Dealer group, Securitor, has launched a report to its advisers that allows them to benchmark their activities and processes against best practice within the financial advice industry, including processes that will increase profitability.
The report, Future Ready IV, was released by Securitor in partnership with practice management group, Business Health.
The report has drawn on the results from over 500 advice firms that have participated in Business Health’s ‘HealthCheck’ analysis over the past 18 months.
Benchmarking yourself against your peers is a very important measure…
In launching the report, Head of Securitor, Neil Younger, said “Benchmarking yourself against your peers is a very important measure and we want to support our advisers with quality data.”
Mr Younger said that in particular, the research highlights the importance and profitability of key focus areas, including the value of:
- Effective business planning
- Segmenting the adviser’s client base
- Seeking external input
Key findings from the Report include:
- Just over half of the principals (58%) now have an external “adviser” to the practice
- A further 15% have an external adviser/coach who they meet with once or twice a year
- Those who met quarterly with an external adviser/coach reported a 94% increase in profit
- 86% of practices reported that they now segment or categorise their client base
- Those that didn’t segment their client base recorded flat profit
- Those that did segment their client base recorded a 127% increase in profit
- Those that conducted ‘effective’ segmentation (segment, differentiated services and reviewed regularly) recorded a 156% increase in profit
Data has also been released that indicates a relationship between the frequency of contact with ‘A’ category clients and profit levels. While each adviser has their own preference in dealing with their ‘A’ clients in terms of quality and quantity, the Report revealed:
- Only 30% of Australian practices stated they had a structured approach to seeking client feedback
- 50% of practices contacted their ‘A’ class clients more than 10 times per year
- Those that contacted ‘A’ class clients less than 5 times per year recorded flat profit
- Practices that contacted ‘A’ class clients between 5-10 times per year recorded a 174 per cent increase in profit
Practices that contacted ‘A’ class clients more than 10 times per year recorded a 287 per cent increase in profit
- Practices that contacted ‘A’ class clients more than 10 times per year recorded a 287 per cent increase in profit
“Already, we have shared the findings across all our dealer group businesses and are using the results to assist everyone to review their business ‘health’,” said Mr Younger, adding:
“In order to get true value from this report we ask our advisers: how does your business stack up right now, and what do your best clients think of you and your business?”
