Here are five best practices which every advisor should follow to achieve success.
Accept fiduciary role
The relationship between the advisor and the client is fiduciary in nature. It implies that the client places his trust in the advisor for his investments; the client believes the advisor will work for his good. As an advisor, you should accept this role and this should reflect in your work. If you do not adopt this approach, soon it will be evident and your clients may let go of you.
Be client centric
It may sound clichéd but successful advisors always act in the interest of clients. You are not doing a favor to the client, it is a favor to the business. It is the only way you will grow and sustain in the long run. So make clients your primary focus.
Education & Training
Advisory business requires intellectual capital. If you keep developing your intellectual capital, the benefits will follow. You need to keep yourself abreast with the current happenings by reading newspapers, books and web sites related to your profession. Continuous training, be it through industry conference, workshops to brush up on financial concepts or by simply learning a new skill will help you stay on top of your game. All this eventually will benefit your business.
Disclose risk
Your clients may not be aware of the risks associated with investments. Thus, it is better to apprise them of risks well in advance. This will help you avoid any disputes at a later stage. For instance, not all of your clients may be aware of the risks associated with debt funds.
Secure client data
You are privy to sensitive client data and it is your duty to safeguard it. Important documents can be destroyed in a calamity. Thus, it is essential for you to digitalize physical documents. If possible, store duplicate copies of important client documents in another safe place so that you have a backup. You can also create a backup of data in an external hard disk.
We hope the above points will help you strengthen your practice.
