Advisers should ensure they are never at the mercy of the Government as to how they are paid for the advice they provide, according to leading Queensland adviser, Mark Westcott.
Mr Westcott has developed a remuneration strategy for his advice practice where he maintains he is always in control of how he is paid for the services he provides. According to Mr Westcott, his strategy is more accurately described as being based on a ‘fee for process’, rather than on a fee for service.
Having built a successful practice around this strategy, Mr Westcott has recently launched a services firm, ClearFlyte, that delivers ‘capability tools’ to advisers to assist them deliver upfront fee programs to their clients.
Clients like to know they are part of a process
“Clients like to know they are part of a process,” said Mr Westcott, who suggested his fee for process approach can be likened to other services (eg visiting a health retreat) where a consumer expects certain outcomes if they become part of a process, follow the procedures and emerge with planned outcomes at the completion of that process.
Mr Westcott told riskinfo he developed his unique approach seven years ago in anticipation of the possible phasing out of commissions, but also because he believes his fee for process strategy has a more direct relationship with the initial and ongoing services he provides.
“Advisers should only be charging a fee where they are adding value for their clients,” said Mr Westcott, adding that sometimes this may not be the case, where the level of renewal commissions received by some advisers does not reflect the level of value-added service they actually deliver.
An advocate of specialising in specific market segments, Mr Westcott also emphasises the importance advisers should place on asking themselves who their clients should be. Among other attributes, Mr Westcott says advisers should only deal with clients with whom they can form a mutual connection and for whom they can genuinely add value.
Mr Westcott is currently running a series of information sessions in the eastern states to outline his proposition to interested advisers. Click here for details of session dates in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
