MLC delivered a high quality series of speakers at its annual Risk Specialist Network retreat last week, which saw excellent presentations from fellow advisers and other speakers with relevant messages.
One of the conference highlights, particularly in terms of advisers taking back new ideas for their own business, saw presentations from three practitioners who have travelled very different paths on their journey to achieving significant success:
Adam van de Water (Principal, Home Ownership Company – SA) shared with advisers how his business has created a customer coaching process, called Money FX, which delivers financial counselling and a money management system that achieves exceptional conversion rates.
Mr van de Water emphasised his practices’ system was a mentoring accountability process, as distinct from simply providing advice. The secret, according to Mr van de Water, is in the client recognising their accountability and the responsibility they have to address their future financial security and that of their family and business.
Troy Edmondson (Business & Estate Planning Specialists – Qld), former AFA Adviser of the Year, described how his business works with accounting firms to develop a steady stream of qualified clients in need of protection advice.
In what has proven a highly successful method in developing productive alliances with accounting firms, Mr Edmondson places the ‘back end’ of the process – Claims, as the key ingredient in helping accountants identify the need within their own client base that must be addressed.
For Mr Edmondson, his practices’ claims management process, both as an alliance system with accountants and with all his clients, is the key to differentiating his business.
Mr Edmondson told advisers he believed one can’t be both a risk specialist as well as a specialist financial planner and that it was important to recognise where the individual adviser should focus his/her efforts.
Paul Rawson (Finance Control – NSW), said his own journey commenced as simply selling products before he developed an understanding of what it takes to deliver quality financial solutions.
Mr Rawson spoke of the need to identify the adviser’s role in the business, what they are good at, what they enjoy, and what constitutes an ideal client (one who adds real value to a practice).
He also emphasised the importance of differentiating between ‘price’ and ‘value’ and said the three top factors or ingredients within a successful practice were:
- Delivering value for money
- Sustainability
- Profitability
Other highlights at the three-day retreat included opportunities for advisers to consider what is meant by ‘leadership behaviours’, definitions of trust, cooperation and commitment and delivery of a selection of wide-ranging topics by other industry specialists.
MLC’s National Manager Protection Advice, Fiona Navarro who has been responsible for developing MLC Risk Specialist Network, said the next twelve months will see the Network focus on key issues including:
- Working hard to position the value of insurance advice within the current regulatory and economic environment
- Highlighting the link between the value of insurance advice and adviser remuneration
