One aspect about my job I enjoy are the regular requests each day to catch up (and I send a few myself too…) for a coffee.
There are several motives behind each request to catch up but by far the most common from advisers running advisory firms is something like:
- I’m currently generating revenues of $x (usually between $500,000 and $1,000,000);
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I’m looking to confirm direction of my business/understand better ways to engage current and new clients/price my advice properly not only up-front but particularly on-going to maintain on-going revenue streams;
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I’m running approximately 200 active advice clients and a few corporate super funds and a number (say, between 300-1000) not-so-active clients;
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I’ve tried implementing some changes in the past with some success but fell short of what I hoped;
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I just want more certainty in my business that generates a secure on-going revenue stream with robust business processes and a regular flow of good referrals from clients and professional alliances.
Obviously there are variations on these themes.
By the time we’ve both drained our coffees (I can’t do two at once anymore), we usually end up talking about:
- the opportunities in the market for selling off the ‘not-so-active’ client base to an institution (who are still paying above market values in my opinion) or a new start-up via good brokers like Steve Prendeville or Charlie Haynes;
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what exactly is the proposition they want to be known and paid for each and every year with their clients (check out Simon Sinek’s)
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who, among their current clients, best represents their future ideal advice clients; and
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what’s the end game for them in what timeframes – why are they going to put in the hard work to make these changes and why haven’t they worked to date.
I guess that 50% of the coffee meetings are just to confirm thoughts already held but seeking confirmation, 25% are for people genuinely seeking the guidance, and 25% I leave wondering why they wanted to get together.
I’m off to another one just after I post this post…