One of the hardest things in any profession is gaining the trust of those you are working for – your clients.

It’s hard to earn and easy to lose.

One of the things commented on by my younger colleagues is the length of time I’ve been working with most of my clients. I often have a throw-away line similar to:  “she’s been with me for 15 years” or “I first started working with them 20 years ago”. 

The scariest insight though is when it dawns on me that the client I’ve been working with for 15 years is now 70 or 75 years old, and was younger than I am now when we started!

With that in mind, here are my thoughts on how we can earn, keep, and respect that invaluable client trust.

An upfront investment

The more time you invest with people at the outset, the stronger the ongoing relationship will be. Explaining difficult concepts, understanding the individual, and developing patience when your client is trying to process tons of information to make an informed decision all take time. This is especially true when working with people during critical, high-stress transitions in their lives.

Move at their pace

People appreciate it when you let them move at their own pace (with a little nudge now and then). Most importantly, they appreciate it when you don’t talk down to them. Investing the time to ensure the advice meets their needs, and that they feel truly confident executing it, is a great start to any long-term relationship.

Prepared for anything

Once a client is on board and the ‘heavy lifting’ is done, it’s easy for some to get caught up in the thrill of the chase and focus on ‘the next shiny thing’. While “growth is good” it shouldn’t be at the expense of your existing clients. Both the client and the adviser have invested in the relationship, and it needs to be nurtured. No-one likes to be taken for granted, especially the people who trust you and are paying to keep the lights on.

Preparing thoroughly for review meetings, being proactive with communication, and taking a genuine interest in their lives, should be merely a ticket to the game. 

Knowing your client

Knowing your client is critical – some clients love deep-diving into technical strategies; others focus on the minutiae of their portfolio. However most just want to be heard and understood. There’s no point in spending hours preparing spreadsheets if the client just wants to know they are on track. They already expect you to know the technical details; they want you to reassure them. 

Back in my early days, I had a strong need to over-prepare for client reviews. I tried to anticipate every single question, have the perfect answer ready, and offer three different options. Over time I realised that while preparation is required, that energy needs to be spent wisely. Knowing your client tells you exactly where to focus.

Catering to diverse traits

It’s easy to work with people who are just like you. You relate to them easily, they are often easy to talk to and sometimes a friendship develops. This kind of relationship is naturally built on mutual respect for each other’s opinions, values, and choices. Happy days!

It can be harder to work with people who have vastly different personalities. They might be very quiet or perhaps too chatty. They might struggle to communicate clearly, or they might have an intense focus on detail rather than being blasé about their situation. But just because they are different doesn’t mean they don’t deserve your utmost respect. 

Adapting your communication style to accommodate these diverse traits is a sign of professional respect. There’s no point going on about your recent trip to China if the client just wants to get straight down to business. On the other hand, diving straight into the numbers without any pleasantries won’t suit a client who takes a genuine interest in you and your team.

Crucially, respect doesn’t mean that all clients are the right clients. If someone is rude, obnoxious, or untrustworthy, they simply aren’t a good fit. In those cases you are doing both yourself and the client a service by helping them find a new professional home.

The common thread

Looking back, what draws my focus has naturally shifted throughout my career. Early on, imposter syndrome saw me hyper-focused on technical advice. Later, mingling with great businesses encouraged me to build my own, and a deep interest in investments drove me to complete a Masters Degree in Applied Finance. 

But through every stage of growth, the one element that remained non-negotiable was a deep respect for my clients and a genuine interest in their welfare. Being authentic and caring are the traits that truly endure.

Anne Graham is Partner of Integrated Advice (Private Wealth) at Kearney Group.

I'm looking to merge out some information from Commpay, specifically the Accounts list in Commpay>Transactions.

Is there any Xmerge or ability to generate a report with the listing including:
- Account name
- Account Code
- Hierarchy (Most important)
- Account Category
- Status
- Contact Name
- Contact Primary group

The hierarchy is the most important as we are working with multiple groups and need this identifier.

Screenshot example attached.

Most advisers agree that referrals are the most powerful source of new clients. Yet many firms leave them to chance. The advisers who consistently receive referrals do not rely on luck or awkward asks. They build simple, repeatable habits around feedback, reviews, and appreciation.

Referrals and reviews are closely linked. When clients pause to reflect on a positive experience, they are far more likely to recommend you to someone they care about.

Start by asking at the right moment

Timing matters. The best time to ask for a review is when the client is happiest. This is often immediately after a successful outcome, a meaningful milestone, or a meeting that delivered clarity or relief.

Whenever possible, ask in person. A genuine conversation lands better than an automated message. Follow this with a short follow-up email asking for feedback so clients can act while the experience is still fresh.

Make asking for feedback part of your routine rather than a one-off effort. Consistency removes discomfort and builds confidence for both the adviser and client.

Make the process easy and specific

Clients are busy. If leaving a review feels complicated, it will not happen. Make the process quick and easy by sharing a direct review link and using a simple prompt.

Instead of asking for general feedback, ask specific questions. For example, what they valued most, what problem was solved, or what surprised them about the process.

At JBS we show examples of great testimonials to help clients understand what is helpful. Some advisers offer to write a short draft for clients to edit, knowing time is often the biggest barrier.

Short video testimonials can also be powerful for clients who are comfortable on camera. Even a brief comment can build enormous trust.

Build reviews into your systems

Review requests do not need to feel sales-driven. Including review prompts in onboarding emails helps set expectations early. Adding review requests to invoices or annual review follow-ups keeps the process visible and normalised.

We add an agenda item to our reviews which really helps and follow up with an email and link to Adviser Ratings. 

Following up a few times, politely and respectfully, is often necessary. Clients are rarely avoiding the request, they are simply busy.

Thank every client who leaves a review. A personal thank you reinforces appreciation and strengthens the relationship.

Where permission is given, share reviews publicly. This adds credibility and shows prospective clients what it feels like to work with your firm.

Always respond to every review you receive. This demonstrates professionalism and shows that feedback is valued, not taken for granted.

Focus on the right clients

Happy, repeat clients are your best advocates. Staying in touch with past clients regularly increases the likelihood of reviews and referrals. Do not wait until you need something to reconnect.

When clients feel cared for over time, not just during advice implementation, they are far more willing to speak positively about their experience.

Combining review and referral requests can feel natural when done thoughtfully. After a client reflects on their experience, it is often appropriate to ask if they know someone who might benefit from similar support.

Showing appreciation for referrals

When a client refers someone to you, acknowledgment matters. A genuine thank you builds goodwill and reinforces trust.

Thank you gifts can be a meaningful way to show appreciation, provided they align with your values and compliance obligations. This might be a handwritten note, a small gift, or a thoughtful gesture that reflects your brand.

The key is ensuring the gesture is about appreciation, not expectation. Make it clear that your thanks are for the trust shown, regardless of whether the referral becomes a client.

Clients who feel recognised are more likely to continue recommending you in the future.

A final thought

You do not need to implement everything at once. Start with what feels easy and build from there. The firms that succeed with referrals are not chasing them. They are creating experiences worth sharing and systems that make it easy for clients to do so.

Referrals follow trust. Reviews help scale it.

Jenny Brown is founder and CEO of JBS Financial.

If you ask financial advisers what really drives their business, most won’t say revenue, compliance, or even performance. They’ll say relationships.

Strong client relationships sustain advice businesses through market volatility, regulatory change, and fee pressure. They underpin referrals, retention, and trust. Yet, despite how central relationships are to advice, many firms struggle to measure the quality of the relationships between their staff and clients in any meaningful way.

That’s where metrics such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) can play a valuable role.  The Net Promoter Score is a practical “relationship pulse check” that you can use to look at your firms’ performance.

Why measure relationships at all?

Delivering financial advice is a high-trust, high-credence service. Clients often can’t easily evaluate the technical quality of advice, but they are very aware of how they feel about the relationship. Do they feel heard? Understood? Supported? 

In my work with service organisations, one consistent pattern emerges: firms that rely solely on gut instinct to judge client sentiment are often surprised when clients disengage, complain, or quietly leave. By the time a client files a complaint or moves their assets, the relationship has usually been deteriorating for some time.

Simple metrics, used well, help surface those early warning signs.

What NPS does well 

NPS asks a deceptively simple question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” The logic is intuitive. If a client is willing to recommend you, the relationship is probably healthy.

Academic research paints a nuanced picture. NPS is not always superior to other measures like satisfaction or trust, and it should never be treated as “the one number measure that you need to grow”. However, studies consistently show that at an overall firm or brand level, NPS can give you good insights into whether your firm is growing or declining. 

For financial advisers, the key is how NPS is used.

Used transaction-by-transaction (“How did you feel about this meeting?”), NPS can be noisy and misleading. Used periodically as an overall relationship indicator “Thinking about your relationship with our firm…”  it becomes much more informative.

Trust is the real story behind the score

One reason NPS resonates in financial services is that it appears to act as a proxy for trust. Research in financial institutions shows that clients with high trust in their provider are dramatically more likely to be promoters, while low-trust clients cluster among detractors.

For advice businesses, that matters. Trust is not built solely on returns. Clients judge trustworthiness through clarity of communication, perceived competence, ethical behaviour, and reliability over time. NPS doesn’t tell you why trust is high or low, but it flags moments in time where more work is needed to understand what’s working well (and what is not) for your client base.

This is why the most effective firms pair NPS with a simple open-ended follow-up: “What’s the main reason for your score?” Those comments are where the gold lies.

Practical ways advisers can use NPS

When advisers tell me they’ve tried NPS before and “it didn’t work”, the issue is rarely the metric itself. It’s how it was implemented.

Here are a few tips:

1. Use NPS
Once or twice a year is usually enough. The goal is trend tracking, not perfection. You’re looking for patterns over time, not a single magic number.

2. Focus on movement, not benchmarks
Comparing your firm’s NPS to other industries and firms is not helpful. What matters is whether your score, and the underlying comments, are improving, declining, or splitting into promoters and detractors.

3. Close the loop with clients
If a client gives a low score, that’s not a failure, it's an invitation to ask more questions. Advisers who follow up (thoughtfully and without defensiveness) often strengthen relationships precisely because clients feel heard.

4. Use NPS internally, not just externally
Some advice firms now track NPS-style feedback across adviser teams or offices, using it as a learning tool rather than a performance weapon. This supports service consistency and professional development.

NPS isn’t enough — but it’s a good start

It’s important to be clear: NPS should not replace richer measures of client experience. Advice businesses should also be paying attention to trust, confidence, understanding, and perceived value.

But NPS has one major advantage.  It is a simple measure. It’s easy for clients to answer, easy for firms to track, and easy to explain internally. In a heavily regulated environment where advisers are already stretched, that matters.

Seen through this lens, NPS is not about chasing promoters or fearing detractors. It’s about systematically listening to clients and using that feedback to strengthen advice relationships over time.

In an industry built on trust, that’s not just good measurement practice, it’s the basis for delivering great advice.

Professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele,
Department of Tourism and Marketing, Griffith University

I've spent a lot of time on the paraplanning side of the advice process, and there's a few things that reliably slows the paraplanning process down. 

It’s easy to blame the paraplanner (and sometimes it is their fault!) but what I often find is that a poorly structured paraplanning request is the reason things slow down.

When a paraplanner receives a request with wrong, too much or conflicting information, these things usually happen:

• The paraplanner makes assumptions to get the job done on time, which leads to rework; 
• They spend half a day hunting through documents, file notes to work out which information to use in the SOA; and/or
• They come back with a long list of questions, which ultimately creates delays.

None of this is anyone's fault, exactly. It's usually a data, template, time and possibly workflow problem. But it's fixable.

Here are some ideas on how to structure the paraplanning brief in your practice:

The three layers to your paraplanning brief

The best way I've seen advisers structure a paraplanning brief is to think about information in three layers, ordered by importance.

The first layer is the non-negotiables. I like to call these the ‘Fundamentals’. Without these, the paraplanner can't start. Basic client information, agreed goals and scope, risk profile, strategy outline, product recommendations (including alternatives considered), fees, disclosure requirements, projections required, the SOA template, and the due date. 

With this information, the paraplanner has a good understanding of what to write/model and by when. Put all this information in the first 2-3 pages of the request. 

The second layer is the supporting information. Once the scope of the advice is clear, supporting information helps the paraplanner write the SOA accurately. 

Examples of information include: Fact find, insurance quotes, product fee comparisons, contribution history, super fund data, Centrelink assessments. The paraplanner may need these to write the SOA accurately, but they don't need to read all of it upfront to get an understanding of the advice. What matters is that the documents are clearly labelled and easy to find when needed. A folder dump with 30 unlabelled PDFs is not supporting documentation. It's a scavenger hunt.

The third layer is information for context. Things like file notes, previous SOAs, trust deeds, and licensee guidelines. This information has its place. But it should sit in the background, available if the paraplanner needs it, not front and centre of the brief.

What not to include

This one surprises some advisers, but generic benefits and disadvantages text does not belong in a paraplanning request. If it's in the SOA template (and it should be), it's already handled. What the paraplanner actually needs from you is the specific reasoning, the why behind this recommendation for this client.

For example: "We've recommended retaining XYZ Super Fund to isolate the tax-free component for death benefits. The adult children won't pay tax on any death benefit payments, but note fees are 0.2% p.a. higher than the alternative."

That's useful because it’s not generic and shows why you’ve made a certain recommendation if it is not obvious. A copy-pasted list of generic product pros and cons is not.

Handwritten notes are also worth a mention. They’re no good. They slow the process and create errors.  Data should be captured digitally in software and provided to the paraplanner in a structured way. (It is 2026, after all).

And finally, thought processes and musings. If you're still working through the strategy when you write the brief, that's a signal to pick up the phone before the request goes in, not to include the deliberation in writing. The paraplanning request should say what the advice is and why. The thinking behind it belongs in your file notes and confuses the request.

When the paraplanner comes back with questions

They will, even with a clean brief. That's normal and it's part of the process working correctly.

When they do, the two things that make the biggest difference are speed and specificity. If a paraplanner is waiting on a confirmation from you to finalise modelling, every day of delay is a day closer to a missed presentation date.

When you answer, be specific. "I think it was around $60,000" is not an answer that moves the job forward. A paraplanner can't write a confident SOA on a best guess.

Email works well for clear, factual questions where a written record matters. Phone or video is better for anything complex, urgent, or likely to spiral into a long thread. If you do talk through something on a call, send a quick follow-up confirming what was agreed. It protects everyone.

An idea is to include a ‘Paraplanner Working Paper’ to the request, which includes:

• Assumptions made by the paraplanner
• Any missing information 
• Questions that can be answered in the document
• Decisions tracker

Make the request a ‘shared document’ and use this as a working paper during the SOA writing process.

Being clear means operational efficiency

Contract paraplanning is typically charged by the hour or by the job. Employed paraplanners are an expense that is more effective when more SOAs are written per week. Either way, a poorly structured request costs more than a well-structured one. Rework costs more. Delays cost more. The time a paraplanner spends deciphering a confusing brief is time they are not spending writing your SOA.

There's also a compliance dimension. Paraplanners are, whether we acknowledge it or not, a second set of eyes on advice quality. When a brief is clear, they can do that job properly. When it's a mess, they're too busy reconstructing the picture to catch any issues.

The request is where the SOA process either sets itself up for success or doesn't. It’s worth getting right.

Download a paraplanning request template here

Most advice businesses we meet are already performing at a high level. Clients are well cared for, revenue is stable, compliance standards are met and the team operates with professionalism. From both the outside and inside, the business feels solid. There is no crisis to solve and no obvious weakness demanding attention. Yet for many owners, there comes a quiet moment where “solid” no longer feels sufficient. Not because the business is underperforming, but because it could carry more presence. More precision. More confidence. The desire is not to fix what is broken, but to refine what already works so the business stands with greater authority and composure.

Back Office Hero works almost exclusively with practices in this position. We are not called in to repair chaos. We are invited into strong businesses that want to sharpen their structure. The biggest difference is rarely the obvious issue. It is usually the quiet refinement of architecture that shifts a respected practice into a category of its own.

The Subtle Shift from Competence to Authority
A competent practice delivers advice effectively and serves clients well. An exceptional business does something more subtle, it radiates control. That difference is not created through marketing or noise. It emerges from structural clarity.

In well-performing firms, systems often evolve organically. Processes make sense, staff understand their responsibilities and leadership maintains oversight. However, when you examine the architecture closely, you may find that certain decisions still rely heavily on experience and instinct rather than clearly engineered structure. Capacity may feel tight but not precisely quantified. Client segmentation may be sensible but not fully anchored to service intensity. Pricing decisions may be appropriate but not systematically aligned with effort.

Nothing in that description suggests weakness. It suggests opportunity. When structure becomes deliberate rather than inherited, the business begins to project maturity. Internally, leadership feels steadier. Externally, clients and peers sense composure. That is the beginning of real separation.

The Official Client List - Precision Creates Confidence
One of the first refinements we introduce is the Official Client List. In established practices, the adviser usually knows their client base intimately. Revenue is understood. Relationships are clear. Yet when CRM records, engagement agreements, revenue reporting and platform data are formally reconciled, small degrees of drift often appear. Not mistakes, simply the natural byproduct of growth and time.

When the Official Client List is engineered properly, segmentation becomes precise. Service levels align clearly with fees. Capacity can be forecasted with confidence rather than approximation. Decisions around pricing, selective growth or team expansion feel grounded in fact. The emotional shift is significant.

Leadership moves from intuition to clarity. Conversations become firmer, not because the adviser is trying to be assertive, but because the architecture underneath the decision is solid.

This is where structure begins to influence tone. When you know exactly who your business is designed to serve and how each client fits within the system, you operate differently. There is less hesitation. Less ambiguity. More quiet authority.

Data as Leadership Discipline
Most high-performing practices use their CRM competently. The next level is ensuring that data supports leadership rather than merely satisfying compliance. Clean, consistent data is not simply an operational benefit. It becomes a management asset.

Through our Data Quality Assessment and CRM Protocol refinement, we standardise core fields, clarify review cycles and remove duplication across systems. Reporting becomes reliable and consistent. This allows the business to see itself accurately rather than relying on fragmented information.

A Brisbane client illustrates this well. They were already a strong practice and had applied for the FAAA Professional Practice designation. On their first submission, they narrowly missed achieving it. The FAAA suggested that clearer structural documentation and governance evidence would strengthen their application and recommended engagement with BOH. Our work focused on refining procedures, clarifying ownership, strengthening governance rhythm and ensuring consistency in documentation. Nothing radical. Simply tightening the architecture. In November last year, they received their Professional Practice designation.

What changed most was not the external recognition. It was the internal clarity. The discipline required to meet the designation standard elevated leadership confidence and strengthened the way the business saw itself. Recognition became the byproduct of refinement.

When the Business System Becomes an Asset
In many good practices, procedures exist but are partly documented and partly understood through experience. They function well but still rely, to some degree, on leadership oversight and memory. This works while the business remains stable, but refinement creates resilience.

When onboarding pathways are clearly mapped, annual review rhythms are predictable and advice production steps are owned rather than implied, the business begins to feel different. Decision fatigue reduces. Delegation becomes safer. Leadership energy shifts from checking to designing. The business system moves from being an invisible support structure to becoming a tangible asset.

This refinement aligns closely with our broader S3 philosophy - Structure, Strategy, Scale - where structure creates clarity, strategy becomes deliberate rather than reactive, and scale becomes the outcome of controlled execution rather than ambition alone.

The Emotional Outcome of Refinement
What many advisers notice after structural refinement is not dramatic operational change, but emotional steadiness. Pricing discussions feel grounded. Capacity planning feels measured. Team conversations feel clearer. There is less background tension and more strategic headspace.

The business feels lighter, not because there is less responsibility, but because there is less ambiguity. Leadership becomes more deliberate. Growth becomes more intentional. The enterprise begins to take shape beyond the personality of its founder.

You are no longer simply running a successful practice. You are shaping a durable business.

The BOH Position

Back Office Hero does not position itself as a provider of systems or outsourcing. We are the partner who identifies what is quietly limiting clarity - even in strong, high-performing businesses - and resolves it properly.

For good practices that want to shine, the conversation is not about correction. It is about elevation. Clarity strengthens confidence. Structure reinforces authority. Refinement multiplies legacy.

And the biggest difference is rarely the obvious issue.

Mark Lewin
Founder, Back Office Hero

But underneath, one basic question often remains unsettled:

Who exactly are we responsible for?

That question sounds simple. In practice, it is one of the most important management questions in a financial planning business. At Back Office Hero, we call the answer to that question the Official Client List.

And once a business gets it right, everything starts to change.

What is the Official Client List?

The Official Client List is the formally approved register of all active fee-paying client groups as at a fixed date.

That definition matters.

It is not just a CRM export.It is not a rough estimate.It is not a list of everyone the business has ever dealt with.It is not a mixture of active, inactive, historic, and half-complete records. It is the list of the client groups the business is genuinely responsible for right now.

That means active.That means fee-paying.That means reconciled.That means agreed. And, ideally, it is fixed at a point in time, usually 30 June, so the business can say with confidence: this is the population we are responsible for at year-end.

Why this matters more than most firms realise

Many firms assume they know their client base because they know their major relationships or because the CRM contains hundreds, or even thousands, of names. But that is not the same as having a trusted denominator.

The denominator is the base number underneath many of the most important ratios and decisions in the business. If the denominator is wrong, then many things built on top of it are wrong too. Revenue per client becomes misleading.Clients per adviser becomes distorted.Capacity planning becomes guesswork.Review obligations become blurred.Pricing analysis becomes less reliable.Management reporting loses credibility.

In other words, the business may still be producing numbers, but it is no longer managing from fact. It is managing from approximation.

That is a dangerous place to be.

The hidden problem inside many CRMs

Most CRMs are not designed to protect management truth. They are designed to store history.

Over time, that history becomes clutter.

Old clients remain in the system.Inactive entities stay mixed with active ones.Couples, SMSFs, trusts, companies, and individual records sit in different places.One family group may appear as multiple “clients” even though only one fee relationship exists.Another may still be paying but be poorly visible in the service rhythm of the business.

This is how confusion creeps in. A business may think it has 300 clients, when in reality it has 220 active fee-paying client groups. Another may think it has a healthy average revenue per client, when the real number is materially higher once the list is reconciled. Another may believe its review workload is under control, when in fact the service population has never been properly settled.

This is why the Official Client List is not a tidy-up exercise.

It is a management control.

Why we call it “the secret”

We call it “The Secret is Out” because many firms do not realise how much commercial truth is hiding inside this one exercise.

When a business establishes a clean Official Client List, it often discovers things it has not properly seen before.

• It discovers the true size of its active client base.
• It discovers the real revenue per active client group.
• It discovers whether service tiers make sense.
• It discovers where capacity strain is actually coming from.
• It discovers whether certain clients are receiving service without sufficient economic support.
• It discovers whether its client base reflects deliberate strategy or historical drift.

And sometimes, for the first time in years, the owner can answer a basic question with confidence: how many real clients do we actually have? That is not a small moment.

That is often the point where management starts to become real.

The Official Client List is also a compliance issue

This is where the conversation becomes even more serious. If the business does not know exactly who its active fee-paying client groups are, it cannot be fully confident that its ongoing service obligations are correctly visible. That means review commitments may be unclear.Fee disclosure obligations may be sitting on an unstable base.Clients may still be paying while being poorly embedded in the service rhythm of the business.

This is where risk hides.

A messy denominator is not merely inefficient. It can create genuine compliance vulnerability. That is why we often describe the Official Client List as a Primary Compliance Control. Before a business can confidently say it is delivering on its obligations, it must first know who those obligations belong to.

The Official Client List helps answer that question.

What changes once the list is right?

A lot.

First, management becomes sharper. The owner can see the real business, not the imagined one.

Second, service scheduling improves. The team is no longer working from a loose impression of the client base. It is working from a trusted register.

Third, reporting becomes more meaningful. Revenue per client, adviser loads, service burdens, and capacity assumptions all begin to rest on something firmer.

Fourth, strategy becomes more deliberate. The firm can start asking better questions.

Are these the right clients for this service model?Does our pricing reflect the load we carry?Is our client base the result of design, or simply inheritance?Are we building the future business, or just maintaining the past? This is where the Official Client List starts moving beyond data and into commercial value.

Because once the denominator is right, the business can begin to think properly about structure, strategy, service, and scale.

Why most firms avoid it

Not because they are careless. Most firms avoid it because it is confronting.

• It forces the business to stop guessing. It forces definitions.
• It forces agreement on what a client actually is.
• It forces the owner to see the difference between a noisy CRM and a trusted management base.

And it often reveals that the business has been relying on instinct where it thought it had been relying on data. That can feel uncomfortable. But it is also liberating.

Because once the truth is visible, it can be managed.

The deeper commercial payoff

There is also a bigger reason this matters.

A better business is not built only through hard work. It is built through clarity. Buyers, investors, licensees, and future leaders do not place confidence in businesses that rely on rough numbers and founder memory. They place confidence in businesses that know what they are, who they serve, and how their service obligations are structured.

The Official Client List is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to begin building that confidence.

It is where management becomes more factual.It is where service becomes more visible.It is where strategy becomes more deliberate.It is where enterprise value starts to rest on stronger foundations.

The secret is out

The Official Client List is not admin.

It is not housekeeping.

It is not a spreadsheet project for a quiet afternoon.

It is one of the most important structural controls in a financial planning business. If you do not know exactly who you are responsible for, you cannot confidently measure service, capacity, pricing, profitability, or risk. But once you do know, everything gets stronger.

The secret is out.

Many of the problems owners feel in the business are not random. They begin with an unclear denominator. And many of the gains they want in control, confidence, service reliability, and value begin by getting one thing right:

the Official Client List.

The desire at this stage is not to fix what is broken, but to refine what already works so the business stands with greater authority and composure. Transitioning from a respected practice to one in a category of its own rarely requires radical change, it requires the quiet refinement of architecture.

The Shift from Competence to Authority

A competent practice delivers advice effectively, but an exceptional business radiates control. This sense of composure isn't created through marketing; it emerges from structural clarity.

In many well-performing firms, systems evolve organically. While processes may make sense, certain decisions often rely heavily on instinct rather than engineered structure. This leads to several common scenarios:

• Quantifying Capacity: Capacity may feel tight but is not precisely measured.
• Service Alignment: Client segmentation may be sensible but isn't fully anchored to service intensity.
• Pricing Logic: Pricing decisions may be appropriate but aren't systematically aligned with actual effort.

When structure becomes deliberate rather than inherited, the business begins to project maturity. Internally, leadership feels steadier; externally, clients and peers sense a new level of composure.

Precision Creates Confidence: The Official Client List

One of the most effective refinements for an established practice is the formal reconciliation of data to create a definitive "Official Client List". Even when an adviser knows their base intimately, small degrees of "drift" often appear when CRM records, engagement agreements, revenue reporting, and platform data are formally aligned.

By engineering this list properly, a business gains significant advantages:

• Precise Segmentation: Service levels align clearly with fees.
• Grounded Decision-Making: Capacity can be forecasted with confidence, making decisions around selective growth or team expansion feel grounded in fact rather than approximation.
• Reduced Ambiguity: Conversations become firmer because the architecture underneath the decision is solid.

Data as a Leadership Discipline

In high-performing practices, data should support leadership rather than merely satisfying compliance. Clean, consistent data is a management asset that allows a business to see itself accurately.

Consider the example of a strong practice that initially missed out on a professional designation. By tightening their architecture, refining procedures, clarifying ownership, and strengthening governance rhythms, they didn't just achieve the designation; they elevated their internal clarity. The discipline required to meet high standards strengthens the way a business sees itself.

Turning the System into a Tangible Asset

Refinement creates resilience. When onboarding pathways are clearly mapped and advice production steps are owned rather than implied, the business undergoes an emotional shift:

1. Reduced Fatigue: Decision fatigue drops and delegation becomes safer.
2. Strategic Headspace: Leadership energy shifts from "checking" to "designing".
3. Intentional Growth: The enterprise begins to take shape beyond the personality of its founder.

The business system moves from being an invisible support structure to becoming a tangible asset.

For successful practices looking to reach the next level, the conversation is rarely about correction. It is about elevation. Structure reinforces authority, and refinement ensures that a practice isn't just successful today but is a durable business for the future.

Mark Lewin

Founder, Back Office Hero

We do bulk imports (override and append) for clients on a daily basis, but has never tried it for maintaining User data. And since I was tasked to update a field (Region Manager Name) for all users, I think doing a bulk override would be the most practical way. But I can't seem to figure out the correct field key to use for the User Entity ID. Is there like a list of the correct Field Keys for the Users data source?

Thank you 😊

In my last video, I (maybe) sold you on the benefits of niching. But it's not all sunshine and ewoks – you're going to have to get comfortable with ways of doing business that may seem counterintuitive at first. 

So, in this video, let's explore some of the potential downsides of going down this path: 

Could your practice turn more profit? Business Health have proven that advice businesses who successfully focus on the three core pillars of client engagement, business planning and staff management have seen a profit boost of more than 100%. Join us for an unmissable session into the top drivers of profit, and learn what others are doing in these areas to unlock the hidden profit in their practice.

With expertise from,

•  Kerry Ong - Iress facilitator,
• Rod Bertino - Principal & Owner, Business Health,
• Simon Clifford - CEO & Owner, Adviser FP, and
• Jeff Thurecht - CEO & Senior Adviser, Evalesco Financial Services
  
  this presents a unique opportunity to boost profit in your business.
  
  Register for the webinar Here

The recent launch of Profit Booster continues to attract a lot of interest and feedback.

This unique online tool offers business owners objective and independent insights as well as positive suggestions to further the "health" of their practice. It's also supported by a wide range of educational, thought-leading and research-based material. 

The Profit Booster is simple, quick, informative and exclusive to Advisely members. Why not check it out?

While the Profit Booster quantifies the average profit uplift achieved by those firms who regularly seek feedback from their clients, Business Health’s CATScan client satisfaction research continues to show that "relationship" is the highest-performing key performance indicator of the nine areas we ask clients to rate their adviser on.

Verbatim comments further reinforce this idea: 91% expect to maintain an ongoing business relationship, while 87% are happy to refer. Happy days!

Not so fast, though.

In our experience, a quiet client isn’t necessarily a happy one. Unexpected or unforeseen "stuff" – whether it's a friend's health issue, negative media coverage of the profession or new, complex product styles – can sometimes intervene and create a moment for the client to pause and reconsider.  

There will always be "things" happening in their lives and sometimes you have to listen very carefully to hear what's not being said.

You can't expect every client to stick around forever, of course. But if you're losing too many, it's a good time to assess your retention rate over the last 12 months. How does it compare to the previous year? 

Remember that losing clients is the lag indicator. If you want some lead indicators that clients might be at risk, consider the following: 

Early warning indicators that your relationship could be called into question

The first sign is waning enthusiasm. Do you have clients who are:

• Not following through on what they committed to do?
• Tardy when returning your calls, emails or requests for information?
• Pulling out of agreed meetings – in person or virtual?
• Not opening your communications?

Next, how do you feel about it? How do you think the last meeting went? Did you feel good about it, and did they? Did you lock in a time for the next meeting – and are you looking forward to it?

Expanding this further, how do your staff feel? They're invariably the first point of contact for clients, so have they detected any negative signs? 

If you're having trouble assessing, the client's "vibe", consider: are they still happy to refer you to their family and friends? What are your referral and conversion rates?

Finally, and this is a big one: do you know the kids? 

Most of the research we come across suggests that upon the death of one of their parents, the kids intend to move their parents’ assets away from the adviser. This finding has only recently been reinforced by research from Natixis Investment Managers, which reported that 45% of advisers are concerned that they won’t retain assets from client’s spouses or children following a transfer.

The perception (rightly or wrongly) is that the parents’ adviser isn’t known to them and probably isn’t a good fit. Seems a tad harsh, maybe, but it's their reality for now. 

So, how do you address these problems and avoid any nasty surprises?

Seven of our favourite tips for maintaining client relationships 

Note that, unless stated otherwise, any "fact" item is derived from Business Health research.

1: Set (and exceed) client expectations

On becoming your client, most won’t know what to expect from the relationship. What a wonderful opportunity this presents for you to lay down the ground rules, set out your service standards and address any questions they might have. Expectations are set and met.

And, as your relationship evolves over time, never assume the client knows what you’ve done for them over the last 12 months. Tell them, framing your relationship in terms of what you've done for them – how you've delivered value, in other words. 

Fact: the average revenue/fee per client is $3,852.

2: Ensure the "R" in your CRM refers to "relationship"

There’s so much more to developing and maintaining a quality relationship than product holdings and investment performance.

To be truly effective, your CRM should capture the important relationship-building data about your clients – hobbies, community activities, children’s details, aspirations, dreams and so on. Critically, this information should be maintained and updated on a regular basis.  

Fact: only 4% of practices are holding 20 or more individual pieces of information on each of their key clients. A third (35%) still store fewer than 15 data points, and quite often it's the more personal, key relationship-building information that's missing.

3: Communicate

Our research consistently shows that frequent, meaningful and personalised communications will deepen and enhance every client relationship. And while "communication" incorporates meetings, newsletters, social media, video and events, our view is that there's an important place for "face-to-face" – both through in-person meetings and unprompted "how's things" calls. 

Fact: 27% of Australian practices contacted their clients on at least ten occasions in the last year. These firms were achieving a 43% higher level of profitability (boost).

4: Make the review meeting impactful

The review meeting is the one occasion during the year where you control the narrative. You can reassure and advise the client of the progress to their goals and address any issues they might have.

In 39% of firms, at least one other person (beyond the adviser and client) sits in on the meeting, while 80% of firms report that the average time for a review meeting is between two to 2.5 hours hours.

Fact: reviews are the poorest performing area as rated by clients through Business Health’s CATScan service. There's a big missed opportunity here. 

5: Ensure your range of services are compatible and aligned to clients' evolving needs

There’s no need to dwell here, but as Australian clients continue to grey,  accumulation, saving and protection needs are gradually morphing into retirement, annuities, estate planning, health and aged care. And yet, only 24% of practices plan on expanding their suite of services in the coming 12 months.

Fact: "range of services" has been steadily falling down CATScan’s KPI satisfaction ratings. It's now the third-lowest in the group. 

6: Track your lead indicators

There are a number of indicators that will give you an early "heads-up" regarding the quality of your client relationships. These include referral and retention rates, client satisfaction levels, number of client contacts and client "value-for-fee" metrics.

Track your trends over time and perhaps look into building these indicators into staff job descriptions, annual objectives and incentive programs.

7: Feedback - get it, listen objectively and action as necessary

In our view, it would be highly presumptuous to assess the quality of any client relationship without seeking the input and feedback of the client themselves.

We believe that this feedback should be regularly sought from all clients. In addition to a general satisfaction survey (conducted every 18-24 months), there are several other important events which trigger a survey:

• within one month of coming on board or leaving the firm
• after a client review or special event (such as a seminar)

Crucially, you need to taken in this feedback with an open mind – and act upon it, where appropriate.

Fact: one in four practices (26%) are seeking feedback from their clients, with most of these being conducted internally by the business itself. Practices who actively employ an independent third party to undertake these client surveys are achieving a higher level of profitability (a 91% boost).

We hope this piece encourages you to continue to proactively monitor the satisfaction levels of your clientele, taking nothing for granted.  

For your consideration.

Jennifer was one of the good ones.

She built her business in Adelaide from the ground up, one client at a time, one conversation at a time, one late night at a time. Her motivation was simple: to help people. If someone reached out, she would listen. If they needed advice, she would give it. If they couldn’t quite afford her fee, she would find a way to make it work.

In the beginning, this was her advantage. Clients adored her warmth and generosity. They told their friends, who told their families, and before long, Jennifer’s small practice had become one of the most respected advice firms in South Australia.

When asked what made her successful, Jennifer always smiled and said, “If someone knocks on my door, I’ll help them.”

It was a philosophy that served her well, until it didn’t.

The Tipping Point

Eighteen years later, Jennifer’s firm was an established business with a strong brand, a loyal client base, and a capable team. There were two senior planners, a junior planner, and an administrative team that kept the wheels turning.

On the surface, things looked great. The numbers were steady, the office was full, and the marketing engine was humming. But under the surface, the cracks were showing.

The team was stretched. Deadlines were tighter. The planners were working longer hours. And the feeling in the office, once light and energised, had become quietly strained.

Jennifer noticed it too, but old habits die hard. Whenever the phone rang or a new enquiry came in, she couldn’t bring herself to say no.

“We can fit them in,” she’d tell her team. “It’s what we do.”

The Subtle Realisation

It was during a strategic business session with Back Office Hero that Jennifer’s situation became impossible to ignore.

Her practice metrics were solid, but the story they told wasn’t comforting. Client numbers were up, but margins were flat. Staff satisfaction had dipped. Despite growing revenue, the business was no more profitable than three years earlier.

When Mark from BOH asked why she kept taking on every prospect who came through the door, Jennifer said simply, “Because they need help. If I don’t help them, who will?”

Mark nodded. “That’s admirable,” he said. “But how long can you keep helping everyone without losing the capacity to help anyone well?”

The room went quiet. Jennifer leaned back in her chair. “That’s just how I’ve always done it.”
And there it was, the sentence every experienced planner eventually says aloud.

The Habit of Saying Yes

For Jennifer, helping everyone wasn’t just a business choice, it was part of her identity. It was what had built her success. But what she couldn’t see anymore was that the very habit that made her business grow was now holding it back.

Back Office Hero introduced her to the Ideal Client Calculator, a simple but confronting tool. It showed her, in black and white, what her heart had been avoiding.

A third of her clients were paying less than the cost to serve them. Each new planner increased expenses without improving profit. The business was busy, but not efficient.

Jennifer finally understood what she’d been feeling but couldn’t name, she wasn’t tired because she didn’t love her work anymore. She was tired because her generosity had no boundaries.

The Turning Point

The following weeks were uncomfortable. Change always is.

Jennifer met with her team and showed them the data. She admitted, with her characteristic honesty, that she had been saying yes too often and that it was affecting everyone.

“We’ve been running like we’re still a small firm,” she said. “But we’re not. We’ve grown, and our systems need to grow too. We need to protect what makes us good, not wear it out.”

Together, they revisited the client model. They defined what an ideal client looked like, someone who valued advice, sought an ongoing relationship, and saw the worth in paying appropriately for it.

From there, they refined service packages, introduced clearer boundaries, and built systems that allowed the team to focus on clients who matched the firm’s purpose.

When new enquiries came in, they were screened using the Ideal Client Calculator.

Prospects who fell below the threshold were referred elsewhere.

It wasn’t rejection, it was stewardship.

The Gentle Shift

Habits don’t change with declarations, they change with decisions, made quietly, one after another.

Jennifer began to pause before saying yes. She looked at each opportunity through two lenses, does it help the client, and does it serve the business? If it didn’t meet both, she learned to pass.

Her planners followed suit. The office felt lighter. There was time again for team meetings, professional development, and those long-lost client coffees that build loyalty money can’t buy.

For Jennifer, the hardest part wasn’t the system or the pricing, it was the silence that came after saying no. It felt unnatural at first. But as the months passed, that silence began to sound like clarity.

With fewer, better-aligned clients, her planners delivered deeper advice. The admin team finished on time. Client satisfaction improved. And for the first time in years, Jennifer left the office before dark.

She hadn’t just changed her business. She’d changed a habit that had quietly been running her life.

The Moment of Clarity

At the end of the next financial year, Jennifer sat down with her team to review their progress. Revenue was up. Profit margins had improved. Staff turnover was down.
She looked around the table at a team that finally had room to breathe and smiled.

“This is what I always wanted,” she said. “To run a business that helps people and gives us a good life too.”

Mark from BOH smiled back. “That’s what happens when you replace habit with structure,” he said. “You haven’t lost your generosity. You’ve just given it direction.”

The Lesson

Jennifer’s story is familiar to anyone who’s spent years in advice. The drive to help, to say yes, to be the trusted one, is why most planners start. But left unchecked, that same instinct can slowly strangle a business.

There’s no shame in it. It’s human nature. We repeat what once worked until it no longer does.

But growth demands evolution.

The planner who wants to help everyone eventually learns that the only sustainable way to do so is by helping the right people, in the right way, through a business that supports the promise it makes.

That’s what the Ideal Client Calculator helped Jennifer see. It wasn’t just about profit; it was about focus. It showed her that systems and boundaries don’t reduce compassion, they preserve it.

The New Habit

Months later, a younger adviser from Adelaide reached out to Jennifer for guidance.
“Do you ever feel bad turning people away?” he asked.

Jennifer smiled. “Not anymore. I used to think I was saying no to them. But really, I was saying yes to my team, to my family, and to the clients who trust us most. That’s a better kind of help.”

The adviser nodded, thoughtfully. Jennifer could see something of her younger self in his eyes, eager, kind, and determined to do good. She hoped he’d learn the same lesson a little sooner.

Because when you stop trying to be everything to everyone, you discover you can finally be something meaningful to many.

Closing Thought

Back Office Hero doesn’t tell planners to care less. It teaches them how to care wisely. Systems, boundaries, and metrics aren’t barriers to kindness; they’re the structure that allows it to last.

And for Jennifer, the planner from Adelaide who once tried to help everyone, that realisation changed everything.

Now, she runs a business that thrives, a team that breathes, and a life that feels balanced again.

The habit of saying yes will always whisper, but she’s learned to answer it with something stronger, clarity.

And that’s the quiet triumph of a planner who finally learned that helping everyone can sometimes mean starting with yourself.

Understanding how your business compares to your marketplace peers can provide a critical perspective to your planning process. As Peter Drucker once put it, “Only outside a business are there results, opportunities and threats.”

It’s for this reason that Business Health has been delighted to be a part of the Advisely initiative and has appreciated the opportunity to provide practical, meaningful support to the advice community. 

One particular area where we’ve strived to deliver value is through our data, which has been largely derived from Australian advice firms completing at least one of our unique business diagnostics. By consolidating results, we’ve been able to develop a set of Australian advice firm benchmarks and profit drivers, and we’re excited to see them underpin the new Advisely Profit Booster tool.

Powered by Business Health data, the Profit Booster instantly identifies the most impactful actions a business owner can take for maximum profit uplift. Covering clients, staff and business, the tool allows owners to compare their practice against other advice firms. 

Completing the Profit Booster will provide advice practices with:

• an awareness of what their colleagues and peers are (or are not) doing
• an insight into how they could be performing and what they can learn from better-performing practices (and what pitfalls they can avoid from poorer-performing ones)
• an understanding of their biggest contributors to profitability and what steps they can take to implement plans, supported by Advisely’s library of “how to” support material.

So, how can you get the most out of this new tool?

1: Start now

While there’s probably no wrong time to test your business, there will always be a really good time to do it – and that time is now! It will only take a few minutes and you’ll learn so much.  

2: Don’t gild the lily

Ensure the data you input is accurate, current and honest. If your own data is somewhat unreliable, you could be creating a minefield of misinformation for yourself. 

3: Keep an open mind

Remember that this data has been contributed by people just like you – people who’ve shared what and how they’re managing their practice.

While you’ll receive your results for nine key profit drivers, our experience suggests some will be more relevant than others for you today. Begin by focusing on the KPIs most relevant to you and your business right now.

Also, don’t beat yourself up if your results are down on your peers – the good news is that you now know, with some certainty, how you compare. And, courtesy of Advisely, there’s plenty of help available. 

4: Commit to implementation 

Armed with your Profit Booster feedback, the real question becomes, “What should I do about it?” 

As we wrote recently – and to paraphrase the words of famed AFL player, coach and all-round inspiring Australian of the Year 2025, Neale Daniher – “when all is said and done, more is said than done.”

It’s time to commit to action, share your results with your people – including your B/PDM, coach, mentor, and whoever you turn to for advice and guidance – and then decide your response and the steps necessary to implement. Document those steps, incorporating them into your business plan, and then do it! 

Sounds simple, we know, but our latest analysis reveals that just one in four Australian advice firms have documented their business plans for the next 12 months.

5: Ignore the “not nows”

It’s our hope that every practice will invest a few minutes to complete a Profit Booster for their own business. It’s simple, quick and informative, and there’s no right or wrong outcome.

Don’t let the following excuses distract you from boosting bottom-line profitability:

• “My business is different, so I won’t be able to compare it to any other”: Maybe it is, but there are some common drivers of success across all business models.
  
  
• “I’m happy with my progress right now”: Ignorance can indeed be bliss, but not forever. Maybe you’ll pick up some tips to make it even better!
  
  
• “I don’t have the time”: Really? It will take you less than five minutes.
• “I might need help interpreting my results and deciding what to do”: Advisely has a host of support material available that is free for all users of the Profit Booster tool and we (Business Health) are always available to help.
  
  
• “I don’t have ready access to all of my recent business data”: You don’t need it! To complete the Profit Booster, you don’t need any of your business financials or even have access to the P&L or business balance sheet. 

Let us know how you go – we’d love to hear from you.

For your consideration.

Every week we speak with practice owners who thought their merger would be straightforward – and six months later, they’re dealing with staff walkouts, duplicated systems or silent boardroom battles. 

The numbers stacked up. But the human and operational fit didn’t, and the deal is now worth less, not more. 

The following three examples highlight the very real red flags that can derail advice practice mergers if they’re left unchecked.

Case one: the revolving door 

A $3.5 million practice acquired a smaller boutique to build scale. Within six months, a senior adviser and practice manager had both resigned, citing “lack of clarity” and “different ways of working.” 

The larger practice assumed the smaller team would simply slot into existing roles and systems. Instead, SOA turnaround time slowed to over 90 days, client handovers kept being pushed back and service levels dropped.

Their clients noticed, too – referrals dried up and retention slipped. Integration costs ballooned, far outweighing the projected revenue uplift. 

Sound familiar? We’ve all seen this movie before and, spoiler alert, it’s not a rom com. It’s the one where your best adviser walks out halfway through the plot and the ending costs twice as much as you budgeted. 

Case two: the tech tug-of-war 

Two mid-sized practices merged, each with strong but different systems. Both insisted their CRM and process library was “non-negotiable.” 

One team swore by Xplan with custom threads; the other refused to let go of their well-oiled Worksorted setup. Neither side would budge. 

The result was three months of stalemates, duplicated efforts and data quality issues that left the team frustrated and inefficient. What should have been a capacity win became a costly bottleneck – worse, the inconsistent records created compliance risks the firm couldn’t ignore.  

Case three: the culture clash 

Two advice firms merged with the goal of creating one “high-performing” business. On paper, it made sense: profitable businesses, strong client bases and complementary services. 

But culturally, they couldn’t have been further apart. One firm had a casual, family-style atmosphere – flexible hours, Friday drinks and lots of collaboration. The other ran on structure: strict start times, formal policies and a clear chain of command. 

At first, both sides tried to adapt. But within months, friction set in. The “family” team felt micromanaged. The “structured” team felt the other group lacked discipline.

Jokes started in the office about “us vs them.” Staff stopped sharing ideas, silos were created and cross-team projects slowed to a crawl. 

By the end of year one, staff turnover had spiked, client experience was inconsistent and the promise of “one strong team” had turned into two divided camps under one roof. 

As one adviser told us, “It feels like we never really merged. We just share an office.” 

Five red flags 

So, what do these three cases tell us about merger risks? We can identify five red flags:

1. Staff uncertainty: People don’t know if or how their role will change, their reporting lines or future prospects. 
   
   
2. Process paralysis: Two “non-negotiable” ways of doing things clash and slow everything down. 
   
   
3. System stalemate: Multiple CRMs, duplicated data, errors creeping in, clients getting mixed messages. 
   
   
4. Leadership disconnect: Owners present unity but disagree behind closed doors (or worse, in front of the team). 
   
   
5. Culture drift: One practice’s culture dominates, leaving the other team feeling disengaged and overlooked. 

If you’re spotting even one of these red flags, your merger could already be on shaky ground.

These stories aren’t rare; they play out in advice practices every day. And by the time firms call us in to help, the costs are higher, the risks bigger and the fixes slower. 

That’s exactly why Zestt Consulting and Tangelo Consulting created the Fit to Merge Assessment – a structured, practical review of your people, culture, systems and processes. It’s designed to spot the red flags early so you can align your team, streamline your systems, and protect the value of your deal. 

If you’re planning a merger or acquisition, don’t leave the fit to chance. The Fit to Merge Assessment helps you anticipate risks and avoid the costly surprises. 

The risk isn’t in the numbers – it’s in the fit. 

Mergers and acquisitions in the financial advice sector are on the rise – and for good reason.

Scale brings efficiency, broader capability, and resilience in a changing regulatory and economic landscape. But while the strategic logic of merging is often sound, the execution is where many practices stumble.

The reality is that most advice businesses are built around relationships, culture and deeply embedded ways of working. These elements don’t show up in a financial model, but they’re often the reason a merger either thrives or quietly unravels.

Beyond the balance sheet

Legal and financial due diligence are essential, of course, but they’re only part of the picture. What’s often overlooked is “merge readiness”: the ability of two businesses to integrate not just their operations but their people, systems and values.

M&A failures rarely make headlines,  but they’re felt deeply within businesses. Global research shows that 70% to 90% of M&A deals fail to achieve their intended goals, largely due to poor cultural alignment and lack of team integration.

Staff disengagement, cultural clashes, duplicated systems, and client dissatisfaction are common symptoms of poor integration. These issues don’t just slow growth; they erode trust and momentum.

Without a clear transition plan, even the most strategic merger can become a drain on leadership capacity. And when compliance frameworks and workflows aren’t aligned, the risk of regulatory missteps increases – along with operational inefficiencies.

Successful mergers require alignment across three key dimensions:

• Culture: do the teams share similar values, leadership styles and client philosophies?
  
  
• Process and compliance: Are workflows compatible? Can compliance frameworks be harmonised without disruption? How do we make policies consistent?
  
  
• Capacity: Do leaders have the bandwidth to manage change while continuing to run the business?

Without clarity in these areas, even well-intentioned mergers can lead to disengagement, inefficiencies and client attrition.

A smarter way to merge

Forward-thinking advice businesses are beginning to treat M&A as a transformation, not just a transaction. This means investing in pre-merger assessments, transition planning and post-merger integration – with the same rigour applied to financial modelling.

Some innovative approaches include:

• Cultural mapping: Using diagnostic tools to assess cultural compatibility before the deal is signed.
  
  
• Digital twin planning: Creating a virtual model of the merged business to simulate workflows, client journeys and compliance processes.
  
  
• Leadership capacity audits: Evaluating whether key leaders have the time, tools and support to lead through change.

These strategies unlock the full potential of the merger by ensuring it’s built on a foundation of alignment and readiness.

Help is at hand

For those advice businesses considering a merger, support is available. Zestt Consulting and Tangelo Advice Consulting offer a collaborative framework designed to address the human and operational sides of integration.

• Zestt focuses on people, culture and change management, helping teams navigate the emotional and behavioural shifts that come with M&A.
  
  
• Tangelo brings expertise in systems, compliance and process alignment, ensuring the merged business is scalable, efficient and future-fit.

The “fit to merge" framework

Our approach starts with a discovery workshop – helping businesses assess their readiness and identify critical gaps. From there, we offer customised transition planning, including IT and HR integration, client engagement strategies and ongoing support.

We don't focus on avoiding problems; the approach is all about unlocking the full potential of your merger and lifting energy, capability and long-term value.

Don’t leave it to chance

M&A is a journey. And like any journey, preparation matters. If you’re exploring a merger, now is the time to ask the deeper questions. 

We utilise a thread for our review process that indicates different tasks such as:

1. Conduct review meeting
2. Update XPLAN and conduct research
3. Lodge paraplanning request
4. Complete SOA
5. Finalise and send SOA

I would like to understand if there is a report in EXCEL format that I can run to show the timeframe between each tasks (e.g. How long does it take for the paraplanning request to be submitted after the review meeting, or how long does it take for the SOA to be completed from the time the paraplanning request is lodged).

If at all possible, can this report be automatically generated and emailed?

Help?

Thanks, Sandy

Introduction

Financial planners often commence their professional journey by welcoming virtually any client to establish a revenue base. While this approach is practical in the early years, it frequently results in a heterogeneous client base - an inefficient blend of profitable and low-value relationships.

The Ideal Client Calculator, developed by Back Office Hero (BOH), provides a systematic method for transitioning from ad hoc growth to strategic client selection. This shift enhances profitability, reduces operational burden, and improves enterprise value by aligning client profiles with the firm’s long-term objectives.

Purpose of the Ideal Client Calculator

This tool equips advice firms with a structured framework for defining, evaluating, and managing the types of clients they wish to attract and retain. Rather than relying on instinct or legacy relationships, it introduces clear criteria that guide client selection based on financial metrics, strategic alignment, and behavioural compatibility.

It enables the business to:

• Clearly define the core characteristics of an ideal client, based on both financial and behavioural criteria.
• Make more informed and consistent decisions when determining which prospects should proceed to onboarding.
• Gradually transition out clients who no longer align with the firm’s strategic direction or operational efficiency goals.
• Establish a replicable, objective, and data-informed framework to guide client acceptance and maintain practice integrity

This tool is most effective when used early in the annual Business System Calendar, ensuring that client selection remains intentional, strategic, and aligned with the firm’s evolving business model and capacity.

Methodology and Application

The Ideal Client Calculator is primarily used by financial planners and client service managers as a practical tool to bring structure and discipline to client selection. It is typically:

• Applied during the prospecting phase to determine eligibility for a Discovery Meeting
• Reviewed annually to reassess and refine client entry thresholds
• Referenced when evaluating whether existing clients continue to align with the firm’s strategic focus and service model.

Observed Outcomes

Firms who implement the Ideal Client Calculator consistently report noticeable improvements in both day-to-day operations and long-term business outcomes. By embedding client selection into a repeatable, criteria-based process, these practices shift from reactive decision-making to strategic management of their client base.

They commonly experience:

• Enhanced clarity in client acceptance decisions.
• Improved metrics in client fee averages and FUM per client.
• Increased alignment between service expectations and delivery.
• Decreased planner frustration and administrative burden.
• Improved staff confidence in declining poor-fit referrals.

One practitioner noted, “We used the tool to politely say ‘no’ to a referral that would have been time-heavy and low-revenue. That decision alone saved hours of admin each month.”

Challenges Addressed

Prior to implementing the Ideal Client Calculator, many financial planning businesses operate without a clear framework for client selection. This often leads to inconsistent onboarding decisions, resource strain, and a client base that grows in size but not in quality.

Common issues preceding tool implementation include:

• Lack of clear client eligibility criteria.
• Pressure to accept referrals despite misalignment. 
• Inconsistent onboarding decisions across team members.

The tool reframes these challenges by establishing that poor client fit diminishes business performance and long-term value.

Philosophical Foundations

Back Office Hero’s philosophy is built on a clear truth: not all clients are good for business. Every client introduces time, compliance, and capacity costs - and when these outweigh the value a client brings, the business loses efficiency, focus, and margin.

The Ideal Client Calculator reflects our belief that client selection should be a business decision, not a personal one. A systemised firm must protect its resources and ensure that every client admitted contributes to its long-term viability and profitability.

To maintain this discipline, BOH recommends:

• Admitting only those clients who enhance core business metrics like fee levels, FUM, and service alignment.
• Reassessing what defines an “ideal client” on an annual basis.
• Respectfully transitioning clients who no longer fit the firm’s strategic direction.
• Prioritising firm-wide standards above individual planner preference or sentiment.

This approach ensures the business remains aligned, intentional, and scalable - laying the groundwork for a more valuable and sustainable practice.

Data and Inputs Required

For the Ideal Client Calculator to deliver reliable and strategic outcomes, the business must first ensure it has access to accurate and consistent data. Without a strong foundation of clean inputs, the tool becomes subjective - undermining the consistency and objectivity it is designed to deliver.

Effective use of the tool requires:

• Clean client data, including revenue per client, FUM, tenure, and service activity.
• Financial benchmarks derived from the top-performing 50% of clients.
• Defined minimum fee thresholds and a clear list of available service packages.
• Qualitative characteristics such as value alignment, responsiveness, and coachability.
• Clarity around which client segments the business is actively targeting.
• A nominated team member responsible for maintaining the tool and updating assumptions annually.

The Ideal Client Calculator is most effective when used in conjunction with the Official Client List, enabling the practice to track client suitability, identify exceptions, and manage profile changes over time. Together, these tools reinforce disciplined client curation and provide visibility into the evolving shape of the business.

Related Tools and Integration

The Ideal Client Calculator is complemented by:

• Official Client List – identifies scalable, profitable clients.
• Client Ranking Tool – segments clients by effort, profitability, and risk.
• Information Memorandum – incorporates client selection criteria into business planning.

Recommended timeline:
    • July – Review Official Client List.
    • August – Update the Ideal Client Calculator.

Client Criteria and Variables

Common evaluation metrics include:

• Minimum annual fee (e.g., $5,500 including GST)
• Age range (e.g., 45-65
• Willingness to follow advice 
• Communication preferences
• Document compliance and review attendance

Implementation Guidelines

Effective rollout involves establishing clear decision-making criteria and ensuring the tool is embedded into the client onboarding workflow. It should be championed by the Office Manager and reviewed annually to remain aligned with evolving business priorities.

• Aligning the team on firm-level client selection criteria.
• Training administrative staff on triage procedures.
• Educating referral partners on ideal client profiles. 
• Defining clear scoring thresholds.
• Documenting exceptions for future review.

Alignment With Organisational Strategy

The Ideal Client Calculator supports BOH’s broader mission to guide advice firms through a structured transition - from informal, founder-led decision-making to systemised, scalable business operations.

It helps shift the business:

• From founder-driven judgement to consistent, objective processes
• From ad hoc onboarding to strategic client curation
• From instinct-based choices to data-informed decisions

By embedding client quality standards into daily workflows, the tool reduces key-person dependency, strengthens succession readiness, and supports consistent service delivery - all essential for building a transfer-ready business.

Conclusion

The Ideal Client Calculator is not merely a screening tool; it is a strategic asset. When applied effectively, it improves profitability, reduces planner burden, and fosters business continuity. Combined with the Official Client List, it empowers practices to clarify who they serve, why they serve them, and what long-term value that creates.

Mark Lewin

Founder

Back Office Hero

Having worked with hundreds of financial planning practices across Australia, I’ve been lucky enough to have a kind of backstage view of the industry. 

From solo advisers to huge practices, it’s clear that the desire to grow is strong. The Advisely Growth Survey revealed that over 80% of advisers are looking to bring in new clients this year, but nearly half of them admitted they’re struggling to make it happen. Most industries would probably say the same, but their issue would be marketing or lead generation. 

With our industry, however, it’s often less obvious barriers that are holding practices back.

One of the most consistent challenges I hear about is the sheer weight of compliance. Advisers genuinely want to help more people, but the regulatory framework in Australia has become incredibly complex. Between ASIC, DBFO and the legacy of FASEA, it’s hard for practices to keep up. The rules change frequently, interpretations vary and the consequences of a misstep are significant. 

For some, the effort it takes just to onboard a new client has become so administratively taxing that they’ve paused their marketing altogether. It’s not that demand is lacking; it’s that the backend work required is daunting.

Financial pressure adds another layer. The cost of delivering advice – from wages and software subscriptions to compliance overheads – continues to rise, but many practices haven’t revisited their pricing models in years.

Some are hesitant to raise fees, worried about the effect and reaction on clients, while others simply haven’t tracked their profitability closely enough to know if expanding would actually help or hurt. 

Growth often seems like the solution to these issues. But without a clear understanding of margins or capacity, expansion becomes risky.

Finding and retaining quality staff – whether paraplanners, CSOs or junior advisers – seems to be the biggest issue our advisers raise to us. The flow-on effects of regulatory fatigue have driven many advisers out of the industry, and smaller practices can’t always compete with larger ones when it comes to salary or structured career progression. 

This creates bottlenecks. Advisers want to grow their client base, but they’re reluctant to push for growth if it means burning out the existing team. I’ve seen practices hold off on marketing campaigns purely because they’re unsure how they’d service the influx of clients.

And then there’s the issue of operational infrastructure. Many practices, especially smaller ones, are still relying on manual or obsolete processes; systems that worked fine when the business was smaller start to fall apart under the pressure of growth. 

CRMs are often underused, task management becomes chaotic and reporting turns into a weekly scramble. Often, everything still hinges on the principal – and when they’re busy or away, things stall. Practices that invest in scalable infrastructure tend to weather growth more smoothly, but it’s a big ask when margins are already tight. 

An adviser said to me recently that he needs a financial adviser for his practice. He loves seeing clients and helping them get their financial position in order, but his own planning – business forecasting, budgeting, scenario modelling – feels reactive, not proactive. He just couldn’t get his head into it. 

This isn’t uncommon: I’ve met practices that know their revenue figures down to the cent but still feel unsure as to whether they can afford to hire, or how much they’re paying for their software. When planning principles are applied internally with the same rigour as client work, decisions become clearer and more confident.

The big takeaway is that growing a financial planning practice isn’t just about increasing client numbers. It’s about maturing the business structurally, operationally and strategically. Growth doesn’t happen just because the client numbers are increasing but because the right foundations are laid and the practice evolves to support that ambition. 

I’ve seen firsthand that when practices invest in systems, define their messaging, support their staff and treat their own planning as seriously as they do their clients’, the growth doesn’t just follow – it sticks.

Is there a better approach to this? We want to use the portal to share EOFY reports etc with these entities in a secure fashion and the portal seems like the logical place to do it, but I'm not keen on maintaining two records in order to do this.

Wondering if further development of this is already on the roadmap?