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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, July 31, 2014 | 12 MID-SUMMER 7-DAY SALE WAREhoUSE SALE opEntothE pUbLIc S Get the most out of your adviser Dollars & Sense Peter Watson Guest Contributor 9-Piece Dining Set 9-Pc Cast aluminum Dining Set 9-Pc Wicker Dining Set w/glassTop 100's of Sets MUSt go!! HUge SavingS OUTDOOR PATIO FURNITURE WE'RE OVERSTOCKED AND MUST LIQUIDATE OVER $250,000 OF INVENTORY! Fire Tables | secTionals | conversaTion seTs Kelsey conversation Set 4-piece ometimes the logic of how an investment adviser runs their business back res. It starts with good intentions that are poorly executed, resulting in an unsatisfactory outcome. The cause of the problem begins with client segmentations. This is not unique to the investment business. It applies across many other industries as well. Segmenting your clients into groups such as A, B or C is done so a business may spend more time, money and effort on the clients that are the most pro table. An `A' client likely is a more important client to the business because they produce the most revenue. There is a commonly referred to rule in business called the 80/20 rule. Eighty per cent of your revenue comes from 20 per cent of your clients. Think of the good or the not-so-good of your own life. You can see how most aspects can often be categorized under the 80/20 rule. A school teacher, for example, will likely have 80 per cent of the discipline problems from 20 per cent of the class. On the positive side, an investment adviser needs to run and operate that business as best as they can. Pro ts are necessary, otherwise there will be no business. Clients need their adviser to make a fair income from their business, so clients will have the ongoing necessary investment advice. The problem arises when the enthusiasm for providing excellent service to clients with larger portfolios leaves clients with smaller portfolios receiving little or inadequate service. The adviser's spare time is used prospecting for more `A' clients. As a result, 80 per cent of an adviser's clients may be displeased with the level of service. People tend to talk more about bad service than excellent service, so the adviser's brand and respect suffers. Building and maintaining an investment business is challenging in this current, very crowded and competitive environment. Having a poor reputation makes that challenge all the more dif cult. If you feel that you are not an important client and would like better service, there are several steps you may take. The two options are to x the problem or leave. Leaving is easy, but you may have changed advisers before and found after the initial honeymoon stage, the service level declined to the low level that had caused you to change advisers in the rst place. Our recommendation is to ensure you will have an acceptable minimum standard of care from your adviser. If you are displeased, arrange a meeting with your adviser to provide feedback. Discuss what other services will be offered and request a speci c number of meetings per year. Will you be able to receive nancial planning guidance to help you navigate through all of your nancial issues? Will you receive cash- ow projections that show whether or not you are on target to achieving your various nancial objectives? This exercise should, in most cases, be done annually. You might not be the largest and most nancially-attractive client an adviser serves, but when your adviser has 100 per cent of your investable assets, that is a big and important number to you. For most people, requesting a meeting with their adviser to discuss their displeasure with the service will be awkward. Sometimes the more important things to be discussed are awkward. The reward is worth it. Your adviser will be encouraged to make changes that will help their advisory business by providing a minimum standard of care to all clients. By taking the time to talk to your adviser about what is important to you, the level of service that you will receive will likely improve. -- Submitted by Peter Watson, MBA, CFP , R.F .P ., CIM, FCSI., Certi ed Financial Planner with 4-conversation chairs Fire pit PaTio FurniTure | samPles | clearouTs | brand names Mon-Wed 10aM-5pM · Thurs-Fri 10aM-8pM saT 10aM-5pM · sun 11aM-4pM open 7 daYs a WeeK rd uNit 101 Wa l kE rS 3335 north Service Road | Unit 101 Burlington, On L7n 3g2 289.337.3601 SE W Gu liN E N. QE Elp rv icE liN . E h On Now at The Brick! For more details go instore or online @thebrick.com.