Use Case: Developing deeper client relationships as a repeatable process: Lessons from Strategy First

How Strategy First brought structure to their holistic approach, making deep client relationships the norm, and futureproofing their business with Lumiant. 

As financial advice becomes increasingly commoditised, advisory firms (and their clients) are searching for points of differentiation. In response, holistic and personalized approaches are fast emerging as the go-to ‘USP’ - both for firms looking to market themselves, and as a desirable feature for prospective clients. 

But for a select few firms like Strategy First, this has been the core of their services from day one. 

Since Strategy First was first established 20 years ago, their number one mission has always been to help their clients beyond just the financials, to help them live better, happier lives. 

“Ultimately, clients live happier lives if we can understand what they want to do and what drives them. This allows us to tailor a plan that encompasses a lot of financial work, but is also always driving towards those deeper goals. And that’s what makes the difference.”

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

But as one of the earliest firms to focus on this approach, they often struggled to find a repeatable and consistent process. With the shift in the wider industry becoming clear, Strategy First wanted to establish a structured process that would cement their approach and help them stand out as other firms begin to follow suit. Strategy First had been walking the walk for years, but now they wanted to lay down the path for their future clients and advisors, too. 

Lumiant stood out as the ideal platform to do just that. Not only does it combine both financial and values-based progression seamlessly, but it also gives their advisors a tried and tested method to carry out these conversations. Using the Key Advice Areas, they can showcase the link between values and financial goals, demonstrating how each was developed from that initial deep-diving discussion. It brought much-needed structure to the process, provided a visual dashboard to keep clients engaged, and set them up to succeed. So even as the sector changes around them, Strategy First is decidedly ahead of the curve. 

Goals for Strategy First

• Achieve consistency and structure in client meetings

• Give advisors confidence to dive deeper into client conversations

• Futureproof the business for future clients and advisors

Achieve consistency and structure in client meetings

Strategy First knew from the start that they had the right approach. But, the process was just too unstructured to keep up with their scale of growth. And while the inconsistent approach across the team may have been driving results, it made it difficult to train new advisors. It was clear to Strategy First that structure was desperately needed. 

Using Lumiant, Strategy First has finally been able to add a consistent structure to each of their advisors’ approaches. Now, they have a platform where they can plug in all of the nuances and knowledge they’ve built up for each of their clients.

“Our advisors were having those conversations with clients, but we had no centralised system or structure. So while we had great conversations, most of the data was stuck in advisors' heads. 

"With Lumiant, we’ve now got a process that everyone can follow. And there’s still room for everyone to put their own spin on it and handle the conversation how they feel best.” 

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

With the platform, advisors can use the structure laid out by the Key Advice Areas to drive future meetings, addressing each of the key areas in a repeatable process. While the meetings retain their deep and exploratory nature, advisors now have a system underpinning them that distils the conversation into clear and actionable goals. 

The Key Advice Areas dashboard has also become an invaluable meeting backdrop for each client meeting, not just for these deeper sessions. It displays client goals visually, allowing Strategy First’s advisors to run through goal progress clearly.

“We get significant value from the Key Advice Areas as a one-page dashboard for everything that’s going on in a client's life from a financial perspective. We can come back to it every time we have a meeting with a client.”

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

Lumiant has also helped push Strategy First’s exploratory sessions that bit further. The new structure is sparking deeper client conversations, allowing them to explore new areas and develop deeper relationships along the way. 

"The biggest shock for us with Lumiant was just how much engagement we got from clients, from how willing some clients were to talk about these things once prompted."

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

Give advisors confidence to dive deeper into client conversations

Strategy First is well aware that each advisor is different. For some, these more personal conversations might come naturally, whereas for others, they might trigger more of a cold sweat. 

And it’s the same with clients. Some may be all in on the values and goals discussion from the first meeting, while others might need to warm up to the idea.

It was clear that whatever solution they decided on, it needed to be adaptable. Something that could not only flex to individual client needs, but could also support those advisors who feel less confident. 

Lumiant ticked all of those boxes. For clients, advisors are able to tailor how much they lean into the values and emotional side of things when planning, keeping goals strictly numbers-based where needed. And for those clients who are sold on the idea, advisors can turn the dial all the way up with Lumiant, closely tying each financial activity to a personal goal to emphasise the link. 

“New clients often walk in the door with a pressing need, so right off the bat we help them tackle that hurdle. Then, as we build that ongoing relationship, we can use Lumiant to introduce the idea of finding a balance between the financial and the emotional to drive the best outcome.”

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

For those less confident advisors, Lumiant provides a secure framework to follow to spark those deeper conversations. For newer advisors in particular, fresh from training with all of that knowledge at their fingertips, the experience dealing with clients is often the biggest missing piece. While much of that comes naturally with time, Strategy First wanted all of their advisors to feel comfortable as soon as possible, which is where the structure provided by Lumiant has become essential. 

Now, it’s not just a case of shadowing more senior advisors to see how they do it; newer or less confident advisors can follow the path set out by Lumiant to develop their own approach and build their confidence. 

“Lumiant provides confidence for the members of our team that are not fully comfortable having those ‘softer’ conversations yet. Now, they have a structure, almost like a script to follow that removes some of the unknowns for them.” 

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

Futureproof the business for future clients and advisors

The financial advice market is changing fast. As financial knowledge has become increasingly democratized thanks to the internet and the rise of ‘fin-fluencers’, clients are looking for firms that can offer value beyond just the numbers. 

“Just about every client still values that human touch. They value our experience in being able to say that we’ve seen this situation before and here’s how you might feel and so on.” 

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

Strategy First was ahead of the curve on this, but they recognized that their current approach was becoming unsustainable and was hard to teach. What’s more, without a structured way in which to showcase their work, it was hard for clients to conceptualize all of the effort being put into their plans. They wanted to highlight their work not just for clients, but to attract and onboard new advisors too. 

Using Lumiant, they’ve been able to do just that. As the next generation of advisor talent begins to enter the market, Strategy First can now demonstrate their dedication to a goals-driven approach not just outwardly, but also inwardly. Where other firms might claim to take a personalized approach, Strategy First can use the frameworks within Lumiant to prove their commitment and show how new advisors can follow the paths to develop themselves in these areas. 

“We were always having these deeper conversations, but now we’ve got a reminder and process to have them, and to be more comprehensive with them. Now it’s a documented part of the process.” 

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

Where before clients were reliant on the advisor to explain all of the work, Lumiant’s Key Advice Areas provide a platform for them to actually see it. Now, the financial goals are clear, and they’re all tied back into clients’ personal aims clearly, keeping meetings efficient yet meaningful.

“It’s really powerful because there are very few platforms out there that will allow you to present this data in a visually appealing way to the client like this.” 

Rhys Phillips, Director and Financial Planner at Strategy First Financial Planning 

Set yourself up for future success with Lumiant 

With Lumiant, Strategy First has been able to take what already made their firm shine, and turned it into a futureproof model for their advisors to follow. Building confidence not just among their advisors, but also driving deeper client engagement to develop deeper relationships along the way. 

Lumiant has become a foundation in Strategy First’s approach, giving them a structured and consistent approach for the first time. The goals-driven approach has been the core of their work for their first 20 years, but with Lumiant in place, they’ve now got processes in place to last them the next 20.