that you deliver to clients and to document the internal business processes.

FP: Many Financial Planners are concerned about the rising cost of regulation and other threats to their businesses. What do you see as the main threats to your business?

BW: Well, the operations director (my wife) will be going on maternity leave at the end of March! We think that the greatest risk is that we grow too fast which might lead to a deterioration of the service that we have committed to provide to clients. We will need to manage growth and recruitment carefully.

FP: What is your opinion on the IFP’s Accredited Financial Planning FirmsTM register and is this something you would consider in the future?

BW: We will be submitting our application shortly. We would like to be recognised as one of the top Financial Planning firms in the country, but we also feel that it is important that the IFP maintains its promotion of Financial Planning on a wider basis as well as promoting those firms on the register. We are sure that will happen.

FP: If you could change anything about the Financial Planning profession what would you choose to do?

BW: The fact that not many people really know what Financial Planning is and the value that it provides to people, not just in monetary terms, but in the peace of mind that people gain from the process.

FP: On a lighter note, do you ever get consumers confusing you with Jessops, the camera people?

BW: It’s less selling cameras and more delivering babies that people ask us about! The maternity hospital in Sheffield is called the Jessop Hospital and we often get asked whether there is a connection with us as Jessop Financial Planning. There isn’t – but the company was named after my maternal grandfather, Duncan Jessop, who would have been 100 this year.