Your'e the expert but your client comes first...
What establishes you as a true professional, rather than one of those silver-tongued mis-sellers that have unfortunately tainted the legacy of our industry?
On a simplistic level we can define professionalism in terms of qualifications, board assessments, compliance, and the like. But in business today, it is so much more than that. Professionalism manifests in customer experience, receiving value for money, and building trust and lasting relationships.
Faultless expertise
To become a professional requires more than simply increasing your qualifications. It is theability to apply that knowledge, to objectively assess a client's financial needs and to impartially advise on solutions that will address any shortcomings from that analysis. This expertise must be consistently faultless in client circumstances of varying complexity
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It demands a career-long commitment to continuing professional development, to staying current on technical matters, on product developments, on the law, the economy and investment trends, among others.
Professional company
It also requires you to keep good professional company – to align yourself with suppliers that offer resources to support
the development of your expertise and your client relationships - through access tocomprehensive training, to technological solutions, and where necessary, to advanced consultancy services.
To this end, you need a service provider that takes a holistic view of the entire adviser lifecycle. In driving professionalism, such a service provider should target its initiatives towards improving customer relations, providing value for money and ensuring that you have access to all necessary resources. This encompasses all types of skills training in respect of both technical and behavioural aspects of the industry, with emphasis on understanding customers and building lasting relationships.
Raising the bar
Professionalism also extends beyond the personal development of the adviser, and requires a focus on areas such as Customer Relationship Management, the advisory process,business technological efficiencies and appropriate Management Information.
Does this imply a constant raising of the qualifying bar for both existing advisers and new entrants? To a certain extent, probably –and hopefully - yes. That is how professions raise their standards, and establish the virtuous upward spiral of quality, reward and recruitment.
Do you measure up?
How "professional" is your advice? Is your focus on the sale, or on the client? Here are a few questions you could ask yourself:
* Is your advice or recommendation ever influenced by your best interests, rather than your client's? (PS "I try to achieve a balance" is not the right answer…)
* Have you ever sold a product for which you were not qualified or accredited?
* Have you made a sale by telling a client what he wants to hear? Conversely, have you knowingly lost a sale through telling a client what he needs to hear?
* What would you do if an analysis of your client's financial needs indicated no obvious shortcomings?
* Do you mentally calculate your commission before presenting your recommendations?
* Do you relax any of these standards when the economic cycle turns down, and closing sales becomes more difficult?
Bold changes
The key to entrenching professionalism will not be in increased regulation and oversight – though this is coming anyway. It is in the peer pressure and commitment of good financial advisers to jealously defend their elevated status as their clients' most trusted and invaluable counsellor.
The change towards professionalism is a process. It takes great courage to make such a bold change. It is extremely encouraging that advisers have shown a strong desire to leap into the future that awaits them.
