Growing Your Business

Client and Introducer referrals
High quality Introducer and client referrals are what every Business desires - getting them is another thing.

• How do you ensure both Introducers and clients know which type of client you are looking for?
• Could you be confident that when asked an Introducer or client could articulate your “Client Value Proposition”?
• Do you have a structured approach to asking for referrals?
• Do you convert all your referrals into clients?

The most successful Businesses achieve growth by referrals, being sure that they are the right referral takes structured and consistent practises.
We can assist you in building a structured referral process supported by Presentations, documentation and great literature.

Strategic Partnerships
The purpose of a strategic partnership is to build a business relationship that is mutually beneficial and has the client’s best interests at heart.
Building an alliance with the right partner is a demanding task and generally takes several months (in some cases years) to establish.
The most common alliances Financial Advisers have are with accounting firms, which is probably due to the synergies between the two industries. Strategic alliances, however, should not be limited to businesses in the accounting field – opportunities also exist with:

• Estate Agents
• Solicitors/Legal Firms
• General Insurance brokers
• Investment Managers

One of the greatest challenges for Financial Advisers establishing a strategic partnership is in educating the partner to understand the value they provide to clients.
The proposed relationship should be taken seriously by both parties. Agreement should not be entered into lightly. Getting it right may have the greatest effect on the growth of your business, but getting it wrong may mean starting the search for another strategic partner and you may have taken on many clients who do not fit your “ideal” client requirement.

We have worked with businesses where almost all their client referrals have come from strategic partners over many years. However, there has been no real understanding of the Financial Advisers “ideal” client or the services they offer, nor has the Financial Adviser taken any steps to rectify this situation. So they have ended up with a completely “reactive” business with far too many clients and of the wrong type!

We are able to assist you in identifying the right type of strategic partners, build the necessary presentations/documents to ensure not only can agreements be made in much shorter timescales but also the new Strategic Partner (and existing) understand how you deliver “value” to your clients and which type of client should be referred to you. Also a review process should be in place to ensure that the relationship with the strategic partner remains fresh and up to date.

Acquisition & Merger
There is currently a great deal of Acquisition and Merger activity within the UK Financial Services Industry. It does seem that a week doesn’t go by without the news that an IFA business has either been sold or that someone is looking to buy.

Whatever the reason for Acquisition or Merger what we are sure about is that with forthcoming changes such as the “Retail Distribution Review” many Business Owners have decided this either is the time to grow their Business, merge into a bigger business or indeed for many heading towards their retirement years, time to sell.

We also know there are currently a number of formulas used in the valuation of Businesses – Turnover, profit, recurring income, Funds under Management and Structure.

When looking to purchase or merge with another Business it is essential to have an in-depth understanding of the structure and operations of that business as well as the Financials to really understand the true value and future potential.

If selling your Business it is of course essential to get the best possible valuation and we have considerable experience in assisting Businesses in preparing to sell for the best possible price.

We have a robust “Due diligence” process which helps to understand in depth how a business operates, its future potential and of course its real value.
Having spent so many years building value into your Business you deserve to get the best possible return!