Change: As good as a rest?

Received wisdom is that nobody likes change. Is that really true? Surely change is what keeps life interesting, regardless of whether the change is good or bad. When change means a better outcome then what’s not to like?

I think we’re all getting better at dealing with change, largely due to the digital revolution and the way this is shaping our lives. Standing still is definitely not an option for the majority and the phrase ‘you snooze, you lose’ has never been more true.

Financial advisers are at the forefront of dealing with change. Government, the regulator, technology are all forcing the way advisers run their businesses to continually adapt the way they work, not to mention keeping up with the demands of an ever increasingly technophilic client base. With so much going on it’s easy to push non-essential change to the back burner but such a strategy is akin to treading water and will do nothing to power a business forward.

Of course some advisers are very open to change and regularly take a long hard look at how they run their businesses. These advisers are open to finding out about new services and systems and, when presented with hard evidence that what they do can be improved, with better outcomes for them and their clients, they are not afraid to take action. Obviously this requires some investment in time but if this results in clients getting better value for money these advisers recognise that this is time well spent.

Rather than accept that a process is ticking along OK, shouldn’t all advisers be striving to find the very best options for clients and be open to change? I know I’d rather have a restless adviser who is constantly checking to ensure that what they are achieving for me and my investments is the best it can possibly be. If there is a better option I’d want them to know about it and adopt a new approach if they can see it would give me a better outcome.

So if, as the saying goes, ‘a change is as good as a rest’ then maybe today is the day to challenge the status quo and look at how your business could benefit from doing something different.