1. 2. 3. 4. Section 1: Spontaneous Brand Recall Spontaneous Brand Recall
Business Imperatives
Provider & Platform Benchmarking
Building Better Support
Three providers/ platforms stand out commanding nearly half of all spontaneous association with excellent technical and business support:
Cofunds (11%), Aviva (8%) Axa (8%) and Standard (7%) also registered, though with markedly lower level of cut through.
Spontaneous recall (while informing part of the narrative) does not, in itself, necessarily reflect which providers are delivering the highest quality support – it is important to remember that any spontaneous adviser recall is the result of a huge number of factors over a number of years: ? 2.
It is also worthy of the note that the top five ranking in terms of spontaneous recall are also platforms.
What advisers say they value about the business and technical support these providers / platform deliver is:
Ease of contact
Relationship
Well sign-posted online content
Technical expertise
Speedy resolution to problems and
Advertising
Personal experience
Press coverage
Peer opinion
Personal bias
Technical and business support 3.
queries
Cofunds (12% advisers) Skandia (9%) and Aviva (6%) were most frequently associated with bad support, though 49% of advisers said that no-one consistently falls foul.
Problems stem largely from remoteness, unresponsiveness and poor relationship management. 4.

2. 1. 3. 4. Section 2: Business Imperatives Spontaneous Brand Recall
Provider & Platform Benchmarking
Building Better Support
Advisers tell us that support broadly at the responsive end of the spectrum is more important (and valued) than more pro-active, business generative initiatives.
Here’s how all of all the components we asked advisers to rate for importance ranked: 1.
Overall, central support functions ranked higher in terms of importance as advisers get used to the new world and neither rely on or expect as much face to face contact.
Central resources (like online content, online tools etc) also rated marginally higher in terms of value, than consultant support.
Advisers are witnessing a significant withdrawal of front-line support and know they can no-longer rely on it which- in part – explains the slightly lower importance rating
That said, when delivered well, effective consultant support can have an enormously positive impact. ? 3.
Not all support is as valued equally by all parts of the adviser business – as firms develop more sophisticated servicing propositions, providers and platforms must better understand who to point which services and supports at in order to maximise their value. For example while consultant support is most appropriate for client facing staff, more remote resources should increasingly be directed at paraplanners and other support staff.
Better availability, responsiveness and problem resolution are the things advisers say require the greatest level of improvement (that would make the biggest positive difference). 4.

3. 1. 2. 4. Section 3: Provider Benchmarking Spontaneous Brand Recall
Business Imperatives
Provider & Platform Benchmarking
Building Better Business
We asked advisers to rate any provider or platform they had used for business or technical support this year. Advisers scored each provider / platform across each of the 15 (below) criteria on a 1-10 scale. The results in this section show the average rating each provider / platform achieved.
Consultant support: specialists (LV, Partnership, Metlife rated particularly well for consultant support along with Canada Life and Prudential. Availability, responsiveness, expertise, and dedicated contacts drive positive performance.
Central support: Transact, Investec and Scottish Life joined LV, Metlife and Partnership at the top – followed by Nucleus, Prudential and Fidelity. Ease of contact, problem ownership and speed of resolutions are key.
Central resources: Prudential and Nucleus topped the bill with James Hay and LV also performing well with Aviva, Partnership Fidelity and Skandia not far behind. There is a clearly stated need for greater breadth and depth of easily navigable online content and regional events with higher calibre speakers and participants. 1. ? 2. 4.

4. 1. 2. 3. Section 4: Building better business Spontaneous Brand Recall
Business Imperatives
Provider & Platform Benchmarking
Building Better Business
Delivering superior business and technical support has a clear (positive) impact on advisers’ propensity to do business with providers / platforms.
There are some clear areas where the industry (as a whole) significantly under- delivers in terms of technical and business support.
The stand out areas (i.e. the ones advisers claim are important but in which providers / platforms typically scored low) are: 1.
Consultant problem resolution
Central support problem resolution
Central support availability / responsiveness
Central technical expertise
Consultant technical expertise ? 2.
But there also further areas that (although less vital according to advisers) are equally under-served:
Online content
Support materials
Online tools 3.
These represent significant opportunities to providers and platforms that wish to differentiate their service.
But there is often a significant difference between what advisers say is important and what really affects their choice of provider / platform:
Consultant likeability has a hugely bigger impact on propensity to do business with a provider than advisers claim. As does
Practice development support
Business generation ideas
Events.