Developing ‘Best Practice’
Once you have your definitive list of your service products, we would suggest grading them in order of importance to you and your Department/the firm.
Once you have the list graded, start with the first one (your most important service product). You will not have the time to do everything in one go. So concentrate on your most important.
Identifying the most important service product
This can be a helpful task in itself. Working out the most important service product is not easy. As a guide, we suggest concentrating on two aspects:
- How much revenue the particular service product brings in for the firm currently and
- How much staff/time/cost is associated with delivering that service product currently
Optimisation by creating a working ‘Best Practice’
Once you have the service products listed in order of their importance, the plan is to create a working, practical, step by step guide to the optimal way to perform each of the service products.
This will take some time to do. But it will be worth it. To do it quickly, efficiently and effectively, ask us to help at the earliest stage. We can help you to project manage this and ensure that enough time is allocated.
How do you create the ‘Best Practice’?
If you have many people in the Department, each person’s idea of the optimal way to perform the service product will vary from person to person.
Harmony: the objective for a Department is to ensure that a ‘best practice’ is created that suits everyone and with which everyone is ‘happy’. To be ‘happy’, compromises will be needed between individuals. This is where outside help (from us) can be valuable. We come with no personal agenda and can view from an independent perspective.
By the end of the process, there will be an optimal ‘best practice’ for how you or your Department or your firm wish to conduct, say, a Lasting Power of Attorney process or a Will product process.
Each step of the process will be identified.
Each step can be reviewed and better optimised across the firm.
What may a standard ‘Best Practice’ include?
In, say, a case of a ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’ service product, you may have a step by step process written down including some of the following:
- overall marketing of the service product.
- selling the service product to clients
- client care and compliance processes
- conduct of first meeting/discussion/taking instructions
- delivery of advice and material
- receiving approval/instructions
- drafting documentation and communications
- explaining the documents to clients and receiving approval
- completing the documentation and ensuring adequate execution
- file review, closure, storage, cross-referral, ongoing diary of future reviews
- client satisfaction review and referrals/