Financial Planner: Congratulations on being recognised as the latest Accredited Financial Planning Firm, why did you apply and what do you hope to gain from the accreditation?
Ivan Hutchings CFPCM: As both Adrian and myself are CFP^CM professionals, it was therefore important that we moved the firm to a position where it is an Accredited Financial Planning Firm^TM. We believe that this award is only available to firms who demonstrate a certain quality and it is that quality which we wish to relay to our prospects and clients.

FP: Will you be attending this year's IFP conference and have you attended in the past? What do you think of the event?
IH: Unfortunately, this year I will not be attending the IFP conference as it falls on 1 October which is my wedding anniversary. In terms of the event, I have been several times over the past and always found them informative, and to catch up with old friends and fellow Financial Planners and having the opportunity to discuss the various problems we have with our business is as important as the actual presentations themselves.

FP: How did you get into Financial Planning and what attracted you to the profession?
IH: As they may say in the IFP, I was "Lorded"! While working for an insurance broker firm, I went to see former IFP President Julie Lord FIFP CFPCM speak up near Cheshire on how she operates her business. Everything she said made sense and, from that time on, I joined the IFP and re-modelled the business to fit in with the Financial Planning principles. Since then, I have moved jobs a couple of times but it is those basic principles that have remained throughout and that opportune meeting and being "Lorded" has paid dividends several times over.

FP: How has your team and company changed since the launch of the company and what has the journey been like? How many clients do you have and what’s the annual turnover?
IH: Adrian set the business up in 1999 as a “one-man band”. One of the weaknesses of the company was the fact that it was a “one-man band” and therefore Adrian needed a partner and fellow adviser.

While looking for a new job back in October 2003, I was recommended to Adrian by one of our mutual friends on the Wednesday. On the Thursday, one of the insurance inspectors phoned me up and said that there was an IFA who specialised in investments looking for an IFA who specialised in pensions. He believed that we would be a good fit and was I interested? Within two hours, myself and Adrian were in the pub, pretty much sealing the deal! My wife would say I am not an impulsive person but, when it comes to the big decisions, I seem to be so. It only took me three months to propose to her and obviously, deciding to join Adrian, again literally was “love at first sight” but the deal was right at first looking at it!

In terms of how many clients I have, I have 45 clients and my personal turnover is around £170,000. The business itself has 340 clients with an overall turnover approaching £700,000. We offer general Financial Planning to our clients, covering all their assets and financial issues. This can be as varied as how to purchase a new property abroad, funding children/grandchildren’s properties and straightforward “do we need to buy an annuity in order to be able to retire”.

FP: What type of Financial Planning do you offer to clients and what are your fees/charges? Do you have any specialisms?
IH: I am a pension specialist and have purchased a number of properties via pension funds, although with the new borrowing requirements of Sipp and SSAS, these have reduced. I still believe this is a very poor decision on behalf of the Government and that more businesses and the economy would benefit from allowing a more realistic lending position on pension funds.

FP: How do you find new clients and what have been some of your best practices in terms of sourcing new clients? Please give examples of what works most effectively?
IH: In terms of finding new clients, there is nothing special. The first thing I would say is that having built up a solid client bank, the most important thing is retention of our existing clients. We find that we only need to add a few clients a year to keep the business moving in an upward trend.

In terms of the clients we attract, the majority are referrals from one form or another, be it accountants, mortgage brokers or existing clients.

Personally, I find another way of attracting clients, is playing golf. I play a significant amount with different people and, having spent four or five hours with them, if there is any need it generally comes out in conversation what you do, what they do and, if they have any problems with their Financial Planning and, at that point in time, I offer them a company-branded golf ball marker and pitch repairer and leave it for them to come back to me if they want to take matters further.

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FP: In terms of running your business, what software applications do you use (particularly in reference to Financial Planning and back office software) and what sort of internal processes do you run in brief to ensure everything runs smoothly? Do you have a weekly practice meeting, for example?
IH: We have no specialist software as the majority of our business is run through a bespoke Outlook system which was put in place by our IT Specialist Terry Fairbrother of Remedy IT.

The one thing we have found necessary when using the wrap system, is what we describe as a four eyes check. This means that all transactions are double checked by another person to ensure that they are accurate. This has improved our administration accuracy no end.

FP: The firm offers four levels of client service, which ones are most popular and how do you decide what is offered at each level?
IH: The four levels of service that we offer are Plutus, Minerva, Maia and Direct. This, effectively, is reduced down to just two levels of service. The reason I say that is we have a number of clients who are direct where we have done a one-off solution for them. These are generally old clients who we retain on this basis that they can come back to us as and when they need any further advice. Generally speaking, these are individuals who do not have the wealth or need for our full service.

Our other main services are Maia and Minerva, these are full-service clients. The difference between the two is that Minerva clients generate us regular income in excess of £5,000 per annum and therefore they have two meetings per year, as opposed to Maia clients who have one.

FP: What has been your greatest source of achievement in running your business and what are you proudest of?
IH: When we look at the business, one of the achievements that we are most proud of is identifying what is required in order to be able to offer our clients a top-quality service and making sure that we deliver that.

In order to do that, we have therefore recruited quality staff and delegate to them wherever possible. The old adage of “you only do what only you can do” is very appropriate and I believe that we actually follow that as closely as possible.

FP: Now we are in the post-RDR world, what is the next step for you and your firm? Do you think the RDR has changed anything?
IH: RDR has changed the world. In terms of our processes and procedures, it has been a very straightforward move across to the new world as our fundamental business was already RDR-ready, prior to it coming in.

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FP: Many planners are concerned about the rising cost of regulation and other threats to their businesses. What do you see as the main threats to your business?
IH: In terms of threats to the business, I do not really see that there are many threats. We are seeing a shrinking number of advisers which therefore means that clients become available, the banks and larger players are becoming increasingly incompetent in dealing with High Net Worth Individuals and I see the market for quality IFA firms increasing over the next few years.

FP: If you could change anything about the Financial Planning profession what would you choose?
IH: I suppose, if I could choose anything about the Financial Planning profession, it would be to get a regulator who actually knows what they are doing and does not keep changing things.

FP: What do you do in your spare time?
IH: I used to play hockey, cricket and squash to a high level but unfortunately my body no longer allows me to participate in any of those sports. Instead I have moved onto golf and whereas in the past I would play one of the above three up to five times a week, I have now just limited it to purely golf.

This therefore enables me to meet a significant amount of people and over the course of a three to four hour round, it allows me to get a full understanding of the individual, how they tick and is an ideal prospecting tool. That is my justification, anyway!