by Hayley Hoile | Jul 7, 2026 | Leadership, Value Proposition
Simon and Ben merged their advice firms eighteen months ago. The first twelve months were much harder than expected. Two reasons. Firstly, they predictably underestimated the HR effort. The new merged group has eight people locally with two international team members...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 29, 2026 | Client Offerings, Leadership, Pricing Advice, Value Proposition
Two directors in a Toowoomba advice firm are having hard conversations. Their long-term clients, some going back fifteen, twenty years, are being told that access to them today costs more than it did last year. Most are paying the increase. Two other directors in the...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 21, 2026 | Advice Clients, Advice is not a Product, Certainty Advice, client conversations, Client Offerings, cost to serve, Cost-To-Serve, Delivering Value, Fee For Service, Pricing Advice, Value Proposition
What do advice teams do for a $20,000 fee? The $20,000 figure is less significant than its relativity. That is, adviser’s whose common new fee is, say, $6,000, are wondering what are other advice teams doing for $20,000. If the fees are determined by amount of...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 15, 2026 | Advice Clients, Advice Conversations, Advice is not a Product, best practice, Case Studies, Client Care, client conversations, Client Offerings, Consultative Approach, Mindsets, Pricing Advice
It was a well-meaning and not uncommon introduction. A very good long-standing client, a couple who had successfully built a number of businesses, asked if their daughter, Jess, could come in for “a one-on-one chat.” They said that at 34, Jess was thinking about a...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 9, 2026 | Business Performance, Client Offerings, Competitive pressures, Cost-To-Serve, Fee For Service, Financial Complexity, Future of Financial Advice, Pricing Advice, Profitability
Australians are anxious. NAB’s Consumer Stress Index recently hit its highest level since 2014, driven by what most of us already knew – that the cost of groceries, fuel, utilities, rent, and mortgages is grinding people down. Despite so much to be...
by Jim Stackpool | Jun 1, 2026 | Business Performance, Consultative Approach, Leadership, Pricing Advice, Value Proposition
Many senior advisers at advice firms cling to a quiet but often false assumption. They usually don’t say it out loud. It’s a very influential assumption. Particularly in client meetings, discussing workflows, and when making hiring decisions. The assumption is this:...
by Jim Stackpool | May 25, 2026 | Best Interests, best practice, Business Performance, Capacity-To-Serve, Growth Stress, Hiring Team Members
Nathan’s spreadsheet looked perfect. His cost-to-serve model showed a team of six costing $520,000, generating $1.4 million in revenue, with a margin on every client segment. On paper, the firm was thriving. Day-to-day, however, Nathan was drowning. His two...
by Jim Stackpool | May 19, 2026 | Client Offerings, Leadership, Mindsets, Pricing Advice
Grant didn’t set out to build a big firm. Twenty-three years ago, his plan was simple. Help people who need it. Be the financial expert his clients could rely on. That’s all he focused on. Success, reputation and returns would follow. He never used words like...
by Jim Stackpool | May 11, 2026 | Advice Clients, Advice Conversations, advice skills, best practice, Certainty Advice, client conversations, Client Meetings, Complexity, Consultative Approach, Delivering Value, Meetings, Quality Advice, skills, valuable advice, Valuable Lessons, value, Value of Advice
“We just want flexibility.” “We’d like some options.” “We haven’t really thought about the details yet.” Advice teams have heard versions of these responses from hundreds of clients, probably hundreds of times. And if you’re like most advice teams, you’ve accepted...
by Jim Stackpool | May 4, 2026 | Advice Clients, Advice Conversations, Advice Products, adviser fees, Best Interests, best practice, client conversations, Client Meetings, Client Offerings, Consultative Approach, Profitability, Quality Advice, Separation of advice from product, Serve the Greater Good, value, Value Proposition
“WHAT DO I GET FOR THAT?” Five words. Every adviser has heard them. A prospect sits across from you. You’ve had a good conversation. You’ve built rapport. You’ve quoted your fee. And then it comes. “Sounds OK. But what do I actually...
