Some interesting data from Neil Patel. How do you compare?

Are we running so many online meetings these days simply because we can? Video calls have become the default for many financial advisers - they’re convenient, efficient and many clients are perfectly happy with them. But convenience isn’t the same as effectiveness. Online meetings subtly strip out parts of the human exchange. Small pauses get missed, facial cues flatten. It’s easier to deliver well than to listen deeply. None of this makes online meetings bad, but it does mean they demand different skills to get the very best out of them. If trust, referrals and long-term relationships still depend on clients feeling genuinely understood, then the question isn’t whether Zoom works - it’s whether we’ve adapted how we listen, respond and read the room when the room is a screen. So, what are you doing differently in online meetings to make clients feel truly understood – not just efficiently seen?

The new ISA rules as announced in last week's Budget are still to be formalised in legislation, and we have 16 months' to get used to them. I've seen a lot of commentary around how cash held in other forms of ISA will be treated, but until an email this morning from ThreeSixty I wasn't aware that the plan is to ban/stop transfers from stocks & shares and Innovative Finance ISAs. Was anyone else aware of this, as this is arguably as big a change as the £12k and age 65 limitations?

“What’s the best way you have seen financial advisers attract new clients, Phil?” Almost every adviser I get into a conversation with about marketing and lead generation gets to this question at some point. And I get it. We’re all busy and it’s tempting to look for the tactic - the silver bullet that will land the next ideal client. But it's important to remember: Every adviser firm works differently. Every adviser has a different proposition. And every adviser has their own version of the ‘ideal client.’ In an ideal world, we’d start there - with a crystal-clear picture of who your ideal client really is - and then work backwards. That’s still the gold standard and always will be. But because advisers often ask me what’s working for other advisers, let me share a quick story - one I break down in detail in my lead generation workshops because it is so powerful. In my 47 years working with financial planners and IFAs, I’ve come across thousands of approaches to marketing. Some tactical. Some strategic. Most somewhere in between. But one adviser stands out more than any other. His name was Mick. And he was, without doubt, the most consistently successful adviser I’ve ever worked with when it came to generating warm, qualified, high-converting leads. Mick worked with his spouse and they were the archetypal small, husband-and-wife team. Put it this way - they were successful enough to live on the St George's Hill Estate in Weybridge, Surrey - his next-door neighbour was Cliff Richard and Tom Jones was a few doors away. They were doing well... Mick's approach to marketing wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t expensive. It certainly wasn’t digital (at the time). But it was clever, intentional and based around one very smart principle: using simple, structured data to guide his follow-up to a lead. And the beauty of his method was that it could be turned on and off at will, used alongside other strategies, and tailored to different audiences from business owners to their staff.

I've been asked three times this week where advisers can find networking opportunities beyond BNI. My favourite resource FindNetworkingEvents.com seems to have gone off the radar, but you might find freshwalks.co.uk a great alternative. In short, networking while you walk. Check it out - the website looks great - and I've even found a financial planner who is already a member.