Upfront about reviews?

Data published recently by Brett Davidson of FP Advance presents a fairly convincing picture of the value of a documented review process - for the adviser:

What kind of review process?	% of IFA Firms	Profit per Principal
No documented review process	14%	£56,955
Documented review process	86%	£109,024

Clearly, the basis on which we provide our clients with regular reviews is going to vary depending upon our business model (old/transactional or new/planning), or perhaps depending upon our exposure to 'legacy' business and clients where there has been no expectation of a regular review meeting.

Why does a documented review process make so much sense?  Here we provide a few suggestions:

• it puts the IFA where he/she has the maximum economic impact - in front of the client
• it downplays the 'backroom boffin' role which clients generally undervalue
• it rightly acknowledges that a relational business model is the lowest-risk option
• it demonstrates a commitment to the client's personal wealth and interests beyond the first transaction - which within the UK financial services sector is a useful differentiator
• it recognises that it is rare to solve all the client's financial needs in one go, and provides a framework for systematic implementation
• it helps educate clients as to priorities and risks
• it emphasises the value of effective strategies, which can be reviewed and fine-tuned over time
• it facilitates the earning of incremental revenues, perhaps through top-ups
• it helps the adviser to manage risk out of a client's affairs over an effective timescale
• it provides opportunities to ask for referrals
• it creates regular 'planned activity' within a diary which otherwise might exhibit considerable peaks and troughs
• it's easy to manage within the contact management element of our excellent backoffice system, 'Clarity'
• it's a great way of demonstrating that you take TCF seriously
• in a post-RDR world, a functional annual review service will entitle the IFA to retain trail/fund-based revenues

Those firms that do not yet have a documented review process, should spend some time working one up, and then determining how to sell it to existing clients, and new clients.