The Fact: Despite an increase in the range of products and services available, advisors still prefer to ‘do it themselves’ rather than use outside professionals to deliver specific services to their clients. Twenty per cent of advisors will refer clients to a specific centre of influence for tax planning and group benefits and the numbers decline from there for other services.

The Implications: As a result of cross-licensing, many financial advisors are trying to deliver a considerably larger range of services internally. This may not be a sustainable model. It is difficult to efficiently deliver on many services that individually require a deep level of knowledge. Going forward many advisors are expected to build tight networks of non-competitive professionals in order to efficiently provide a more sophisticated range of services to high end clients.

The Idea: If you plan to work with an outside centre of influence to deliver a specific service, such as disability insurance, to your clients, think about creating an informal partnership agreement. That agreement should include service standards, reporting, communication, scope of advice provided, investment in shared activities and a non-compete. While the relationships are not necessarily formal, you will want to ensure that your clients are secure and that they will receive the same level of service they have come to expect.

The Next Step: The Business Success Kit provides you with the tips, tools and templates that you’ll need to enhance practice productivity and profitability. It’s the most practical and comprehensive guidebook available for financial advisors. For more information, visit www.AdvocisStore.ca and click on the Business Success Kit.