The Advisers of the Future need to be Courageous Foxes

According to Andrew Inwood of CoreData, there are 4 types of Financial Advisers - Oxes, Foxes, Islanders and Cruisers. Amongst the turmoil that is post Royal Commission, there’s no guess as to which type of Advisers who will, not only be able to sniff out opportunities, but to have the courage to turn these into bottom line positives.

As these name suggest, Oxes are too big and clumsy to shift quickly with the changing environment, Islanders are in their own isolated world, Cruisers are too comfortable to challenge the status quo and just want to sail into the sunset, but the Foxes are nimble and courageous, making quick and calculated decisions when it makes the most sense – when their lives depend on it.

It’s not only during trying times that those with “Fox-like” qualities triumph – in all environments, these types of Advisers would thrive because they never rest. They would always look for continuous improvement, often employing unconventional thinking and methods to deliver better value for their clients and higher profits for their business. Take Samsung as an example – a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable that Samsung would ever come close to Apple in the battle for the smartphone supremacy. And yet, today, it would seem that Apple is the one which may have some catching up to do. One of Samsung’s key success factor was to make huge phones before it was fashionable to do so – a courageous decision which saw it move ahead of the game.

So, what can the Adviser of today learn from this to set themselves up for success in the future?

• Be master of your own destiny - define how you will differentiate yourself
• Think differently about technology - no more following the crowd
• Be smart about selection process - look for integrations, free trials, best-of-breed, follow FinTech news
• Think like a Fox - turn your ideas into your own tools. Use your internal intellectual property to support your differentiation.

At YTML, we can help you to be nimble with technology solutions built specifically to allow you to deliver value to your clients, and at the same time, allow you to create scale within your business. Speak to us about Seido – a financial services App store which allows you to customise your Financial Planning tech environment.

And what of ways to differentiate your value proposition? YTML’s powerful technology, Highlighter, can convert your in-house excel tools and calculators to an online App within weeks and at a fraction of the cost it would take to bring something similar to digital life.

So be brave, be courageous - your future depends on it.