With so many awards out there, many firms may be wondering if entering them is worth the effort.
We spoke to Andrew Elson of multi-award winning Berry & Oak – which recently won two Professional Adviser Awards: one for Best Client Engagement and one for Director Sarah Elson as Champion of Advice – to find out why it’s worth the hype.
Let’s start with some background: how did you get to where you are now?
I became an IFA in 2004 after working for Lloyds TSB, and joined a network so that I could serve clients better. That went bust a few times and I ended up with Beaufort Group in 2012. Later, in 2018, my wife Sarah and I decided we wanted to do things a bit differently so we struck out on our own.
We were very much focused on financial planning and wanted to do more to support people in other areas, such as education. Going direct was the best thing we’ve ever done (although we’re still on very good terms with Beaufort).
When we started out, our target was to win one industry award. We’ve now won 27 – people call us the Ant and Dec of financial planning!
Do you have any advice for people who don’t win?
People can easily look at how many awards we’ve won and not see the struggles we had getting here. We didn’t even get to the finals for five years of entering. And, once we did, it took a while to actually win anything.
Instead of being disheartened, we saw this as an opportunity to develop our business. After all, you can always learn from failures. We conducted SWOT analysis, read the questions properly and took time to really consider what we do and whether it’s good enough.
We also examined our weaknesses more closely, and looked at what the winners were doing better than us. At that time, New Model Adviser were running an article on a different firm every week. We’d learn from our competitors to improve what we were doing that way too. This wasn’t just to win awards, but to benefit our clients and staff.
Which are the best categories to enter?
The best categories, for us, are around financial planning, because that's what we do. This year we’ve had some success with outstanding achievement awards as Sarah spent lots of time getting finance onto the curriculum of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, which is now a 13-week module. There’s very little financial education in schools and we wanted to address this.
How much of a difference does winning awards make to clients?
Awards play a big part in showing that you’re trustworthy. People are scared of getting advice, even if they’re the CEO of a FTSE 250 firm who knows their stuff.
We’ve got the attention of a handful of clients from London because of our award wins – they’ve realised they don’t need their financial adviser to be right on their doorstep.
It’s also reassuring for current clients, as it affirms that they’ve made the right decision by choosing us.
It’s not just clients who are attracted by awards, either. Candidates want to be part of multi-award-winning firms, whether that’s in a senior ops role, paraplanner, administrator or as an adviser. As everyone knows, it’s hard to get good people into your business so external endorsement really helps.
We’ve even had people contact us asking if they can join our firm once we have an opening.
Tell us about your approach to client engagement
We want to provide something of value at every touch point, so one thing we do is produce short, personalised videos to answer client queries or after a meeting. We create a family tree for clients to show we understand who the important people in their lives are. Virtual clients receive hamper of tea/biscuits prior to their meeting. And we produce a range of communications including a monthly newsletter, and a quarterly email explaining performance and fund changes.
We want clients to feel as if they’re part of the Berry & Oak family, and that they can introduce theirs to us too. So we invite client’s children into the office (or to a Zoom meeting), to explain how to look after their money and plan for their future.
We don’t rest on our laurels though. We issue regular surveys and every client in our last survey was very or extremely satisfied with our service. We go back to clients to let them know what we’re doing as a result of their feedback. This ongoing dialogue is key to the relationship.
What’s your final piece of advice to those considering entering professional awards?
One thing that’s good to do is start journaling, what have you done, what’s been special during the year? One, you can write a blog on this, and two, when you come to enter awards, you’ve already got the basis for an entry.
The most important thing is to read the questions carefully. We probably spend between 4-6 hours and a couple of days on applications, depending on what they’re asking for. It’s a big commitment but when you win clients on the back of it, it’s worthwhile.
People wonder if you only win if you buy a table. Absolute rubbish. I am a tight Yorkshireman and don’t like to pay for anything! There have been awards nights we haven’t attended, yet won, so I know that doesn’t happen.
If you don’t win, don’t be afraid to ask the judges afterwards for feedback on how you can improve, they can’t always reply, but some will.
And don’t worry about not winning - if you can become better as a business for your staff and clients that’s a win in itself.
