Work smarter, not harder
Too manypeople work in a practice rather than on the practice, says Hendrie business development director, Michael Moschetti.
“Time spent working in the business, answering phones and putting out fires, has a big affect on job satisfaction.
“But you don’t have to do all of those processes as there are skilled people who can do that,” he says.
To create a successful practice you need a practical, fundamental chain of processes, says Moschetti, and this means creating a structure that does not rely on individuals or where the intellectual property doesn’t walk out the door every night.
Moschetti says the client should deal with the business and not the individuals, and the first step to creating a chain of processes is to survey the client base and see what it expects from the business.
This identifies what clients want in terms of service levels and what areas of the business need attention.
“Focus on the strategies and not the products. Then identify what clients believe creates value for them and what creates value for the business,” Moschetti says.
Usually the three areas that meet both these criteria are personalised service, strategic advice and products.
The next stage is to create an organisational structure that will meet these goals and Moschetti says it is important that the various aspects of dealing with the client are segregated and that staff are allocated to each function.
The staff should also be given clear job descriptions of what their responsibilities are in the organisation.
There should also be segmentation of clients based on the fees they generate and a description of what services a particular sort of client should get. Hendrie rates its clients A, AA and AAA.
This is because if a client sees an item of paperwork referring to their client status, they do not feel aggrieved as they perceive their rating to be top of the list.
Create team structures where some members of staff specialise in certain roles, such as risk, and create client service managers to deal with the day-to-day matters, he says.
Moschetti detailed four ways he has helped people grow their businesses.
These include increasing the number of clients that the business wants, increasing the transaction frequency, increasing the average sale, and increasing the effectiveness of each process of the business.
Moschetti says instigating some of these changes will result in increased revenues without spending thousands of dollars in high-risk marketing activities.
“Firstly, you need to develop a business action plan and implement it.
“The process should be done in a calculated and positive way, and then the business will achieve its true value,” he says.
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