by Jim Stackpool | Jul 13, 2026 | Activity v Productivity, Benchmarks, Business Performance, Capacity-To-Serve, Competitive pressures, Complexity, Consequences, Goals, growth, Growth Stress, Hiring advisers, Hiring Team Members, Measures of Success, Productivity, stages of growth, Talent
Charmeon runs a $1.8m advice firm. She has just hired another junior adviser. Her plan: hit $3m by 2030. She left a big bank in 2018, starting with no clients. She is excited about her firm’s future. She has a great team, good clients, aligned centres of influence,...
by Jim Stackpool | Mar 2, 2026 | Access Price, Activity v Productivity, Advice Clients, advice skills, adviser fees, Business Performance, Business Planning, Certainty Advice, Client Care, Client Meetings, Consequences, Consultative Approach, Delivering Value, Meetings, Mindsets, Quality Advice, strategy, Success Stories, Successful On Purpose, Transformations, Trust Skilling, valuable advice, Valuable Lessons, value, Wealth Management
The principals at one of our comprehensive advice firms based in Redcliffe had a problem. They were charging $15,000 for new clients. Their four associate advisers were signing new clients closer to $6,000-$8,000 for their new clients. Clients would ask: “Will I...
by Jim Stackpool | Feb 23, 2026 | Access Price, Activity v Productivity, Capacity-To-Serve, Career Management, LIfe Choices, Success Stories, Valuable Lessons
Meg runs a boutique advice firm on the NSW South Coast. Late forties. Divorced. Twin teenage daughters, both talented triathletes and keen surf club competitors. She is independent-minded. Self-licensed. Fitness fanatic herself – former junior gymkhana champion,...
by Jim Stackpool | Jan 5, 2026 | Activity v Productivity, best practice, Business Performance, Client Care, Delivering Value, dependency, growth, Priorities, Success Stories, Transformative Advice, valuable advice, Valuable Lessons, value, Wealth Management
Reine Clemow runs a comprehensive advice firm in Southport. His average client fee used to be $2,400. Today it’s $12,000. New clients average $20,000. He hasn’t significantly changed his ideal client profile. And he hasn’t attended a new-client meeting in...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 19, 2024 | Activity v Productivity, Advice Clients, Advice Clients, Advice Conversations, Advice is not a Product, Certainty Advice, Client Offerings, Future of Financial Advice, Leadership, stages of growth, Successful On Purpose, Value Proposition
I’m a COBOL programmer. We moved out of our family home of 32 years last weekend, and I found an old coding template with a few punch cards that I have kept since the late 1970s. I didn’t think I was a hoarder (maybe?). It took me back to when the talent...
by Jim Stackpool | May 16, 2024 | Activity v Productivity, Advice Pods, advice skills, best practice, Client Meetings, Collaboration, Meetings, Transformative Advice, Value Proposition
4:52 pm March 23rd, 1995, will be special until my last breath. I had never been so elated before this moment. It was the birth of our first baby – Bec. At least half an hour later, as emotions settled, I wondered what had happened to our obstetrician. Nice guy,...
