Financial Planners committed to running a successful business over the next decade have to look at the bigger picture and their offering to clients, says Ian Sweet of Guardian Wealth Management.

As Financial Planners we are all focused on taking a holistic approach for clients, looking at their end goals and lifestyle ambitions and creating effective strategies to help deliver them. That holistic view should also be applied to our own businesses.

For some companies remaining highly specialised may remain a valid proposition but for the majority of Financial Planners having an eye to providing as full a service as possible to clients, in effect becoming a one-stop- shop (as clichéd as that may sound) has to be on our agendas, in particular as competition in the financial advice arena looks set to become ever more intense over the next few years.

Utilising online capabilities

The internet provides a fast, easy to access and interactive means to expand the services you offer without necessarily having to offer face-to-face advice.

While this may seem to go against the grain for some businesses, there are several straightforward services that can be offered online that can increase the value of a firm’s overall service to its clients. Creating a link to third party offerings is a first step.

As an international Financial Planning firm primarily catering for expats and overseas workers with the need to service our clients where ever in the world they may be, that is on a 24-hour basis, a business imperative for us has been to develop our internet presence and online capabilities.

Creating links through our website to third party services has been one way to add value to our own offering. We now offer links to insurance products and services provided by reputable companies that our clients can access quickly and easily at any hour of the day. These links to services run by carefully selected partners in their field, deliver greater value for the client and through commercial arrangements can bring in additional revenue for the business.

The same type of service can be established for professional connections, such as legal and accountancy services. We all know that referrals from like- minded professionals in the legal and accountancy professions can be a very valuable business generator for a Financial Planning business. Extending that idea to an online facility for clients is a simple way but effective way of again adding value to what you provide to your clients.

Simple steps to partner selection

There are various steps that Financial Planning firms may take when establishing an agreement with a preferred legal partner, for instance, that can help mitigate against such eventualities. The legal market is large and complex and made up of firms of all sizes. Therefore, thorough due diligence is essential. As a starting point, the breadth and depth of the services the firms provide and where stated, the kind of clients they are serving currently will give you a quick insight into their suitability. For us, for example, the ability to offer a 24/7 legal helpline for our internationally-located clients was a primary requirement.

As well as ensuring the firm can deliver what your clients actually want in the way that they want it, it is equally important that the firm has a similar ethos and culture to your own company. It is vital that you have the right level of confidence and trust in their service before rolling it out to clients.

Another factor is personalities. To make the partnership work well, there have to be like-minded people on both sides of the table with similar business plans so that you are capable of achieving the required synergy.

Legal agreements are obviously important, in particular as any service offered through the third party firm linked to your website reflects on your business. For us this was particularly important as expats network and otherwise keep in touch via the internet. Incidence of bad service, therefore, is soon spread through the expat community. You should also be ready for the fact that any third party will want to conduct their own thorough due diligence on your own firm.

Having gone through these processes price becomes the next factor. This will be a chargeable service and clients will perceive it of little value, for example, if you use a high charging legal firm they cannot afford. The balance is to obtain value for money. Understand too that law firms work to Law Society rules just as financial advisers abide by FSA rules.

Having a clear agreement that states the degree and responsibility for the legal advice and the financial advice can avoid problems later. There is always a risk to using or recommending third party services to your own clients. But if sufficient research is undertaken at the outset to ensure it is a service your clients will want, and proper due diligence is carried out including the less tangible personality-based elements, those risks can be mitigated.

Financial Planners deliver tremendous value to clients but by thinking big picture they can deliver more. Long term business relationships with preferred partners can deliver considerable benefit to your business in terms of brand, reputation and value to the client.