Full Focus Limited
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Takapuna, Auckland
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David Martin: 0274 902 401
Kathy Martin: 027 2800 564
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9 ways to get the best out of your professional advisor
Do you leave your professional advisor’s office feeling confused? Do you come away shaking your head and without all the answers you were looking for?
More often than not you are paying for every minute you sit in front of your professional advisor. You might also pay for a phone discussion or perhaps even an email. It makes sense to set yourself up to get the best of out these discussions.
Here are 9 ways to help ensure you can get the most out of every interaction you have with your professional advisor:
- Prepare for every meeting. Always have an agenda. Know what questions you want to ask. Be clear about what you want to achieve and don’t get side tracked - stick to your agenda.
- Make sure your queries are answered. If you become confused, say so, and get clarity so that at the end of the discussion you know the answer.
- Don’t feel undermined or intimidated. It’s your business and no question is a dumb question when you’re after the very best for your business.
- Don’t be afraid to question your advisor. They do make mistakes and sometimes it takes a layman to pick them up. If they have an attitude … stick to your guns, be persistent about your concerns and about what you want. Remember, they are working for you!
- It can be helpful to take an independent advisor along with you. Someone who’s on your side in getting the best result and also providing a second set of ears. Just make sure it’s someone who will call a dog “a dog” - someone who will stand up for you and is not afraid to ask the hard questions.
- If appropriate, set specific targets and timelines. Set deadlines too ... by when will they have the job done?
- Give them all the information or resources they need to get the job done.
- Make sure they know what your business goals and objectives are. How can they help your business if they don’t know where it’s heading?
- Get the terms of appointment and agreement clear. Be specific about the results you want.
Two AMAZING and TRUE stories:
1. Our client’s banker became very confrontational when we questioned the 
way he recommended putting their mortgage together. After all, he stated, he had been a banker for umpteen years and knew far more than us about banking. Now we couldn’t argue with that – we’re not bankers and never have been. But we persisted with our line of enquiry.
As it turned out, the banker of umpteen years had in fact NOT made the best recommendation for our client. Without persistence, the client would have ended up with a detrimentally structured mortgage, instead of one tailored specifically to their needs.
2. A lawyer had, in almost every legal document he’d prepared, misspelt our client’s name. When this was pointed out it was laughed off. When new legal documents were required we rang the solicitor as well as emailed him, reminding him to get our client’s name right this time. But, you guessed it .. the documents were produced with the wrong name again. Unbelievable. Not only did the documentation have to be redone, but it had to be re-executed by a number of different people as well. This is a huge cost to busy people. Let’s hope the lawyer doesn’t charge twice for his own incompetence.
We’re not saying that your professional advisors don’t work in your best interests. Mostly, they do. But they are not bullet proof. They make mistakes. They are often tunnel visioned and don’t see the big picture, and this can have nasty ramifications.
There's more information on this topic and about having a team of committed advisors around you and your business.
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Don’t forget to check out our latest blog posting. You'll find another true story - The lawyer and the legal document.
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