Latest / Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday / Creating Consistency Without Creating Clones

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Creating Consistency Without Creating Clones · Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday

• 0:03
  Welcome to Advisory Secrets with Deb Halladay, the bite sized podcast for accountants and bookkeepers developing their advisory skills.
• 0:12
  In this series, we're going beyond the individual advisor and exploring how to build advisory capability across your team.
• 0:21
  Because a scalable advisory service shouldn't depend on one person, let's get started.
• 0:30
  In the last episode, we talked about stepping away from being the person with all the answers and giving your team more space to develop their own judgment.
• 0:41
  But that can raise another concern.
• 0:44
  What if they don't do it the way I would?
• 0:46
  This is something many practice owners struggle with when they start developing an advisory team.
• 0:53
  You've probably spent years refining how you work with clients.
• 0:57
  You know the questions you like to ask.
• 0:59
  Do you know how you structure meetings?
• 1:02
  Do you know how you explain things?
• 1:04
  And you've built relationships with clients based on that approach.
• 1:08
  So handing some of that responsibility to somebody else can feel uncomfortable because they won't do it exactly like you.
• 1:17
  And the truth is, they probably shouldn't.
• 1:20
  Your team members have different personalities, different experiences, different strengths, and different ways of communicating.
• 1:28
  The goal of an advisory team isn't to create several versions of the business owner.
• 1:33
  It's to create a team of capable advisors who can deliver a consistent standard of advisory in their own way.
• 1:42
  And there's a big difference between consistency and uniformity.
• 1:46
  Consistency means the client can expect a certain standard.
• 1:51
  They know they'll be listened to.
• 1:53
  They know good questions will be asked.
• 1:55
  They know the numbers will be interpreted, not simply presented.
• 1:59
  They know important issues won't be ignored.
• 2:01
  They know they'll leave the conversation with greater clarity about what happens next.
• 2:06
  Uniformity would mean everybody has to use exactly the same words, ask exactly the same questions, and, and run every meeting in exactly the same way.
• 2:15
  That's not necessary.
• 2:16
  And in many cases it would make advisory feel scripted and unnatural.
• 2:22
  What we need instead is structure.
• 2:25
  For example, you might have a consistent approach to preparing for an advisory meeting.
• 2:31
  What information should be reviewed beforehand?
• 2:34
  What changes or trends should the advisor look for?
• 2:39
  What happened at the previous meeting?
• 2:40
  What actions were agreed?
• 2:42
  What does the advisor already know is happening in the client's business?
• 2:46
  That gives your team a framework for preparation without telling them exactly what to think.
• 2:53
  You might also have a structure for the meeting itself.
• 2:57
  Perhaps every meeting includes a review of what has happened since the last conversation, a discussion around the numbers, an exploration of current challenges or opportunities, and agreement around actions and next steps.
• 3:12
  Again, that's structure, not a script.
• 3:15
  And I think this distinction is really important because good advisory relies on curiosity.
• 3:21
  If someone is simply Working their way through a list of predetermined questions, they may miss the most important thing the client has just said.
• 3:31
  Sometimes the best question in an advisory meeting is the one you hadn't planned to ask.
• 3:36
  The client says something, you notice it, you become curious, and the conversation goes somewhere completely different.
• 3:43
  We don't want to remove that.
• 3:45
  We want to give people enough structure to feel confident while leaving enough space for them to think.
• 3:52
  And this applies to financial strategies too.
• 3:54
  You can teach your team a consistent approach to exploring cash flow, profitability, debt pricing, or growth.
• 4:03
  They can understand the principles and they can have tools and resources available to support the conversation.
• 4:09
  But how they apply those principles will depend on the client sitting in front of them.
• 4:15
  Because advisory isn't one size fits all.
• 4:18
  The client matters.
• 4:19
  The circumstances matter, the conversation matters.
• 4:23
  There's another benefit to allowing people to develop their own style.
• 4:28
  You start to discover strengths across the team.
• 4:31
  One person may be brilliant at simplifying complicated financial information.
• 4:35
  Another may ask fantastic questions.
• 4:38
  Someone else might be particularly good at challenging clients without making them defensive.
• 4:44
  Another team member may naturally build rapport and get clients talking.
• 4:49
  Those differences aren't a problem to eliminate.
• 4:52
  They're capabilities you can develop and share.
• 4:55
  In a strong advisory team, people can learn from each other.
• 4:59
  And that's when consistency becomes something the team creates together, rather than something imposed by the owner.
• 5:06
  You can discuss client situations, share approaches that worked well, talk about conversations that didn't go as expected, explore how somebody else might have handled them and you.
• 5:15
  And gradually, you start building a shared advisory approach across the firm.
• 5:20
  Not because everybody has memorized the same script, but because they understand the same principles.
• 5:26
  They know what good advisory looks like, they understand the standard they're working towards, and they have the confidence to bring their own judgment and personality to it.
• 5:36
  That also makes advisory easier to scale.
• 5:39
  Because the methodology doesn't depend on one person's particular style.
• 5:44
  It becomes something other people can learn, practice and deliver.
• 5:48
  And the business owner doesn't need to be present in every conversation to make sure things are being done properly.
• 5:55
  There is a shared standard, there is a shared understanding, and there is trust.
• 6:00
  So here's the question I'd like you to think about after this.
• 6:04
  Are you trying to develop advisors who meet your standards or advisors who copy your style?
• 6:11
  Because those are two very different things.
• 6:13
  Your clients don't need five versions of you.
• 6:16
  They need capable people who can listen, think, communicate, and deliver great advisory consistently.
• 6:24
  And sometimes those people may approach a situation differently from you.
• 6:29
  They may even come up with something better.
• 6:30
  That's one of the advantages of building a team.
• 6:34
  And in the next episode we're going to explore that idea further.
• 6:38
  Because advisory doesn't have to depend on one brilliant individual.
• 6:43
  In fact, some of the strongest advisory can happen when different people bring their knowledge, experience and perspectives together.
• 6:51
  Because advisory is a team sport.
• 6:55
  Thanks for listening to Advisory Secrets with Deb Halladay.
• 6:58
  If you're ready to develop advisory capability across your team, visit apxtraining.co uk to explore our evergreen elearning and live implementation cohorts starting in September, February and May.
• 7:15
  You can also join our free Advisory Teams community on facebook@facebook.com groups advisoryteams.
• 7:25
  And if you'd like more podcast content, listen to Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday, available on all major podcast platforms.
• 7:34
  I'll see you next time for another advisory secret.
• 7:36
  Sam.