What most people value most from customer service

These rated more than 70%

Convenience, efficiency, friendly, knowledgeable, easy payment , human interaction , up to date technology 

What do you value most about customer service? 

Merging Financial Planners and Accounting Firms?

Thousands of financial advisors could leave the industry or migrate from vertically integrated, bank-owned firms to non-aligned businesses, such as accounting firms, which are regarded by consumers as a more-trusted source for advice. 

A 'new world' where planners and accountants  merge resulting in higher standards of ethics education, and advice, that is paid for by the client through a mixture of fee for service and success based.

Traditionally, advisers have been under the employ of banks - with targets to sell their  products.

According to ASIC , about 44 per cent of an estimated 25,000 licensed advisers are controlled by the largest 10 financial institutions.

On July 1 , Westpac is exiting their personal financial services business - and more than 700 financial planners will be in the market looking for new jobs or careers.

Advisers and Accountants should not be focussed on selling a particular product where they are conflicted  - but should focus on the best product or service that is available tailored for each specific client.

It’s all about trust, and those financial planners that adhere to the highest standards of ethics, independence, education and advice will be well rewarded!

Can independence be achieved if commissions are received by institutions vs clients?

My view is yes - if those commissions are properly disclosed.

What do you think ?

The 3 D’s of Tax Planning

Tax planning can be confusing, crazy and complex!!

Mike Kostrich - an accountant in Ontario shares with us the 3Ds of tax planning.

Deduct - how to best utilize legitimate costs to reduce your taxable income

Defer - how to best use various structures & plans available to defer tax to future years

Divide - how to utilize opportunities to create income splitting with family members

If you want a referral to an amazing accountant who makes accounting look easy, like the link below and I will refer you 

Meetings are an effective tool

Jonathan Herps share some cool insights on how to build a collaborative culture by implementing a regular communication rhythm. Does information move through your organisation accurately and quickly?   If you ask team members in most organisations how they feel about meetings, you will likely receive a negative response— “They are a waste of time,”  “We spend so much time in meetings we don’t have enough time to do our jobs,”  “We see each other all the time all day anyway why do we need to meet?”  or some other similarly dismissive retort.  But meetings don’t have to be this way.  If you establish a set meeting rhythm where each meeting that is necessary to drive business performance is pre-scheduled with an established agenda you will actually save time and make them worthwhile. What You Risk with No Meeting Rhythm When a leader gets the team together, there are three powerful tools at their disposal: Peer pressure Collective intelligence Clear communication Casual encounters don’t offer the same environment and teamwork possibilities. In addition, when you hold regular meetings, everyone is hearing the same thing at the same time.  This is a much more efficient use of everyone’s time especially for the person who has the responsibility to communicate info to others.  There’s no idle chit-chat warming up to the topic for every person who needs to be updated.  Meetings allow the information to flow efficiently and for everyone to hear the exact same words and delivery as well as benefit from the same follow-up questions. Effective Meeting Rhythms While there will be other meetings necessary within an organisation (meetings with clients, investors and vendors are some that come to mind), the daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly rhythm of meetings recommended in Verne Harnish’s book  Scaling Up: Why a Few Companies Make it... and Why the Rest Don’t are all that you need to manage the business. Rather than be a time waster, if executed properly, these meetings will save time for your organisation.  Your rhythm of regular meetings shouldn’t require more than 10% of a standard 40-, 50- or 60-hour workweek for the senior leadership, 5-7% for middle managers and 3% for frontline staff.  Here are the key meetings that should be set into your schedule: Daily All employees are in a daily huddle that lasts less than 15 minutes. Weekly  All teams have a weekly meeting. Monthly  The executive and middle managers meet for a day of learning, resolving big issues, and DNA transfer each month. Quarterly  Quarterly and annually, the executive and middle managers meet offsite to work on the 4 Decisions - People, Strategy, Execution and Cash. Daily Huddle The Daily Huddle is a 5-to-15-minute meeting to discuss tactical issues, provide updates on daily metrics and to identify where people are stuck. It will help you avoid minor train wrecks and to take quick advantage of unforeseen opportunities. Normally, a Daily Huddle saves everyone an hour or so of needless email updates and ad hoc interruptions. Issues that emerge drive the main topics for the weekly meeting. Weekly  A 60-90 minute discussion to review progress on the quarterly priorities and address one or two main topics. Weekly Strategy Council The weekly council is focused on the following Provide council to the CEO Review progress on the quarterly priorities Tap the collective brainpower of a select team to address one or two main topics Discuss market intelligence This meeting will typically last 60 to 90 minutes. Monthly The monthly meetings should focus on one or two big issues that were identified in the daily huddle or weekly council and that require several hours of effort to tackle. This meeting also facilitates the transfer of DNA (knowledge, values, approach) from upper to middle management. This should not be a meeting of mind-numbing reports but rather one focused on learning, sharing and problem-solving. Quarterly and Annual Planning Sessions The main goal for these one- to three-day offsite planning sessions is to work through and update the Growth Tools. They provide the questions, focus and agenda for these quarterly and annual planning sessions. Keep in mind that the more frequent daily and weekly meetings draw context and continuity from the more strategic planning sessions.  Therefore, the annual meeting sets the strategic direction and priorities for the year and beyond. Then, the quarterly gatherings break down these longer-term priorities into bite-sized goals that the company can digest.  The monthly meetings address the bigger issues or opportunities that surface around the strategic direction; the weekly keeps the priorities top-of-mind and drives discussions around input from customers, employees, and competitors which feeds back into the quarterly and annual planning processes; and the daily huddle tracks progress and brings out sticking points that are blocking execution of the strategic direction. The No. 1 challenge people face when they work together is communication and the No. 1 roadblock to effective meetings is generalities.  Companies who follow a pre-set meeting rhythm with set agendas are the ones that go from good to great performance.

5 badass people to follow on LinkedIn

Thanks for the heads up of your top 5 influencers on linked in Jackie ....

I am looking forward to be being on a panel with Tima on 6 June! Will keep you posted 

Here are five badass people That Jackie is  paying attention to this year:

Brittany Hoffman

As you can tell, I’m very much a no-bullshit kind of person (understatement of the year). And there’s plenty of it on every social media platform… unfortunately, LinkedIn is no exception.

Enter Brittany. She has the experience to back up everything that she talks about and more importantly, she walks the walk more than she talks the talk. I love people that show their worth through their work. Brittany is a personal branding and growth expert that has worked with people like Gary Vaynerchuk, Marie Forleo and Tom Bilyeu.

Allen Gannett 

Allen is super authentic and incredibly knowledgeable. He is a master at cramming in a ton of value in a very short amount of time, which is perfect for entrepreneurs and business people alike that are trying to learn on LinkedIn. He founded TrackMaven, now serves as the Chief Strategy Officer of Skyword, is a bestselling author and has interviewed some of the most creative minds in the world. Be sure to follow Allen for creative inspiration.

Chantel Soumis

I like Chantel because there is absolutely no one else like her on LinkedIn. I follow her because she genuinely seems like a great human and she brings a lot of value to her followers. Chantel is an expert at bringing creativity to marketing, an advocate for the differently-abled community and the founder of a marketing agency based out of Madison, Wisconsin. I love seeing people like this making an impact right here in my home state!

Swish Goswami

Swish is in his early 20s and has accomplished more in his career than many will in their lifetime. He’s already a serial tech entrepreneur, speaker and venture capitalist (wow!). If all that wasn’t enough, he’s also been named one of Canada's 20 Under 20 and won Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Swish puts a unique spin on what it’s like being an entrepreneur, and his raw content makes him a must-follow.

Tima Elhajj

Tima often speaks about growth, mindset and overcoming limitations. Her mission is to help people around the world truly understand that their potential is limitless, and she is definitely accomplishing this goal. Tima inspires me and many others with her coaching, videos, articles and podcast.

Who are your 5?

Andy Fell shares with us 4 strategies to flood your subconscious mind with positivity

 Andy shares with us 4 strategies to flood  your subconscious mind with positivity

Have a system to flood  your subconscious mind with positivity of who you are,  your goals and who you going to  be 

The language 

• A smart goal - is a written down desire of where you want to be / that is specific, measurable, accountable, realistic with a set time frame 
• Belief is the gap of where you are to where you want to be 
• An Affirmation - is a present tense statements of who you are

You Write 150 words per minute - self talk 600 per minute - get your self talk talking about positive things 

Get rid of that negative self talk and mind chatter 

Here are the 4 strategies to flood  your subconscious mind with positivity

1. Read and write  your goals every day 
2. Affirmations - present tense statements of who you are - I am an amazing husband; i am a brilliant golfer with a. 18 handicap; I am consistent ; I can focus over the entire golf game ; I love my life; I am fit; I am healthy; I am a sex machine; I am an amazing father and granpy; I love going to work; I write daily blogs; I am on a downward trend with my weight; I am a multi millionaire - continue feeding into your subconscious 
3. Gratitude - every day when you wake up and go to sleep - thank the universe for all the things that you are grateful for - your health ; your family’s health; your ability to communicate; to add value to those around you; thank you for having the tools necessary to make a difference:@; for allowing me to live and interact in the best place on earth; having fantastic family, friends and colleagues ....
4. Have an accessible “Be amazing list”- when you have self doubt - go to it and read all the things that you are really good at and your achievements