In June, Northern Ireland branch held a half day seminar, with Paul Etheridge MBE on “how to manage initial meetings with prospective clients.”

It was well attended with 25 delegates present including, impressively, five Financial Planners who had travelled all the way from Dublin.

Having run a very successful Financial Planning business for many years, Paul focused on using the first meeting to ensure, as far as possible, that planners take on only profitable clients. During the presentation delegates looked at trying to ensure that they were talking to prospects of the right quality, positioning services with clients and what role the client has to accept.

The requirement that both adviser and client should be right for each other was also considered. Paul then talked delegates through how the first hour of the meeting would proceed. According to branch chairman Robert Stevenson CFP^CM: “We all benefitted from Paul’s openness as he shared his business experiences and gave lots of written information for us to use. We enjoyed a meeting that challenged us all.”