Latest / Financial Planner Life Podcast / The Importance of a Valued Workforce in the Financial Profession - Ross Mackie

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The Importance of a Valued Workforce in the Financial Profession - Ross Mackie · Financial Planner Life Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, and welcome to the Financial Planner Life Podcast, where we talk to professionals at varying stages in their career about what it's like working in the wonderful world of financial planning and financial advice.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: This podcast is proudly sponsored by Recruit UK, a recruitment consultancy specifically focused on the financial services.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: They have a niche specialism, recruiting, within the financial planning industry.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: So check out their website for the latest job opportunities, hints and tips, and blog articles.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone, it's Elena and I'm back this week as your host for the Financial Planner Live podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this week I am joined by Ross McKee, Chartered Financial Planner for Woodgate Financial Planning, which is part of the Cheston House Group.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Within this week's episode, we discuss how it's just important to heavily invest in your employees as you do with your clients.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: May that be through continued exam support, personal development schemes, or one-to-one meetings.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: In this week's episode, we discuss how ultimately to be a holistic, forward-thinking, progressive financial planning firm.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: It is not just about how you treat your clients, but also how you treat the staff within your organization.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, Ross.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: How are you today?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_02: Hello, very well, thank you.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Are you okay?
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm doing very well.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much for giving up your time to speak with me this afternoon.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely fine.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's always nice to begin with.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Ross, do you expand in mind explaining to us a little bit about what you do?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so I'm, as you kind of said, a charter financial planner.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've been a financial planner for about two years now.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh before that, I was a power planner for six years.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I still spend maybe half of my time power planning, half of my time seeing clients.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: So um it's quite a nice mix, really.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you are part of Woodgate now, which is part of the Cheston House Group.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, do you mind explaining sort of your journey and how you've got to being the financial planner that you are today?
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um I started in the industry um nearly eight years ago.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um I took my first job in Leeds.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: I relocated, I'm originally from Derby.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I lived in Leeds and worked in Leeds for four years, and I really enjoyed my time there, and I did all my exams there, met some great people there that I'm still in touch with today, um, and learned a lot of technical stuff.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: I had a lot of really good clients, really big, um, really high net worth clients, and I learned all sorts of different things there.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I met my now wife, who's from Loughborough, and we relocated back down to Loughborough uh nearly four years ago now.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I worked for Cheston House for two years and forwardgate now for nearly two years, um, as kind of a promotion from power planner to a trainee financial planner.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: And now I'm kind of let loose with clients and I've got my own client bank and maybe 50 clients.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then I look after maybe 50 power planning clients as well.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: So um Yeah.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: So you still do a mix then?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: You do an in-between of doing the the power planning stuff and the advice.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: How much, how is that split up?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I just get allocated a client bank and um I can do as much, much kind of power planning as I can to fit around the planning work.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_02: If I've got loads of new inquiries, for example, um maybe I have to pass over a bit of the power planning work.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: But for now, I I quite enjoy the both, and I call it kind of keeping my eye in on the technical side and with producing things like cash flow, planning, spreading things, and um but also I want to be a full-time financial planner.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: So um I'm taking on lots of new clients, inheriting clients from previous advisors, and um just trying to develop my skills there, really.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, fab.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So you mentioned then that obviously you joined the Cheston House group um as a power planner.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you started at Cheston House as a power planner, did you?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it was brilliant.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: I love Cheston House and Woodcare, they're amazing companies, um, amazing power planning team.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: They're the whole team, really.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_02: But the power planning team are kind of I see them as the hub of the whole business.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: They get involved in, you know, with administration, with the planners, and without them, we we wouldn't be able to advise clients very well.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: So they're a great team.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, how did you um sort of end up from the power planning into the financial advice?
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: How was that transition?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: How did that come about?
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, when I started Chest in the House, I always kind of made it clear that I wanted to be a financial planner long term, and I just never really had any opportunities to date with that.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but so they were always keen to help me develop, as they do with all the employees, you know, anyone that wants to develop, they'll support them as much as they can.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: I was really well supported.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I used to shadow advise on client meetings just to start with, and then after a few meetings, maybe start presenting part of the meeting.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then a job vacancy came up at Woodgate, um, and it's part of the same group, got the same kind of ethos, etc.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and it was just too good to miss up.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I went for that and luckily got it.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I've never looked back really.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really, really enjoying it.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: And although it's been a tricky 15 months or so, um, you know, getting to trying to be a new financial planner in this virtual world, you know, I'm I'm really getting to grips with it now and uh really loving life.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: How are you finding um everything being virtual?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Was it like a big transition from how you were doing it previously to sort of now?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, very much so.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: We've never, well, as far as I know, I'd never had a virtual meeting before March last year.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think one of the big benefits of us is that we are local financial advisors, face-to-face advisors.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so most of our clients, because we see them in our offices, are from the the kind of Leicestershire area, not even to Derbyshire, maybe, but not too many from further afield.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: This year I've taken on clients from Cumbria, Brighton, Plymouth, all over uh York.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so no, it is good.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and clients have really embraced it.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's been great.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, I've had Zoom meetings with 88-year-olds, I think.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, the oldest.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, amazing, yeah.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess that's the one good thing about being virtual now, as you just touched on.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you can expand your client bank and build those personal relationships with people that aren't just down the road or a half an hour drive away allows you to really connect with people that are potentially, you know, you might not be able to connect with because they're just further down the road.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is harder to have that kind of personal connection and the build rapport with people, I think.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, face-to-face, we're getting back to face-to-face soon, hopefully, when we're allowed to.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's been great for the for them for the interim, you know.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: I know some you hear some horror stories of advisors that have kind of missed years worth of progress meetings or whatever because they didn't adapt.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we had everyone online, you know, doing Zoom meetings within a few days uh from from when lockdown was announced.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, no, it's been really good.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I would have fewer clients if it wasn't for virtual meetings, probably.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: I guess that's the one good thing to think a lot of it, um, obviously, as you just touched on, might be slightly more difficult to build a rapport sort of buyer, a Zoom meeting as such, as you can do face-to-face, but you feel like that's something that will continue as part of the business, the virtual side of things.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think so.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_02: Some clients are specifically requesting it.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, even those that live nearby, because it's that much less time out of their day.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but certainly for for longer distance relationships, it's a great tool, isn't it?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we talk about meeting people halfway and things, but it is good to just have a you know, have a medium of being able to contact these people.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we have bit managed to do it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_02: So um it's working well.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: I I can't wait to get back to face-to-face and see some people, and you know, but um it's been really nice for 15 months, it's been useful and we'll continue to be.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: I completely agree.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I miss you know the face-to-face nuts being able to build that rapport.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: You just touched on, you know, it's slightly more difficult to build rapport sort of online than it is face-to-face.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have to conduct the meetings in a slightly different way?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is there slightly different techniques that you might use sort of on um a Zoom call that you might not use sort of face-to-face or vice versa?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I knew a secret, but um it's I think it's that much more difficult to just gauge clients' subtleties in their body language and just to gauge their buy-in and whether they get what you're saying and stuff like that.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_02: So that's just probably the main hurdle.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I just find myself frantically like really looking at the camera and really trying to uh to figure out what's going on and trying as much as I can to make eye contact with you know the little camera things on my laptop, which is a bit different to looking people in the eye.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, I wish there was a magic secret.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: If you know that, then feel free to pass that on.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I wish I knew it.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of the audience would wish that they knew it as well.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's really good to demonstrate that, you know, for someone like yourself who's been an advisor for two years, you know, how long has the pandemic been going on now?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't even want to think that you can be a successful advisor and develop those skills virtually as well as just doing it all face to face.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: I've got some clients that you almost feel you've known for years and years and years, and we've never ever met.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and we've got that such a good relationship.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it can work.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, you know, the one good thing, well, if anything positive has come out of COVID, it is, and I say it again and again, it is that virtual element and moving the industry in potentially a bit more of sort of a modern era.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really exciting and really positive to hear that it's worked for yourself and that it's something that you can use in the future.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you just touched on then.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: So were Cheston House quite quick off the mark to implement this?
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Did you have any sort of humps or hurdles along the way?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_02: Not really.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, like you say, it's a long time ago now, isn't it?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but no, yeah, we just embraced it.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_02: And there's the the first few meetings you have where it's like you're on mute and all that kind of stuff, but that soon goes away, doesn't it?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, we we had a few tips, um, a few webinars about some of the things you should and shouldn't do on Zoom calls and things.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's relatively common sense, isn't it?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we've been at it since I'd say about day two or three of the of being at home.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: So um and it's been good to not just keep in touch with clients, but your colleagues, and there's some people I still haven't seen for 15 months that you know I used to work with and see every single day.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's been good to be able to keep in touch and with colleagues as well as clients.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So have Cheston House then enabled managed to through the pandemic with the implementation of the virtual stuff, been able to sort of keep that feeling of belonging?
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because what I find is unfortunately, I've spoken to lots of individuals that have felt like they've lost that sense of belonging across the course of the pandemic, you know, maybe not being able to feel as close to the team as they were sort of a year ago, a couple of years ago when everyone was in the office.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it's never going to be perfect.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and but we used to have um meetings every single day with our specific teams just to check in, see how everyone was.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um we've kind of cut that back a bit over time as people get used to working at home.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, in the early days, it was just about trying to get people together.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_02: And Julie, the power planning manager, is very good at that and trying to include everyone.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, we communication has been key.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: So um it's been really nice.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: The constant contact with team members just helps you feel part of it and not detached, and it's yeah, it's been great.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: And as I just said, I've spoken unfortunately with lots of candidates that have lost that feeling of belonging, and it is actually one of the reasons that they end up looking for a new opportunity.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's really good to hear that the Cheston House group have been able to continue that sense of belonging, and it also demonstrates to to other firms out there how important it is to keep that line of communication, as you just touched on, to run through to make sure all members of staff are happy.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, also COVID is personally a very it's been a very difficult time.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's lots of things going on in people's personal lives, and it can be quite isolating.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really good to hear that sort of you're enabled to keep that sense of belonging and everyone feels like a valued m valued member of the team.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So if we go back to the beginning of your sort of journey with Cheston House, then so you started as a power planner.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: But they were so did you were very honest with them and transparent with them from the beginning that advice was what you wanted to do in the long term?
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, very much so.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, at the interview, yeah, very much so.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: And were they receptive to that?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, luckily they'd had a few people before that had kind of come in and done a year or two in power planning and then um, you know, been let loose with clients, so to speak.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so there was a clear career path there.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_02: So um it was quite nice to hear that they'd done it before with other people, and you know, and as long as I worked hard and did the right things, etc., you know, they it could be the same for me if opportunities arose.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: So luckily one did.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um did you have to in your power planning role sort of hit a certain amount of competencies?
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, was it just sort of waiting for that vacancy to appear?
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, sort of how how did that manifest?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: What how did sort of that that career progression that they laid out to you look?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, we have very regular, probably more regular than most um one-to-one meetings as a power planner at Cheston House.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I used to meet with Julie every about seven or eight weeks.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's really good to kind of keep you on track and set your little goals and little things to achieve.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, whether that is attending a meeting or presenting something in a meeting and just ticking those off and just building up your kind of competencies and things and contributing more to the team, maybe helping out with training, all those kind of things, just being a really valued member of the team.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, and then waiting for the opportunities.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: But because the businesses are growing, there was always going to be the opportunity.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: So I always had that faith.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I was never in too much of a rush to be a financial planner because I really liked power planning, and I still do.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but uh, and the key for me was that the company was a great fit, um, and I knew I wanted to be a planner with that company and not a kind of a salesperson with another company.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that was the key for me.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_02: I was quite happy to work hard, buy my time, and there's always something to learn in power planning, you know, with technical stuff, things change every year.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you can always improve your you know, service and delivery, what you um provide to clients.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's it's an exciting place to work.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: And does that career progression and that development, obviously, you came in as a power planner and then stepped into sort of a planning role, but does Chest and House lay out that sort of career progression all the way up from like the admin stages up to the planning stages?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I've just spoken to uh a friend who's a colleague at Cheston House.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: He started off as an apprentice, I think I'm trying to get it right, apprentice receptionist.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then he got signed off as a proper receptionist, and then he he got promoted to a trainee administrator, and then he was signed off as a fully fledged administrator, then he was a trainee power planner, and he's just passed his diploma, and he's now kind of a fully fledged power planner.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure within the next few years he will be a trainee financial planner because that's kind of what he wants to do.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: So he's had about five or six promotions in the group.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: So uh yeah.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing, and it's amazing to hear the um sort of the firm lay out that career progression and that it's proven.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: On the flip side, working with Recruit UK, unfortunately, lots of the reasons that people will, one of the key reasons why people are end up looking for a new role is they want that career progression, they want the next jump.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're an admin that's really hit the admin competencies, maybe beginning to do some suitability reports and they're looking for that trainee power planning role.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And unfortunately, for one reason or another, you know, the current firm can't offer it, whether that be reluctant for someone to leave the admin role, or as you said, you know, not being a large enough firm to actually be able to offer the development as such.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think the fact that Cheston House can offer that career progression?
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, as you just mentioned through your colleague, it's proven, helps long-term the retention of staff.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think so, yeah, definitely.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um loads of people, especially in their 20s, are quite rightly looking for that progression, aren't they?
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, we do exams in this profession, as you know.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if you can get more exams, more experience, if that can lead to something, then that's always nice and to have that kind of carrot uh dangled, and you know that it's it's a possibility that if you work hard and prove yourself, that things can happen for you and progression can happen.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's also about for me personally, I guess it's what I view it is it's always about nurturing the talent that you've got within.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's really, you know, when you've got someone that's really hardworking, is really driven, is really ambitious, is looking to keep on moving up the ladder throughout financial planning.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you can't offer that sort of development or training or progression, they're very often going to look elsewhere for someone that can offer them that.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't so I presume, um, and you can tell me if I'm right or wrong, that being able to have that that set line out not only motivates you to keep learning, but means that you don't go looking elsewhere because you know you can get that progression and keep on learning and keep developing on upwards within the firm.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, definitely, yeah, yeah.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: It is easy to become disengaged, isn't it, when things aren't quite happening, or you know, you might have people that have been in roles for years and years and years, and there's no prospect of those leaving.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's difficult, isn't it?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, with with the business constantly evolving, new roles popping up.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_02: We've relatively recently had a compliance uh manager taken on that you know of.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so all sorts of different aspects of the business.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: We've got operations team, you know, um, all sorts.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so as as we've grown, I mean, since I've been there, we've grown quite significantly in terms of assets under management and different roles.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there are two other trainee financial planners that have just kind of stepped into the role uh recently.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, with us being a growing business um and a good ethos, there's always opportunities coming up.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_02: So that always gives you a bit of hope.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it is nice to have it that career path kind of laid out and yeah, something to aim for and keeps you engaged and focused.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you that I think keeping people engaged, that word is is such a nice word.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's you mentioned that you have those one-to-one meetings with Julie, the power planning manager.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: I guess if you're in the admin team, you will have one-to-one meetings with the with the uh other appropriate person.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: What how else do you sort of monitor the development or how else are you kept engaged or in check as such?
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, now I'm kind of monitored on, you know, kind of uh new clients that I bring on and new relationships that we form and and how much networking I'm doing with uh professional connections.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: So my kind of targets are a little bit different now.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, just sit down formally, at least every quarter, if not more, just to see how I'm getting on with that with with my new manager.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's constantly kind of monitored and constantly being given pointers on what's been going well and what you might be able to improve on.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, it's great.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, obviously we do loads of CPD in this industry, don't we?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: So um try and it tailor my CPD towards my new role.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: I'm quite technically minded, you know, chartered, you know, power planner I was, and uh, feel that's quite a strength of mine.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to improve on the client side, the client coaching side of things.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you know, my boss now has been a financial planner for over 20 years.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: He can give me all these kind of nuggets, um, little bits, you know, to go on and feed off and try and improve.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's been really useful.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think I think um it's a really nice point for our audience and potentially, you know, we speak about lots of um our audience is lots of different people in back office roles or financial um and financial planning roles, but obviously another proportion is business owners and people that own their own companies.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really nice to hear from yourself, Ross, how the Cheston House group have kept you engaged and our firms are able to keep candidates developing continuously.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And as you just touched on, that doesn't always necessarily need to be a promotion, those um meetings that you have, those one-on-ones where you are appraised for what you're doing well, but also you can pick up things that potentially you're not doing so well on or areas of development.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you continuously feel like you're in a stream of learning and developing.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that doesn't necessarily have to mean a promotion or something like that.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I still love that.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like you say, when you just you just got that feeling that you're moving in the right direction, then yeah, I really like that.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: And you that you're learning every week, every month, you're improving.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that you get a lot of job satisfaction from that, hopefully.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess a lot of personal satisfaction as well.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for me personally, when I do um sort of my one-to-ones, it's great to hear that all the hard work you that you put in is being recognised.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really nice to hear that the team at Chesterton House make sure that their staff, that the um the firm really invests in their staff.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that's one thing I personally love about Chesterton, the Chesterton House Group and why I enjoy working with them on the flip side is you can definitely tell how much the firm invests in the employees in the same way that they make sure they're really client centric in their approach.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just a great place to work.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's the right, yeah.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_02: If anyone's in a firm that doesn't feel like the right fit, the grass can be greener.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I was in a firm that wasn't quite the right.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Fit.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: I had a one-to-one every year that was a tick box exercise.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't get much from it.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, the grass is greener.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the grass is greener, but for someone like yourself, currently, I guess that no grass necessarily looks greener.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's so um nice to for business owners that are watching this that you know have got really good, have got a really strong team, um they are really technically strong, really sort of fit what they're looking for.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you invest just as much time and effort into them, you know, the loyalty that you display regarding Cheston House is only going to manifest if other people take pointers and look after their staff in a similar method.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: So it's great to see.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you were chartered as a paraplanner then, were you?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, while I was still powerplanning, yeah.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um I just I got my level six um after about three years in the industry.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: I just had to wait for my five years to be able to call myself chartered.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um but I've been chartered for nearly three years now.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So wow.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: So what was your exam journey then?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I started doing exams off my own back before getting the industry.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know how looking back, I did RO1 um just completely off, you know, randomly, just bought the book, read it, and did the exam, and somehow didn't get put off by it because it's a little bit dry, it's fair to say, R01.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_02: Then did RO2 as well before getting the industry.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then kind of met with a family friend that was advising.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_02: He gave me a few little projects to do.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then after I got two exams and a little bit of an experience, I really wanted to just get a job.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I started applying for jobs.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: And the first place that said yes to me was a company in Leeds.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I relocated, I say 18, 19 miles away from where I live for 25 years, um, just to get that first job, that foot in the door.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I started off as a trainee power planner.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I did R01 through to six um in about two years, uh, in order, which not many I thought it was a logical thing to do, but loads of people don't do it in like that order, but uh that's fair enough.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: I think RO5 is maybe a good place to start.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, and then I just did my AFs and JOs.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I assume this all the same now.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um over two years, I did uh one every April and October, uh, and that went really well.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Did you become chartered when you're at Cheston House or before you joined them?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was uh level six before I joined, um, but um my five years experience, so I could call myself chartered, came while I was working at Cheston House.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because Cheston House are also very big on um sort of encouraging people and offering that exam support, not just the level four diploma, aren't they, but sort of up to chartered status?
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, very much so.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the the power planning team now, I believe almost all, if maybe all but one of the power planners, and there are over 10, I think, um, are at least diploma qualified.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: There's an amazing, amazingly qualified team.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and that's changed in the four years since I started.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there were a few more that weren't, but that's kind of the way the industry's going, isn't it?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_02: And and more and more people aiming towards chartered now.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, there's that exam support.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's very much encouraged.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: But there's also the on-the-job support.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_02: So we're quite lucky that we work with relatively high net worth clients and get involved in the technical side of things, you know, pension, lifetime allowance, annual allowance, you know, offshore bonds, or some things that not everyone gets involved in.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's really good to do those on the job and put what you've done in the exams into practice.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can imagine, as you just touched on, doing your sort of R01 before you actually even got your first job role.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: I can imagine it being especially very daunting, especially as I I know that R, I think R01's RO3, I've heard is particularly um on the drier side of things as well.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do Chaston House then actively encourage members of staff um to sort of do do the exams?
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, very much.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: So we've got some administrators that are doing some ROs and I think CFs.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm a bit out of touch with exams now, I've been for a few years.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but yeah, any kind of upskilling, any kind of development um that if you say you want to develop in a certain way, they're they'll support that definitely.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's also really important, sort of offering that exam support and um being able to offer the monetary funding of it.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: And did you did you say then as well, is there some sort of um on-the-job training that then will help with the sort of studying for the exams, you'd say?
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we all chip in.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've helped um colleagues with bits and bobs around exams, you know, where I can.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there are some you know, real specific things that you don't use on a daily basis that you can easily forget, but um, but it's a really good support network.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: So um if we have any, say, trainee power planners that are the ones that are generally getting their ROs, there's support from the managers, you know, quite a few of them are chartered.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and people like me that I I quite like helping out uh where possible.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um so there's yeah, we're all a big team and we all help people uh through their exams and also on the job.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's excellent to hear that the Chess and House Group also um will support and encourage individuals and members of staff to get to their chartered status because often we hear sort of the level four diploma, as you just had you said, it's like sort of the benchmark for the industry now, you know, even for power planners, they'd like these individuals to be level four diploma qualified.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes it sort of stops there.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I've seen on um, especially on the recruitment side of things, that people are hungry to keep learning and keep developing.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: But obviously, money uh exams cost money, uh, they take time to study for them.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes firms um don't have the same ambition to get their employees to sort of that level, um, which I sometimes view is a bit counterproductive, but there you go.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's only advanced on your technical knowledge.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think also the fact that Chest and House Group encouraged you to keep studying and keep learning helps the retention of staff as well in the long term?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, again, I think it's a bit down to engagement, isn't it?
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_02: But um I think they do it because uh one of their key aims is to develop people to be the best that they can be.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: That's one of their mission statements.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but also the more qualified a team we've got, the better outcomes we're gonna have for our clients and the more successful the business is gonna be.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: So hopefully it's uh a sensible business decision to just help people through exams, you know, with the paying for their books and their exam entry and things.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: It just makes complete sense to me.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I completely agree.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I completely agree.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, as you said, it then encourages people to keep building their technical knowledge, which in the long term makes them, as you said, a better, stronger technical team.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: And as the business keeps developing, it allows them to sort of get to that level.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think also I find it so interesting within the Cheston Howe group group, isn't it?
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like 70, I love the statistic.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's like like 75% of the financial planners there were paraplanners at some point in time.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's amazing to see obviously how when you do invest in your employees heavily, may that be the personal development, the exam side, is obviously proven that they can then get to a stage where they can then go speak to clients and they're comfortable and they're competent.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like you say, for me as well, it was really nice to see that clear path that's been done many times before.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, um all the trainee power trainee planners, sorry, come in and do maybe as long as it takes, usually a year or so in the power planning team to just get that real foundation and feel for the company, their processes, how we work.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's a everyone finds it really useful.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: It's a really good foundation to work from uh before you start seeing clients.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's a good way to work, yeah.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: So why do you think that's valuable then?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: I know you just touched on it built to that solid, like that solid foundation, but um, why do you then think it's important that people come in and learn the power planning side and learn that technical side before then they step into client facing?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think it predominantly it will help if if clients have questions on anything, uh really specific questions about why we're doing things or how we do things.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: You've just got that knowledge of exactly how we work.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, sometimes as a financial planner, you can be a bit detached from what's going on kind of on the ground.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I think doing the power planning gives you that real foundation of you know exactly how everything works.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then if anyone questions you on anything, you can confidently say, Well, this is why we're doing this, that, and the other.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you said it earlier on in regards to Cheston House sort of group, a mission statement.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have a few mission statements then, sort of as a group?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um I'm trying to try and make you remember on that.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I know off the top of my head, but um, I really don't want to butcher it, but um I can't find it for whatever reason now.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: But it's something along the lines of um inspiring clients um to plan and achieve their goals uh for the reasons that are important to them, um get their entire financial house in perfect order and have a great life.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_02: So that's kind of the client side, and then for employees, it's um inspiring people to be the best that they can be, um something along those lines.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, and be a great place to work type thing.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing to see that Cheston House, and as I said, you know, one of the reasons why I love working across the board with the Cheston House group, it's amazing to see that it's not just all about the clients and the way that you act as a business, it's about how you treat your employees.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: I personally think that to be a holistic, forward-thinking financial planning firm, as lots of firms aim to be currently, it's not just about how you treat your clients, but also about how you treat your members of staff.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you agree.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, sorry, I'm really sorry if I butchered that for the company.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: But um, but no, I I mean I I read that in the kind of documentation when I was about to take the role.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you read bits and bobs in the stuff you get sent about, they encourage you to take your lunch away from your desk to try and give you that kind of balance.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: They, you know, encourage you to to not work excessive hours so that you're kind of fresh every day.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they don't just kind of put this down in writing, they yeah, it's put it into practice.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I I guess oh across the board then having these little things in place makes sure that you've got a mentally um sort of mental well-being, you've got mental well-being wise, everyone's sort of really, really happy.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess it encourages people to actually, in a sense, work harder and put their all in their work because they're so well looked after.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, it does for me, yeah.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um whenever people leave the company, I sometimes think, what's wrong with the company?
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: It seems like a reachy question, doesn't it?
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_02: Whether you should leave or whatever.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: But um, I always just think, I don't really know why.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: They obviously don't get it because we're we're very well looked after.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I can definitely see that.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I always find it, and I think it's as mentioned, you know, for the audience and people that are watching this that do own um own businesses, you know, speaking to Ross and this whole conversation just demonstrates that how when you really do invest in your employees, you do end up with a stronger workforce that end up being, you know, technically more talented, if you're funding them through the exam process as well, encouraging them to get to chartered status.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: And if you have that career um clear career progression that they can then follow, you know, you're gonna retain more staff.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really nice to see that overall it seems to work very well.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny as well that your colleague that you mentioned that's worked all the way through from the uh like from or trainee receptionist all the way up to sort of trainee power planning, you've gone through so many different job roles there, you wouldn't want to stay at that firm if you weren't well looked after and you didn't feel like, as you said, the grass isn't greener.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, honestly, he has so much loyalty to the company.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's amazing.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um they've done so much for him, and he feels like he owes them and they've looked after him, he's gonna look after them for years, hopefully.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'll not ever give him a name drop, it's Sam.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Sam.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I guess on the flip side as well, it's all about how you how you treat your your clients.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: And am I right thinking that at the Cheston House Group you go through some sort of like ethics training or some sort of training like that?
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_02: We we have a very specific process, yeah, it's a financial roadmap, it's um part of values-based financial planning.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, it's just really trying to get to know clients um really, really well, know exactly what their motivations are and where they're coming from, and clearly set out their their goals and make smart goals with specific dates, amounts.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, it's a great process, value-based management planning, it's an amazing process.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_02: And and the relationships you build with clients as part of that process is just amazing.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_02: And some of the information they reveal to you within 10 minutes of meeting them, um, you know, you you know things about them that barely anyone else in their lives know.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's an amazing process.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you think that value-based training is then crucial to be like a holistic client-central financial planner?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: All of that that they've sort of taught you.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, some people start with, I'm going to sell you a structured product, and it's just completely the wrong way to start.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we start with um speaking to the client, understanding them as well as we can, what's important to them, what their motivations are, what they want to do with their money, and then we just write a plan to make it all happen for them.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um product sizes, pensions are just the byproduct of that.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Put it all into reality.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: As the mission statement, you said that live live their life or in the best way possible, or or something like that.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm the one butchering it now.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, yeah.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: I guess also as well, um, the fact that you are so uh well looked after as an employee when you then become client servicing and you are speaking to clients, that transpires, you know, that manifests or like trickles through the way that you're treated to then how you then go out and treat other people representing the Cheston House group.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a clear kind of ethos to the whole group at Cheston House and Woodgate, they're all very, very similar.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um just putting the client first is the key thing.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: I know everyone says it and it's a bit of a cliche, but yeah, but that that literally comes first.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: We're not really motivated by anything else.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if we do a great job for our clients, they refer their friends and tell their colleagues, we'll be more successful as a business, and we do a good job for them, and it just snowballs, and that's kind of what's happening now.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and it's excellent to see.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and as you as you just said, you know, it's it's about being value focused across the board.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just about being value focused towards your clients, it's about being value focused towards your your employees and making sure that they're in the strongest and best position as possible.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's very unfortunate, obviously, working for Recruit UK as well.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: I deal with people that are very client-centric themselves and they work in firms which are also very client-centric, but that doesn't manifest to the way that they are treated.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that then sort of means that they don't engage in the same amount where they work, you know, maybe they don't, you know, act in the same level of high values because that's not how they're being treated.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: It sort of has to work across the board, I think.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, hopefully I always say that everyone in the group is kind of working towards the same things.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't really know how it how it gets, you know, across to everyone, but it's just that ethos in the company that everyone is working towards the same things of just trying to do the best job they can in their role so that the clients get the best outcomes.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh yeah, as I say, there's some kind of magic potion, I think, that Andy Jervis sprays on on the employees to get us all on the same hymn sheet, but we literally all are kind of working towards that common goal.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it's to be fair, it seems like with how much they look after you and how much they invest in you, loyalty.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's a word that you touched on previously when you when you speak, um, when we spoke about Sam, but because so much is invested in yourself, you become then loyal to the values that chess and house want you to represent to clients also.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're so well looked after and you feel so valued, you then go out and build valuable, trusted, meaning holistic relationships with people.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's that's the aim.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what I'm trying what we try to do.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this has been an excellent episode of the podcast.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you are a business owner and you are in a position potentially where you are looking after employees, if you're ever sort of worried about your attention of staff or um worried that maybe potentially you don't have the hottest talent on your team right now.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Ross and the Cheston House group just demonstrate that when you invest really, really heavily in your employees in terms of development plans, career progressions, exam support, you can build a really happy team that not only can then sort of provide a really, really high level of service to your clients, but in the long term, you know, improves your attention of staff and just makes you a stronger, more settled, um, more reputable firm, I would say.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and I think the continuity is a big thing because all um members of staff have some kind of contact with with clients, some more than others.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, if clients have dealt with a certain administrator or power planner for years, you know, they they kind of get to know them personally as well as their financial planner.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that's really important for the overall client relationship and perception of the work you're doing for for clients, they know when things change and they sometimes have questions.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_02: So retention of staff and that continuity across the whole team of we have a kind of a team of three of administrator, power planner, and planner um is really important to most clients.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: They do notice these things.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: And also, like as you just touched on then, so does each client then get given sort of like a bubble in regards to a planner, a power planner, and an administrator?
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_02: And the idea is that they would look after them and know their circumstances inside out so that we can efficiently deal with anything that we need to do with for those clients.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess each single member, because we get it all the time, you know, you think about financial planning, you get tunnel vision towards advice and what the financial planner does and what the advisor does.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: But I guess, you know, every single individual is part of that process.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: The planner, the power planner, and the administrator are all absolutely crucial to the process.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they've all got clearly defined roles.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, it's it's a it really works.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: So when you're all working together and you get that continuity, as I say, I think it's really added value to clients.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think as you just touched on there, you know, also knowing that every single member of the team is just as valued as the other, because sometimes administrators feel that like they're not as important as the planner or they're just at the beck and call of the planner, or whatever the planner does, you know, they're there to sort of mop it up or tie it up.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's nice to know as well that everyone is valued for their importance and all the roles are different and they have different purposes, but they're all valuable, they're all crucial to the sort of the whole network as such.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, definitely.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's um that there are no egos at the Chaston House group either.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: There's you know, everyone's got so much respect for each other as well.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that yeah, there's none of that, and there should never be, I don't think, in an ideal world.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all, not at all.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it's so glad to hear just how everyone is is so valued there.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: And as we've just touched on, it goes to demonstrate that if you invest really, really heavily in your employees and in the staff that you've got at the moment, you're going to build a really, really strong team, which are then able to offer really valuable, client-centric approach.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: And on the flip side, you know, everyone's happy, everyone knows where they where they are, where they're going.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: And in the long run, you know, that is why Chestern House is growing.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: That the Cheston House group is growing.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is why you're going from strength to threaten because you have such a good reputation in the area, not just as how you treat your clients, but how you sort of treat the people that work within you.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it is amazing.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's an amazing little company.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: When when I moved from Leeds, um I used to joke with my wife.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: We used to walk past Chesson House.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and my wife always joked, you know, she wanted to get me down into Loughborough from Leeds so we could live together, etc.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and we used to walk past Chesson House and she said, Oh, you could get a job there.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: There's not going to be a good company in little old Loughborough, as I call Loughborough, um, compared to Leeds, there's loads of big companies, but not necessarily good companies.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, Cheston House had a vacancy and the rest of history.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: You just kind of get the you get the feel for it from the get-go, as I say, we just from some of the company documents to send you, you know, um before you join, and even that just introduces the company really well.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then they they live and breathe it as well, as I say, put it into action uh as well.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um written down on a page.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: And as you just touched on, you know, Cheston House is to the Cheston House group is still not with Woodgate and everyone, it's still not the large, it's not a massive corporation, you know, it's not have offices, you know, everywhere across the country.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really nice to see, and I think important for business owners that are watching this that potentially have smaller, more local sort of um firms, you don't have to be a massive corporate to make a difference.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to be a massive corporate to sort of add value to the staff and add value to clients.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about having that approach and not just preaching it, but practicing it.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's what it's all about, isn't it?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much, Ross, for joining me on this episode of the Financial Planner Life Podcast.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's been amazing to talk All Things Chest and House Group and hear um how when you really invest in your employees and in your team, you can really build a strong company that adds value to not just clients but the people that work with you as well.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you very much for joining me today.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, thanks for having me.