Success in a financial advice firm means always looking for ways to improve. Whether it’s becoming more efficient, delivering a better client experience or creating a more scalable business, the desire to build something better is ever-present.
The challenge, of course, is how.
Plenty of articles talk about the need to ‘streamline processes’ or ’embrace automation’, but they rarely break that down into actionable steps.
For busy advisers, it can feel like you’re being told what to do without much help on how to do it.
With that in mind, I wanted to share some of the practical lessons we’ve learned during our own transformation journey over the past 12 months.
The first step has to be having a clear, inspiring and compelling vision, which is easy to connect with. It needs to talk to your truth, why you exist and what you are striving to achieve. At SBG, that is to be your proactive partner for life, helping you to start, run, grow and exit your business.
A grand vision is wonderful, but it needs to be turned into some clear building blocks – in our case, three core pillars of how we will deliver to our advisers.
A grand vision is wonderful, but it needs to be turned into some clear building blocks
By focusing on three core pillars – people, process and technology – we’ve made changes that have genuinely moved the dial for our business over the past year.
This isn’t a magic formula or a one-size-fits-all approach. But I hope it gives you some useful ideas to help you take your firm to the next level, whatever that looks like for you.
Start with people
Technology often grabs the headlines, but in our experience, the biggest gains in efficiency come from people – having the right ones, in the right roles.
We began by looking at every part of the business to identify where we could improve capacity or clarity. In particular, we saw that adviser onboarding and day-to-day operations for our member firms could benefit from more support.
At the same time, we recognised a bigger-picture challenge: while Sesame, Bankhall and PMS are each successful businesses in their own right, we felt there was untapped potential in bringing them closer together. There was no one sitting above the three businesses to help align efforts and ensure a more joined-up, strategic approach.
In response, we made several senior hires to strengthen leadership and drive this alignment. That included bringing in Claire Cherrington to drive growth and increase market share of PMS and Bankhall, and Toni Smith to lead Sesame Network with a renewed focus on adviser experience.
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It’ s not just about filling roles – it’s about creating the conditions where great people can drive change. That meant defining ownership, removing overlaps and building a structure that encourages collaboration across departments and brands. The result has been greater consistency, faster decision-making and a more strategic long-term approach.
Fix the process
Many firms grow organically and their processes evolve in the same way, shaped by habit, legacy systems or short-term workarounds. But over time, this can lead to duplication, delays and confusion about who is responsible for what.
That’s why we undertook a full review of several key workflows: adviser onboarding, protection quoting, file reviews and annual client reviews. Our goal wasn’t just to simplify the number of steps, but to optimise each process so that it worked reliably and efficiently for the long term.
Advisers were instrumental in this. By listening closely to their ideas and frustrations, we were able to redesign processes with their needs front and centre.
The impact has been significant. Over the past 12 months in our Sesame network, adviser onboarding times have fallen from eight weeks to just 12 days, file review times have halved, protection business is up 22% and, as a result, our net promoter score has soared.
These weren’t the result of dramatic changes, but rather lots of small, focused improvements that together created a smoother experience for advisers.
Use tech as the multiplier
Only once the right people were in place and our core processes had been stabilised did we turn our attention to technology.
Crucially, we didn’t treat tech as a silver bullet. Instead, we saw it as a multiplier – something that, when applied carefully, could amplify the impact of our people and workflows.
By focusing on three core pillars – people, process and technology – we’ve made changes that have genuinely moved the dial for our business over the past year
One example is our automation of case selection and file review triage. By integrating these steps into our back-office platform, we reduced submission-to-closure times by 72%, freeing up advisers to spend more time with clients.
Technology was never the starting point – and that, we believe, made the difference. Because when you digitise poor processes or unclear roles, you don’t get efficiency – you just get faster confusion.
An ongoing journey
We’ve seen substantial improvements over the past year, but one of the biggest lessons is that efficiency is never “done”. It’s a mindset, not a milestone.
Our foundations are now stronger, but we’re still refining, still asking questions and still looking for ways to improve. Some gains require upfront investment, but the return compounds over time, so don’t be afraid to make that commitment.
Every firm will have unique and different challenges, but the principles remain the same: start with your people, fix your processes and only then bring in the right technology to support them.
Taken in that order, we’ve found efficiency doesn’t just improve output – it improves culture, confidence and client experience, too.
Richard Harrison is CEO of Sesame Bankhall Group
