Behind the scenes: Open Day for IFAs at Informed Choice

Spurred by criticism of its pro-RDR mantra, Surrey-based adviser firm Informed Choice invited advisers to spend the day with the company to learn how it operates. MD Martin Bamford outlines how the day went...

Last Friday was the first in a series of open days where we invite other IFAs to spend the day with us and learn about every aspect of how we do business.

This came about as a result of some recent criticism from our peers, in light of our supportive stance of the RDR. Some implied we had some kind of hidden agenda, which was both hurtful and untrue.

By throwing open the office doors to our fellow advisers, we were able to demonstrate we have no ‘hidden agenda’ and we are more than happy to share our business practices.

During the first six-hour session, we managed to cover a lot. It was refreshing to spend time with a group of IFAs and have a candid dialogue throughout the day about various aspects of being in business as a financial adviser in 2010.

After an introduction to the day, we described our ‘D’ Day in 2004. This was the turning point for our business: the time we made the decision to change every aspect of our proposition, pricing and approach to being in business. We didn’t know it then, but the model we selected six years ago turned out to be ‘RDR-ready’ in most respects, putting us in a strong position for the changes that would later be imposed on the rest of the intermediary sector.

We spent some time talking about the four core items that we feel make up the value in an IFA business. These are brand, people, systems and processes, and assets under management.

The next part of the day was spent talking about our proposition to clients and the areas of advice in which we decide to engage. Perhaps as importantly, we talked about those areas of advice where we have made the conscious decision not to operate, and those where we are seeking to outsource to other specialists, so we can ‘stick to our knitting’. All IFAs are, after all, in business and should decide how to deploy their expertise and which clients to work with.

We spent some time talking about our approach to pricing. With so many options for charging for services, even once funded commission is abolished and ‘adviser charging’ is mandated, it was interesting to discover that our guests for the day had already largely embraced a similar way of charging to the one we have used since 2004, with defined charges for advice, implementation and review services, but flexibility about the payment of these charges.

We also discussed marketing, and faced lots of questions about how we manage to remain so prolific with our marketing and communications. This included a demonstration of the technology we use and a brief example of the power of the internet, with a live example of the search engine results for a week old website.

The afternoon included a presentation of our systems and processes, something we have documented within an Operations Manual for our financial planners. This answered a question posed by one of our guests at the start of the day, who was wondering how we managed to control the activities of a diverse group of self-employed financial planners and ensure the consistent delivery of quality advice.

This also led on to a discussion around the structure of our team, with individuals each fulfilling a specialist role in the Finder – Minder – Support structure, so that each person in the business becomes an expert at completing their own process responsibilities, rather than trying to deliver each step in the advice process on their own, with all of the inherent risks to an IFA business this can create.

Most of the feedback from this first open day confirmed that our first group of guests are largely doing things in a very similar way to us, with some differences around the edges and in how they communicate what they do to clients and the outside world. We look forward to welcoming the next group of IFAs into our offices in December.

IFA Reaction

Graham Bowser, director, QS Financial Planning Solutions
“It was interesting because Nick’s business, the type of people he deals with and the type of service he gives, is very similar to ours. You go and see someone who is doing the same thing as you, but in a slightly different way, and you always take something away from it. Their communication is fantastic.

“My experience with PR is the most interesting people to come on the phone are always a million miles away. What they plan to do locally – advertising in the local newspaper and producing glossy brochures – is a great idea and I will absolutely be taking that on.”

Philippa Gee, managing director, Philippa Gee Wealth Management
“I hold Nick and Martin Bamford in the highest regard. You can always learn to adapt and develop your business. It was a comfort more than anything, discovering that we are doing things in the right way. What struck me was their level of honesty and openness, and just how technologically savvy they are. In terms of processes, I would have expected nothing less than to see their systems and processes were really good.”

Alistair Cunningham, director, Wingate Financial Planning
“It was an education for me, not least because as a firm they are good and their processes and procedure are very strong. The key thing that I took away was that there is nothing they are doing that is majorly different to what we are doing. One thing they do that I am not a fan of is having a legion of self-employed advisers, because I would worry about the loose cannons. There are a lot of things they do very similar to us but I feel the way we do our review process is probably stronger.”