Travis Martin and Deiter Tode of Wealth Plus Solutions in Perth are not like most advisers.
Like other innovative advisory firms, they have worked hard to build their own ‘next generation’ value proposition, and they express it well: “…through the process we undertake, we truly understand what’s important to our clients and are able to provide substantial value by looking at their entire situation rather than just one or two product areas. Our clients see this value and pay for comprehensive advice.”
Greg Keady, Principal Wealth Adviser from Melbourne Private Wealth, also gives a hint of the fundamental and crucial element of the next generation advice value proposition when he says his value proposition is to “…to help families navigate through life’s financial complexities.”
These and other similar-thinking advisory firms are successfully shifting to what I predict will become the Next Generation Value Proposition for the emerging advice profession – a value proposition that is focused upon overcoming the financial complexities in the lives of their clients.
Good advice firms understand that their clients will only value their advice as a measure of how it helps them overcome their (perceived or real) financial complexities. If the client doesn’t perceive they have any financial complexities (no matter how much their advisers might see it), they won’t pay for or value help to overcome something they don’t believe needs overcoming.
For many advisers this transition from focusing on a client’s money to focusing on a client’s complexities isn’t an easy shift.
Being trained in the technical disciplines of investments, insurance, taxation, finance, structures, law or accounting, their focus and competency have been initially forged on what they do for their advice clients (i.e. “we pick stocks”), rather than on why they perform these functions (i.e. “we get your outcomes”).
This is not to denigrate or devalue a professional’s expertise in their areas of technical skill.
Just the opposite.
This movement from a value proposition that focused on what the firm proposes to do (i.e. tax returns, establish self-managed superannuation funds, sell insurance, establish a will) to a value proposition that focuses on why the firm is proposing to do something (i.e. to not outlive savings, to leave employment to start a new business opportunity, to live comfortably in an uncertain financial world, to provide security for children) is fundamental to expressing the value of services provided in terms the client best understands and can relate to. That is, their desired outcomes.