We’ve regularly expressed our concern over the fact that a relatively small number of Australian advice practices actively seek external input/advice to help with the management of their business. It’s disproportionately low, in our opinion, compared to the value of the asset they’re dealing with (ie. their practice). Not to mention the value an experienced business coach or advisory board can bring to a business.

Practices meeting with an external adviser/business coach at least quarterly are 89% more profitable than those practices who aren’t. (Data extracted from Future Ready VIII, Insights into the Australian Advisory Profession, Jan 2020, Business Health Pty Ltd). Our concern has now turned to frustration with subsequent analysis revealing that of the 200 practices ‘HealthChecked’ through our business diagnostic over the last year; nearly one in two practices confirmed they had not sought any external input, at all, during the last 12 months.

Given the extreme challenges of today’s marketplace, surely these business owners would benefit from some expert input and advice? The most recent poll conducted by Risk Info only last week, adds further fuel to this discussion; 65% of business owners stated that they do not intend to utilise external input in the next 12 months to better manage and build their practices.

…enter manufacturers and licensees

From the pandemic-specific research we undertook last year, we concluded that a significant gap exists between advisers and BDMs when it comes to the perception of value provided by BDMs since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic; while 47% of BDMs believed they had added significant value to their advisers, only 19% of advisers believed that they had received significant value from their BDM. (<<Click here to view all results from this survey >>)

As practices are now beginning to emerge from the pandemic and coming to terms with the short and long term implications, an ideal opportunity exists for manufacturers and licensees to assess and reposition the role of their frontline BDMs, and in doing so, lift the perceived level of value being delivered to the adviser. At least, worth a discussion?

For your consideration.
The team at Business Health