In a letter to Britain’s King George III in 1793, Emperor Qianlong wrote ”our Celestial Empire possesses all things in prolific abundance and has no need to import the manufactures of outside barbarians”. No doubt the message was received loud and clear in London – we don’t need anything from anyone.
It’s a long bow I know (and it’s a bit sad to admit), but the Emperor’s message got me thinking about something a little closer to our home – one of the major findings from our Future Ready whitepaper series has been adviser focus and effort. According to our most recent analysis, the average number of client meetings an adviser is having with clients (can be face to face, virtual – existing or potential) is 6.1. While we’re not too sure exactly where the rest of the time is being spent, we do know that without positive interactions with real people, most advice businesses will eventually be at risk.
How can practices get on and do the things they do best (and need to do more of) aka serving their current clientele and finding more of the same type of clients?
With the greatest respect to the Emperor, we believe that in the 21st century, ‘outsourcing’ offers a valid business strategy. Effectively implemented it can:
- Create more time for the business to focus on its core activities
- Allow the business to move some fixed costs to variable
- Save money and time
- Provide access to ‘best in class’ expertise – when you need it
- Streamline or decomplicate the business
We’ve listed below some of the activities which are important to the smooth running of any practice. They also drive its profitability and they’re currently being poorly implemented by too many Australian firms. These activities are also capable of being outsourced to third parties;
While we’re certainly not advocating outsourcing for every practice, we do believe that there is a need to address the way business is being done today in a pragmatic, objective and open-minded manner. New business models are gradually, but surely, emerging and today’s practice leaders will now need to factor in outsourcing as a viable, perhaps even necessary, business strategy going forward.
Yours in best practice,
Terry Bell, Business Health.