Latest / Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday / The Evolution of the Trusted Advisor: Strategies for Success

Transcript

The Evolution of the Trusted Advisor: Strategies for Success · Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday

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  Foreign.
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  Welcome to Advisory Secrets with Deb Halladay, the podcast for accountants and bookkeepers who are ready to move beyond compliance work and step confidently into advisory.
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  If you ever felt there must be more to your role than year end accounts, tax returns and deadlines, you're right.
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  In this podcast, I'll share the strategies, insights and real world lessons that help accounting professionals transition from technician to trusted advisor.
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  We'll explore how to lead better financial conversations and deliver real value to clients.
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  I'm Deb Halliday, author and creator of training programs for accounting professionals, and this is Advisory Secrets.
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  Foreign.
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  Welcome back to Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday.
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  That's me.
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  And welcome to the final episode of this series.
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  Over the past 11 episodes, we've explored what it really means to move from compliance into advisory.
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  We've talked about confidence.
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  We've talked about conversations.
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  We've talked about pricing, trust, mindset, client relationships, and seeing the business behind the numbers.
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  But today I want to bring everything together.
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  Because the truth is, becoming a trusted advisor isn't about mastering one skill.
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  It's not about learning a framework.
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  And it's certainly not about adding another service to your website.
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  It's about becoming the person clients turn to when they need help making important decisions.
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  It's about becoming the advisor clients rely on.
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  There is no magic moment.
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  One of the biggest misconceptions about advisory is that there will be a moment when you suddenly become an advisor.
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  A point where you wake up feeling completely confident.
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  A point where every client sees you differently.
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  A point where everything clicks into place.
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  In my experience, that's not how it works.
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  The journey into advisory is gradual.
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  It happens one conversation at a time, one client at a time, one decision at a time.
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  And often you don't realize how far you've come until you look back.
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  You start asking better questions.
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  You start having different conversations.
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  You begin seeing opportunities others miss.
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  Clients begin involving you earlier in decisions, and slowly the relationship changes.
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  It's never been about the numbers.
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  This might sound strange coming from an accountant, but advisory has never really been about the numbers.
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  The numbers matter.
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  Of course they do.
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  But business owners don't stay awake at night worrying about their trial balance.
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  They worry about paying staff.
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  They worry about cash flow.
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  They worry about growth.
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  They worry about making the wrong decision.
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  They worry about whether the business will give them the life they hoped it would.
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  The numbers simply help us understand those concerns.
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  The real advisory work happens when we help clients navigate them.
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  What clients really want throughout this series, we've talked a lot about advisory skills, but when you strip everything back, most clients want remarkably similar things.
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  They want clarity.
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  They want confidence.
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  They want reassurance, they want guidance.
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  They want someone they can trust, someone who understands their business, someone who understands their goals, someone who can help them make better decisions.
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  Very few clients are looking for perfection.
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  They're looking for support.
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  And that's what makes advisory so powerful.
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  The shift from information to insight One of the biggest themes running through this series has been the difference between information and insight.
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  Business owners have access to more information than ever before.
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  Reports, dashboards, software, artificial intelligence.
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  Data isn't the problem.
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  The challenge is knowing what to do with it.
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  And that's where advisors create value.
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  We help clients understand what matters, what needs attention, what opportunities exist and what decisions need to be made.
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  That's insight.
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  And insight is what clients remember.
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  The importance of relationships.
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  If you've listened to every episode in this series, you'll have noticed that we keep coming back to one thing.
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  Relationships.
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  Because advisory isn't built on technical expertise alone.
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  It's built on trust.
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  And trust is built through consistency, through listening, through understanding, through showing up, through helping clients when things are difficult, through having conversations that others avoid.
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  And through genuinely caring about the outcomes your clients achieve.
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  Those things matter perhaps more than any technical skill you'll ever learn.
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  You already know more than you think.
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  This is something I want to leave you with.
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  Many accountants and bookkeepers underestimate the value they already have.
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  They assume they need another course, another qualification, another certification, another framework.
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  And whilst learning is always valuable, the reality is that many professionals already possess the knowledge required to become advisors.
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  What they're often missing is confidence.
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  The confidence to ask the question, the confidence to start the conversation, the confidence to share their perspective.
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  The confidence to step beyond compliance.
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  Because advisory isn't about knowing everything.
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  It's about helping clients think more clearly.
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  The future of the profession.
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  I genuinely believe the profession is changing.
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  Technology will continue to evolve.
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  Automation will continue to evolve.
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  Access to information will continue to improve.
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  But one thing remains incredibly valuable.
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  Human judgment.
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  Human understanding.
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  Human conversation.
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  The ability to help another person make sense of complexity.
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  The ability to help someone move forward with confidence.
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  The ability to guide rather than simply report.
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  Those skills will only become more important.
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  And that's why advisory matters.
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  Becoming the advisor clients rely on.
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  So what does it actually mean to become the advisor clients rely on?
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  It means being present.
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  It means listening.
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  It means being curious.
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  It means asking better questions.
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  It means helping clients take action.
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  It means understanding the business behind the numbers.
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  It means focusing on outcomes rather than tasks.
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  It means building trust.
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  One conversation at a time.
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  And perhaps most importantly, it means recognizing that advisory is not something you do occasionally.
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  It's how you show up.
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  It's how you think.
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  It's how you approach every client relationship.
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  A Personal Reflection When I look back at my own journey, I don't think the biggest transformation was learning something new.
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  I think the biggest transformation was realizing that clients didn't need me to have all the answers.
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  And they needed someone who would listen, someone who would challenge them when necessary, someone who would help them see possibilities they couldn't see themselves.
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  Someone who would help them make better decisions.
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  That's what advisory became for me, and that's what I hope it becomes for you.
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  Final Thoughts if there's one thing I'd like you to take away from this entire series, it's this.
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  You don't become a trusted advisor overnight.
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  You become one through hundreds of small moments, through curiosity, through conversations, through consistency, through care, and through a genuine desire to help your clients succeed.
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  Because ultimately, the most successful advisors aren't remembered for the reports they produced.
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  They're remembered for the impact they had on on the people they worked with.
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  Thank you.
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  Before I finish, I'd like to say thank you.
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  Thank you for listening, thank you for joining me on this journey, and thank you for being part of a profession that has the potential to make a real difference in the lives of business owners.
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  I hope this series has encouraged you to think differently about your role, your value, and the opportunity you have to become more than a compliance provider.
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  Because the future belongs to those who are willing to step into advisory.
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  If you've enjoyed this series and you'd like to continue the conversation, I'd love you to join our Facebook Community Advisory Teams.
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  It's a community of accountants, bookkeepers, and advisors who are committed to developing their advisory skills, building stronger client relationships and creating greater value for the businesses they serve.
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  Simply search advisory teams on Facebook and come and join us.
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  And if you've enjoyed Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday, please subscribe, leave a review and share the podcast with someone who would benefit from it.
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  Join me over on Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour.
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  Thanks for listening and until next time, keep asking better questions, keep having better conversations, and keep becoming the advisor your clients rely on.
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  Thank you for listening to Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday.
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  If you enjoyed this episode, make sure you follow the podcast so you don't miss future insights on building your advisory role.
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  For more resources, training and support for accounting professionals stepping into advisory, visit debhalladay Co UK or theaccountsoffice Co UK until next time.
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  Keep building a practice that creates real value for your clients and the lifestyle you want.