Nick Green was recruited by McGarrie Vahey & Partners in 2018 with ambitions to grow the firm’s client base alongside directors Simon Carling, Tim Haynes, and Chris Williams.
He began by reconnecting with the company’s existing clients. “McGarrie Vahey & Partners has been providing advice to clients both locally and nationally for over 40 years. The company had lots of legacy clients from five, ten, even thirty years before,” Nick explains. “Many hadn’t been contacted for a number of years.”
But the company didn’t want to just revitalise existing clients. They also had ambitions to grow the firm further with fresh, new clients.
So Nick joined Unbiased. He considered it the obvious choice. “Unbiased has got a well-known name in the industry. It’s where people, banks, and building societies direct people to get unbiased advice.”
Unbiased provided him with new, detailed client enquiries – clearly stating the client’s advice needs, goals, wealth, and the client’s phone and email contact details. “The enquiries break down the key information straight away, so it’s very clear to see what the client’s needs are,” he explains.
Working mostly as a remote adviser, he’s developed a winning strategy to build client trust without having a face to face meeting. This is crucial to his overall advice process.
“Our initial chat is usually over the phone, and lasts only around fifteen minutes. With a face to face meeting you have two hours, but you can’t take that long on the phone. So I communicate the options of how we work to make sure clients are comfortable with our process first and foremost.”
Nick then directs them to McGarrie Vahey & Partners website and to the company’s Unbiased profile to assure clients of their choice, both assets working together to lend greater credibility to his communications. His Unbiased profile provides social-proofing to validate his proposition, and taking this extra time to gain his new client’s confidence is paramount.
Coupling this strategy with his Unbiased subscription has paid dividends. “I now have a 50/50 split between new clients from Unbiased and our existing clients,” he says.
Additional Advice Needs
And the initial client enquiries are just the beginning.
Nick looks at their initial advice needs and usually finds other areas where he can add value to the client. “If it’s a pension enquiry, are there other assets I can advise on? After our initial discussion we can identify needs in other areas such as protection or inheritance tax planning, alongside the needs of partners or extended family.”
An Unbiased enquiry focused on one pension might expand to advising on additional pensions along with other areas of advice. By looking to provide additional advice in this way, Nick can address anything else the client needs for a happy, comfortable retirement.
So how has his experience of Unbiased been overall? “Very good”, he says. “Unbiased has provided a strong return on investment.”
Nick attributes his recent success to those three key initiatives: revitalising old clients; bringing in a whole new client base through his Unbiased subscription; and focusing on taking the time to build trust and develop each relationship into more business. Thanks to this threefold strategy, McGarrie Vahey & Partners is going from strength to strength.
For more information on Unbiased’s business-boosting professional plans, click here.
