Michael Topper

Values are as important to clients as goals, according to AstuteWheel, and the evidence is in plain sight.

‘A recent report by the Responsible Investment Association Australasia, for example, reveals that 88% of Australians expect their investments to be responsible and ethical,’ says AstuteWheel Director, Michael Topper. ‘This is an example of a collective values-based expectation.’

In a broader sense, Dr Topper says it suggests that increasingly what Australians also want is financial plans that help them achieve goals that are in line with their personal values.

‘US research shows that clients who feel their values are reflected in their financial plans are more satisfied with the advice than those who do not and clients of advisers who initiate a values-based discussion are likely to recommend them to a friend or colleague.’

The challenge for financial advisers, he says, is that many clients struggle to articulate their values. ‘Give a client a blank sheet of paper, ask them to write down their values, and you may get a blank sheet of paper back,’ he says. ‘This is not surprising, you might struggle to articulate your own!’

AstuteWheel’s values tool helps overcome this struggle. Clients log into their secure client portal, click on an assigned task where 49 values playing cards come up on the screen and select 15 values that resonate most with them. They then reduce the number of values to a more manageable seven.

‘A values tool helps your clients walk through a process that is both valuable and enjoyable. It is also a structured and repeatable process that can become part of how you work with increasingly values-driven clients,’ Dr Topper says.

‘Build a sound strategy, starting with the client’s own unique values, and you will be able to create a financial plan that actually inspires them to achieve their goals. The strategies and products required to achieve their goals should then fall more easily and naturally into place.’

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Michael Topper

Following its launch to market last month, AdviceInnovation, the online hub providing innovative solutions for Australian financial advice businesses, welcomes client education and communication solution, innergi, to the group.

Innergi has developed an online Financial Knowledge Centre which allows financial advisers to offer their clients access to branded educational content 24/7. Innergi also allows financial advisers to efficiently deliver branded communication, including regular newsletters, to their clients. Innergi’s platform includes modules, articles, videos, life events, calculators, downloads, quizzes, jargon busters and a regular competition.

Innergi’s Managing Director Robert Skinner says the Financial Knowledge Centre is robust, professional and fun, offering advice practices and clients access to over 800 pages of educational content. “Clients want access to information they trust where and when they want it,” he says. “It is more important than ever for advisers to be in regular contact with their clients and they should be able to do it cost effectively and ensure it looks great. Innergi’s online solutions expand the adviser’s reach in and out of office hours, making client communication and education more effective and more valuable.”

AdviceInnovation director Michael Topper says AdviceInnovation is delighted to welcome innergi into the hub. “There are many financial advice businesses already using innergi, and to date it has been growing from word of mouth referrals which is great. But, we know there are financial advisers out there looking for a solution like this, who just don’t know that it exists.”

AdviceInnovation ensures that some of the industry’s most innovative products and services will no longer be well-kept secrets and as the service grows the hub will become a central source for advisers to gain access to them all in one place.

Innergi joins other AdviceInnovation members AstuteWheel, 64 Media, Now Sorted!, Complete Client Connection, The Social Adviser, and PressDev.

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Michael Topper

Creators of the AstuteWheel, Hans Egger and Michael Topper, have partnered with other financial services innovators, The Social Adviser, Complete Client Connection, Now Sorted!, 64 Media, and PressDev, to launch AdviceInnovation – an online hub providing innovative solutions for Australian financial planning businesses.

Mr Topper said the members of AdviceInnovation are some of the very best in their field. “We have hand-picked partners to be part of AdviceInnovation,” he said. “They have innovative ideas that have been commercialised and proven.”

When first involved in co-founding, developing and launching AstuteWheel, a successful innovative client engagement system for financial advisers, Mr Topper said he soon realised that although it might be a brilliant product, if the target audience couldn’t easily find out about it, then it was difficult to help them improve their businesses.

“Advisers were contacting us as a result of word-of-mouth referrals but wished they knew about us sooner,” he said. “That got me thinking – why don’t I find other great innovators for advisers and build an innovators hub on the net?”

The result is www.AdviceInnovation.com.au, which is designed to help advice businesses locate innovators who have developed practical applications and services advisers can use in their businesses to add value for their clients and/or make their businesses run more efficiently and profitably.

“Often innovative products and services are well-kept secrets and until now there hasn’t been a central source or directory for advisers to gain access to them,” Mr Topper said. “Often this can be attributed to a few factors including a lack of marketing funds, lack of expertise in promoting the applications, or lack of distribution.”

AdviceInnovation will promote the members’ applications and services via a database of advisers, direct marketing communications, public relations and regular ‘innovation think tanks’.

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Hans Egger

While many young advisers are now degree-qualified, they are seeking more support in the use of soft skills to develop relationships with clients, according to Hans Egger, co-creator of the AstuteWheel.

“There is a knowledge gap surrounding soft skills in young advisers as they complete their Paraplanning apprenticeship and seek to gain client-facing experience. These soft skills need to be both learned and applied,” Mr Egger said.

“The AstuteWheel helps advisers bridge the gap in this knowledge and educates them on how to demonstrate value to clients in their advice process.”

Mr Egger said whilst the tool was in the development stage he worked with young planners to identify specific needs and uncover gaps in terms of relating their technical knowledge to the needs of the client.

Joe Stephan, CFP and director of Stephan Strategic said the AstuteWheel has helped him make the most of both the client’s time and his own.

“One of the things that has been inherent in the financial planning industry is taking down facts and figures in meetings which does my head in,” he said. “Collecting facts and figures doesn’t help us engage our clients and doesn’t build trust. One of the things AstuteWheel has really helped us with is the collection of data prior to the meeting. When the client comes in, we can learn about them and start to really understand what strategies would work.”

Mr Stephan said this puts Stephan Strategic on the front foot before the client steps into their office. “It steers our thinking and means that in the initial meeting we have more time to speak about things such as life values, goals and objectives and what makes a client tick. These are the things that improve rapport and improve our ability to give good advice.”

Mr Stephan said the results to the bottom line of the business were visible. “It has improved our business and improved our engagement with our clients,” he said.

Matt Leech, financial adviser at Evalesco Financial Services says efficiency is the key in the AstuteWheel. ”I cut 25 minutes from my initial meetings with clients and can now spend the time looking at exactly where the client wants to be,” he says. “I am formulating better plans for my clients as now I have their financial health check and fact-find in front of me before the client steps into my office; I am more prepared.”

Mr Leech also said his referral sources can now see exactly what he does before referring clients. “The referral sources can actually look at the AstuteWheel and see how we add value; now they have something to show the client when making their referral and in turn more clients are coming to see me.”

Since launch on 1 June 2012, more than 300 financial advisers across 130 financial advice practices representing over 40 different dealer groups have subscribed to the AstuteWheel.

Mr Egger developed the AstuteWheel to overcome client engagement problems. Launched with the support of industry marketing specialist and business partner, Michael Topper, the AstuteWheel includes a standardised suite of innovative marketing, pre-engagement and education tools, as well as over 20 strategy modelling calculators, video emails, five-minute financial health checks, mini fact finds and a plain English presentation What is financial planning?. Together these tools help advisers explain the value of advice to clients.

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Speaking at the launch of the Astute Wealth Advice -­ Client Engagement Platform, Mr Egger said, “Let’s face it, most people do not find financial planning sexy. It can sometimes be a bewildering and confusing process, leaving clients and prospective clients feeling overwhelmed.
 
“If we want people to more than just accept that they need a financial plan; if we want them to fully engage with the process on both an initial and ongoing basis, then we need a process and tools which are designed from the client’s perspective. We believe that the Astute Client Engagement Platform fits the bill.”
 
The Platform, developed by Mr Egger, a financial planner with 14 years’ experience and rolled out with the support of industry marketing specialist and business partner, Michael Topper, is an online program that both engages and educates the client, starting before the client and planner have even met.
 
“Prospective clients complete a five-­‐minute health check and about you questionnaire online, the results of which are delivered to the planner prior to the first meeting,” Mr Egger said. “Needs have already been highlighted, by the prospect themselves, and it’s a much softer first experience than a 20-­‐plus page fact find.”
 
Having already gathered a lot of information via the online tools, the planner is then free to focus on establishing a relationship with the client and engaging them in the process via the Astute Wheel which includes a standardised suite of innovative tools and calculators. 
 
The Astute Wheel visual illustrates the six areas of financial advice which helps planners explain the financial planning process to clients in plain English.
 
“The Astute Wheel and the suite of tools allow planners to very quickly and very simply explain the power of their financial planning services in a way which is, thanks to the information the planner has received via the online tools, already being tailored to the prospective client’s unique circumstances and needs,” Mr Egger said. “It also offers planners a very effective pricing mechanism.”  

More than 100 financial planners across 40 financial planning practices have paid to use a beta version of the Platform since December 2011 and Astute is now in discussions with several licensees to role the Platform out to their planners.

“The feedback we have received to date has been overwhelmingly positive and our insurance calculator is already being coined by industry experts as the best in Australia,” Mr Egger said.

Mr Egger said feedback also indicates that financial planning businesses enjoy the corporatised approach the Platform lends to the client engagement process.

“We believe that employing consistent processes and methodologies, from first contact through to ongoing review, will drive business efficiencies and improve compliance,” Mr Egger said.  “Having a clearly articulated value proposition, and a review process which clients understand and value, will help financial planning practices thrive under the FoFA environment.”

The Astute Wealth Advice -­‐   Client Engagement Platform (www.astutewheel.com.au) is already affectionately being referred to by users as the “Astute Wheel”.

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