Our expert this week wrote a very interesting thought piece on using the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation to grow a business with scale. It is actually an interesting way for a lawyer to look at legislation, and one we can all learn lessons from. After all, we all know of the complaints, costs and burdens associated with FOFA. Plus if the recent media attention on life insurance results in a Royal Commission being opened up, there are bound to be many more changes made within the industry.
Probably the most interesting aspect of putting new legislation into practice is the opportunity to redefine how your practice works. We work with many dealer groups to help educate their wealth adviser networks, and all of them have told us that the change itself is painful, but the outcome has been worth it.
It is early days to see who the big winners will be in the new environment. I suspect those who harness technology, employ a younger, savvier workforce, and have a mindset on growing a business of the future will ultimately prove to be very successful and profitable practices.
Through our many conversations with advisers we have learned three ways to use a change like FOFA to grow a business.
1 – Make yourself redundant.
Not literally of course – but in the sense that all the advice and the client relationships should not rely on you. If you have a business that can’t rely on anyone BUT yourself, then you either have the wrong staff, or inefficient procedures in place.
2 – Make it your business to know the rules
To play any game well, you need to know the rules. FOFA and other regulative changes are no different. If you don’t know where the lines are drawn, you can’t tell when you are crossing them.
3 – Test your new processes before launching them to your entire client base
Give yourself more time than you would like to run internal tests on the processes and involve outside ‘friendlies’ to make sure your new structures and approaches work.
It’s been said that nothing worthwhile is easy. This is especially so in business. So keep looking for the opportunity, and most importantly, keep moving forward.
