FSC Investment Services Ltd
IFA Frank Cochran who is somewhat of a local celebrity in Wolverhampton thanks to his regular column in the Express and Star and appearances on BBC’s Working Lunch. He has been an Adviser since 1979 and his Business FSC Investment Services, is typical of many advisory firms facing a challenging future. Frank and two other registered individuals handle client work and a further six staff run the office and administrative functions. Burgeoning regulatory requirements and the stock market crash made him re-evaluate the way the company operated. He says: “Looking at the Sandler Report and the FSA view on advice and the push towards fees, it was plain to see the old way was not really working. Dinosaurs end up dying.” Rather than face extinction, Frank decided to reinvent FSC Investment Services. Outsourcing Investment decisions was a obvious decision but much more needed to be done to allow his business to focus on his expertise of providing Financial and Lifestyle Planning, the way in which FSC presented their client value proposition and how this was supported by a structured service and pricing proposition had to be transformed. In October 2004, Steve Champion, Business Consultant, conducted a thorough review of the business. The results were quite revealing. Frank says “It was surprising to find out how much we did without getting paid for it. We were offering a Rolls Royce service for Mini Metro prices, spending 80% of our time on 80% of people who don’t make us money.” Over a period of 18 months Steve Champion helped turn the situation around to the point where FSC Investment Services now spend 80% of its time looking after the fifth of clients who are profitable. Old ways were ripped up, the client base segmented and the new fee structures brought in. Frank says: “For me it became very obvious that this was a chance to increase the value of the company and provide a better service.” Clients are now split into different groups. Those with over £150,000 to invest receive a bespoke service, those with £50,000 upwards an intermediate service and those below are offered transaction only. Frank reckons that his top 100-150 clients are enough to keep company profits growing. The original results of the 2004 Business Health Check completed versus the results of 2007, show dramatic improvement in all key areas of the business, but still with capacity for further improvement. As a consequence Frank has revised his business plan projections for the next three years with much more ambitious but achievable goals. |