Steve Holmes
(Feedsy)

I recently asked over 1,000 advisers, “are you OK?”.

We know it has been a really tough time, and even though I did this via an email list, I honestly do care. In that email, I received over 50 responses back advising that “we are OK, thanks”, with many working from home and having virtual meetings.

Advisers are very resilient, but they have had to be, it is just unfortunate that many have left the industry in the last 18 months because we need this profession right now.

Advice is needed in these difficult times and the advisers that have survived the Royal Commission and regulatory change are now imparting their knowledge and care to clients like they always have. I absolutely believe in advice, I have had a Financial Adviser, Accountant, and General Insurance adviser now for many years and I consider them friends. I am in a far better position today because of them.

Right now there is no more important time to communicate to clients, right now clients need their Financial Adviser.

When there is a gap in communication people will fill that gap with misinformation, others will jump in, and we have seen that during this COVID-19 crisis.

A trusted source of regular content from a client’s trusted adviser is so important.

If we asked the question to Advisers right now, “If I could give you back more time, what would you do?”

Most would say to see or talk to more clients so they can help with more advice.

Advisers need to put 100% of their time and efforts into the advice process and servicing their clients, they are the best qualified for this, and it’s what they love to do. The cost of providing advice is blowing out and becoming unaffordable for most, so advisers need to look at ways of making their practice more efficient.

When I started Feedsy with my co-founder Gavin Klose it was all about helping advisers engage more with clients in less time.

When I first started with one of Australia’s largest licensees, Advisers, or Agents back then had admin support, stationery, processing, reception, lodgements all supplied by the licensee. Maybe that’s showing my age, but times have changed, the profession has changed, the regulations have changed and now the world has changed. Once thing is constant, and that’s change.

Pause, reset and outsource.

How could you redeploy the time consuming and often clunky marketing functions and add value to your core business, which is more advice to your clients?

Advisers love spending time with clients and they are very good at it. We believe they should be dedicating 100% of their time with clients and with functions that are part of the advice process and outsource the stuff they don’t 100% understand or don’t want to understand. That’s often the digital stuff and that’s where we come in.

Some tips:

• Digital communication is a must.
• Online face-to-face client and internal meetings with free tools such as Zoom, Google Hangouts and Skype.
• Automate booking online appointments with free tools like Calendly that sync with your calendar
• Regular informative emails and social media posting using automated content and delivery services such as Feedsy.
• The efficiencies of digital communication and running virtual review meetings commencing now will last far beyond COVID-19.
• The current environment makes you think and work differently and many of the changes made could remain for the longer term.
• Email automation to create regularity and consistency is the key, but also have the functionality of a more personalised email update.
• Use more video to introduce your emails and social media messaging, advice is personal, use the digital medium to amplify your message.
• We need to outsource stuff that we don’t 100% understand or want to understand (my business included).