Spotlight on first client meeting as fee-based shift begins

Laura Miller
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Communicating your value to clients within an hour of meeting them is taking on fresh significance with the move to fee-based advice, industry figures say.

Chris Cummings, director general of the Association of IFAs (AIFA), says advisers are "getting better" at what he calls the ‘ice-breaker' meeting, but others say they may be losing business as a result of their inability to articulate their worth. "This is an area of weakness, even with some very good advisers," Brett Davidson, chief executive of FP Advance says. A survey conducted by Professional Adviser suggests the vast majority of advisers (88%) consider the initial client meeting to be "extremely important", while 73% say they believe they are skilled at communicating their value...

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