Focus on service, not fee, post-FOFA

In an exclusive interview with ifa, Ron Kaufman, US-based motivational speaker and author of Uplifting Service, said Australia’s Future of Finacial Advice regulations are an opportunity to rethink the approach to client engagement.

“Before you can think about ‘fee for service’, you have to know what service is,” Mr Kaufman said. “Service is taking action to create value for someone else.”

Before taking action, however, Mr Kaufman says advisers have to examine their clients’ true values and their “broader financial context” (i.e. their views on how external events such as political developments and natural disasters influence their underlying financial needs and goals).

“The most important thing in making the change [to a service culture] is to get yourself into the life of the people you’re serving,” he said.

Mr Kaufman will be presenting a keynote address at the Association of Financial Advisers(AFA) national conference, which will be held on the Gold Coast from 12 to 15 October 2013.