A few years ago I arranged for a photographer to come to our house to take a family portrait. The process was painful and reasonably pricy. The photographer didn’t have control over the environment, failed to put the family at ease or to build any trust. He took the photos and left. He returned a few days later and then spent hours looking through paper contact sheets of the photographs to choose the best photo to put in the pride of place on our mantel piece. The experience was extremely disappointing and the output very poor.
Last weekend I took an enlarged family to Venture, a new breed of photographer. The photo session was at their premises, giving them control of the environment, the lightening, the technology and importantly the atmosphere. The session was fun and productive, accumulating in a professional slide show in a small movie theatre where the photograph and ourselves worked together to choose the pictures for our family portrait. If we liked a picture but not the style we could try different styles, backgrounds, view the photo as a black and white image and explore different mountings and frames. The cost was higher but the process was more efficient and the final output much, much better.
A few years ago I also went to an IFA. He completed a paper factfind at my office then left. He returned a few days later with some paper based quotes. We chose the product, probably without fully understanding the implications and then completed a long arduous paper application form. I have never used that IFA again.
Last month I witnessed an IFA planning process. The session was at the IFA’s office. The meeting was slick and professional under the full control of the adviser. The financial plan was presented on a large screen in a movie theatre style room where the adviser and client work together to build the financial plan together, experimenting with different scenarios. The client leaves with a full understanding of their financial position and comfortable in the financial decisions they have made.
Contemplating these stories it struck me how in the photography world nearly everyone has moved to a digital world, although not all will be as slick as Venture yet in the IFA environment few people have fully embraced the power of electronic financial planning. The benefits are clear – the IFA I witnessed is extremely efficient and extremely profitable. Surely RDR will now force more adviser firms of this type into the world?
