Hargreaves Lansdown

HARGREAVES LANSDOWN

The comments below were my response to an article in New Model Adviser about Hargreaves Lansdown's half yearly figures which were quite outstanding.

Most of the early respondents were quick to critisize their business model and client offering. My view is that we ignore their business success at our peril. We must learn from the way in which the public are using their services in even greater numbers if we are to compete and not finish up as just a niche profession of no interest to most people.


"We must stop this inward looking and accept that the public do not value financial advice and are voting with their feet. The public will trust their own financial adviser but they certainly dont trust the rest of us and feel safer looking after their own investments. It is time every IFA signed up to the Hargreaves Lansdown newsletter and all the marketing which supports it and start to understand why the public are responding in such great numbers. Look at your web site. The probability is that all you are asking a visitor to do is give you their contact details. That feels very dangerous when all they want to do, for now, is continue their research without having to speak to a human. With the right processes in place they will let you know when the time is right to move on to a one to one conversation which can result in the long term relationship we all want. If we are to survive it will be because our marketing and relationship skills have been finely honed. If you have no-one to speak to all the qualifications in the world are pretty useless "