“Welcome to, in many ways, a whole new world.” So said Dennis Bashford, managing director of the Futuro financial planning business, opening the group’s 2009 conference in the Hunter Valley, north of Sydney, recently. “I think the past 12 months, in particular the past six, have been the most difficult I can recall since I began in the financial services industry in 1966,” Bashford said.
But he added: “Times like these present invaluable opportunities to those…with courage and intellect, who can admit the way they have done things in the past may be a little less relevant today.” Two clear messages emerged from the Futuro conference. First, the world has changed, and the businesses that emerge from the downturn will be those that understand what their clients want, adapt (where necessary) to deliver a range of relevant services, and do so profitably.
And second, there’s no point making wholesale changes to your client service offer (CSO) solely in response to the downturn – there has to be a more compelling long-term business case than that. I refer to the Futuro conference and Bashford’s words this month because they neatly encapsulate the thinking behind some changes that are about to take place at Professional Planner. The economic downturn has implications for magazines just as much as it does for financial planning practices.
Accordingly, starting this month, we’re making some changes – redefining our client service offer, as it were. Most obviously, we’re altering our publication schedule from monthly to bi-monthly. That means you’re reading the April/May edition and we’ll next publish, in two months’ time, a June/July edition. This decision simply reflects the economic realties we face.
We believe that by taking considered action now, we can avoid possibly having to take more drastic action later, when we might not be so fortunate to be able to control what we’re doing. To support this change, we’ll make more use of our website, to bridge the period between print editions. We’ll use the website to bring you updates on key issues, to provide you with news when we judge it appropriate – we are not proposing to bombard you with information every day just for the sake of it – and to cover events that occur between editions of the magazine.
You can stay up-to-date with website developments by visiting the site regularly – www.professionalplanner. com.au – and by making sure our regular e-mail updates are not being eaten by your spam or junk mail filter. As the economic environment continues to deteriorate, planning businesses have to adapt to survive. That means knowing precisely what your competitive advantage is, understanding your market segment, playing to your strengths and cutting your cloth according to your means.
A magazine is really no different in that respect to a financial planning business (except that we cannot sell risk business!). We believe we have a competitive advantage: a clear commitment to the cause of higher ethical and professional standards, and an equally strong commitment to quality, independent journalism. We know our market segment: it’s individual planners and planning firms that aspire to the same ideals, likewise believe there’s room for considered changes and improvement in the industry, and who appreciate a slightly irreverent approach towards some of the industry’s sacred cows.
Since inception in October 2007, Professional Planner has worked hard to established a distinctive voice and presence in the planning community. Based on feedback I receive directly and indirectly, we’re developing both a strong readership and, I believe, a publication that has a long-term future. I know that some of our competitors have been suggesting that Professional Planner’s demise is imminent; that’s not only annoying, it’s also dishonest.
And I know there are some planners out there who will take pleasure from our apparent discomfort. But we’re not actually going anywhere, and if we’ve challenged the way you do business, and made you think about how you operate and how you relate to clients, then I’m pleased to say we’ll continue doing that. We are unafraid of putting forward unpopular views, and pointing out the industry’s shortcomings (and suggesting solutions) whenever that’s necessary.
But we support the good work done by professional practitioners, too. While the bulk of the content of Professional Planner is designed to support planners in their businesses, we believe in vigorous and open debate; it’s only by being challenged that ideas and theories can be proved.
One of the other changes this month is the departure of senior journalist Kristen Paech. Kristen joined Professional Planner in January last year, and very quickly developed a reputation for covering the industry and its issues incisively, intelligently and diligently.
Kristen is moving on to a sister publication to Professional Planner, Investment & Technology magazine, and to the Top1000funds.com website. Both are published by Conexus Financial. I’d like to thank Kristen for her tireless efforts over the past year or so, and – as Dixon Bainbridge might like to put it (see page 54) – for helping to keep the ship on the rails
