Meet the passionate and driven financial planning consultant Gaynor Rigby
January 15, 2025
This month Vicki met with Gaynor Rigby, an independent consultant who helps businesses that want to grow.
Read on to find out why Gaynor believes that improving company culture is essential for transforming commercial results.
Can you tell us about your professional journey and how your experience at Strategic Coach shaped your approach to consulting with financial planning firms?
I was very lucky to start my professional career in Canada with Strategic Coach – business coaching for entrepreneurs – when it was in its early infancy.
I was only the 14th employee, so for someone young and green, it was a fantastic opportunity to be in a growing organisation where you could get involved and contribute ideas.
I gained valuable experience in lots of different areas of the organisation. One, because we were growing; two, because I volunteered for new tasks; and three, because Babs, who basically runs Strategic Coach, was extremely supportive of me.
The other thing I learned that became fundamental to my philosophy was that all our clients were business owners and entrepreneurs first – they just happened to have a speciality, such as manufacturing or financial advice.
When we listened to our clients’ stories, they were all experiencing the same structural issues and challenges, regardless of their profession – how to structure their organisation, what the organisation chart would be, how to build a strong team and positive work culture, and so on.
I learned that these structures and principles apply across all businesses.
So, as my career progressed, I gained experience in lots of different areas of the business, before ending up back in the UK when I set up Strategic Coach’s first office here.
At this point, I crossed paths with Colin Lawson and Debbie from Equilibrium Asset Management.
Colin invited me in to do 35 days of consulting for them just to see what I could do for their business. Those 35 days rolled into me becoming a permanent, full-time managing partner, and we were able to grow the business from around 150 million of assets under management to over 1 billion.
Initially, the team had about 25 members and we grew it to almost 90. We also made it to The Times top 10 companies to work for when I was there, something that I’m really proud of.
We took what was a successful financial planning firm that was structured like many others and transformed it into a very strong business that happens to be in the financial services and wealth management arena.
What were the most significant lessons or insights you gained during your time at Strategic Coach and how do you apply these in the financial planning profession?
My time at Strategic Coach was like the best university course, life lesson, and apprenticeship all rolled into one.
I think the importance of culture and being part of a company that really valued its staff was a key part of that experience. One of the philosophies of Strategic Coach is that we all have unique abilities, and if you build an organisation that fosters this talent, then your team becomes much more valuable than the sum of its parts.
This approach is definitely at the heart of what I bring to my consulting and what I did at Equilibrium.
Another important lesson I learned while working at Strategic Coach was from a workshop delivered by the company’s founder, Dan Sullivan, which taught me that you first create value and then expect opportunity.
I took this message to heart when developing my career and talk about this a lot with the people I work with. Essentially, it means, don’t sit back and wait for someone to see your talents or give you a shot. You’ve got to proactively create value, volunteer to get involved, and share ideas. Then when the opportunities arise, you’re the perfect person to take advantage of them.
I also learned a lot about how to structure an organisation from Strategic Coach. My key takeaway was that creating a strong culture provides a foundation for everything else. Your staff are your biggest asset and the more you can do to support them, the more you’re likely to get out of them.
You also need to be on top of the numbers. At Strategic Coach, we knew all the numbers – what the revenue was, how many clients we had, what our benchmarks were, and so on. It’s very difficult for people to get motivated in a role when they don’t know what the goal is.
If you want to grow your company, people need to be part of the journey so they can get behind it, and then you get the best out of them.
Having held a position of managing director in a financial planning firm without being a financial planner yourself, how do you feel this external perspective benefited the firm? And what was the biggest difference you brought to the firm?
I’m probably a rarity, having held the role without having financial planning or investment management qualifications. I think that ultimately this was part of the secret sauce.
I didn’t have a history of how things had been done in the past or whether you could and couldn’t do something.
I came to the table with the attitude that this is a business, and it needs to be run like a business, no matter what sector it’s in.
Unlike some people who get bogged down by wearing multiple hats, I was laser-focused on business principles and strategy.
I took the approach that this is what I love to do, I’m good at it, and I’m not going to be distracted by the advice element.
When consulting with financial planning firms, what are the most common gaps or challenges you see, and how do you help address these things?
There are two common gaps I see.
One is vague goals that have not been extrapolated down. For example, I often hear, “I want to grow my business”. Great! But, you need to drill down into this.
If you want to sell the business, what is the valuation that you want to achieve? How much does your business need to grow to make this a realistic goal?
You need to get specific.
For example, as we know that a business valuation is based on its assets under management, you can crunch the numbers – the value of your average client, the number of clients you have, and so on – to break your goal down into smaller targets spread over the next 10 years.
You can then see how much you need to grow year-on-year to achieve your ultimate ambition. From there, you can look at the strategies you need to put in place, such as increasing office space or adapting your hiring plan.
The second common gap I see is communication. Once you have specific goals and a plan for achieving them, you need to share this with the team. Everyone needs to understand what they’re working towards.
Fortunately, setting clear goals and building a strong people culture are both very fixable things.
In your view, what are the most exciting opportunities for financial planning firms in today’s market and how can they best position themselves to seize these?
There is a real opportunity for businesses to grow and grow well while some of the old guard are falling away and retiring.
If you’ve got a robust business that delivers great value to your clients, and you’re growing as an organisation, then you can grab opportunities as they arise. For example, if another firm is failing to satisfy its clients or decides to close its doors.
There are plenty of exciting opportunities to go around. If you have a well-run business, you may be well-positioned to scoop these up, grow, and create value for your firm and its clients.
Can you share an example of where your guidance has made a transformational impact to a firm? What changes did the firm implement and what was the outcome?
One firm wanted to be the best place to work in the area, which is fantastic.
However, when I spoke to the team and looked at their compensation package, it was the bare minimum and not congruent with this goal.
So, we increased the annual leave entitlement and adjusted pay in line with market benchmarks to establish the firm as the local employer of choice and attract the people they needed to grow the business.
Enhancing the employee package was also fantastic for the people who were already working there, which helped the firm retain its staff.
As a result of these changes, the firm had its pick of more suitable, higher-quality candidates.
While this did require a financial outlay for the firm, they cut back on the significant costs related to high staff turnover.
Another firm had a vague ambition to “grow the business”, but no specific goals and no clear grasp of the numbers. By asking key questions, I helped the leadership team define meaningful goals. We then worked through a planning numbers exercise – which was probably a lot less painful than the client thought it was going to be. This set the firm on a path towards their new goals that they could measure as they moved forward.
What trends or shifts in the financial planning profession do you think will have the greatest impact over the next five years?
I think technology will be increasingly used to reduce the administrative burden of running a business. This will free up time and allow firms to offer a more personal touch.
Also, CRM vertical integration could be invaluable for ensuring that you have all the information you need at your fingertips.
Of course, there’s also AI, which has the potential to streamline business processes and increase the value or the perceived value to the client above and beyond what they’re currently used to.
You’ve got to be bold and brave and step into new technology. AI isn’t going away, so you need to get to grips with how you can utilise it to help your business grow.
What advice would you give to financial planning firm leaders who want to build resilient, growth-focused businesses that remain relevant in a competitive landscape?
I would suggest prioritising two factors: your culture and your numbers.
Firstly, create a clear vision for your business and identify your core values.
Make sure you have a structure that allows you to share your vision with your team so that everybody is pulling in the same direction.
You want to inspire people to get excited about what the future looks like and why that’s great for them, rather than thinking, “Oh no, that’s going to mean extra work”.
Secondly, know your numbers. You need to know your goal numbers, your target numbers, your KPI numbers, and so much more!
Everyone should know the numbers, so they can become your map, helping you to monitor whether you’re on track.
If the markets do something weird and wonky or something happens in the world, you can look at your numbers and know that you’re fine.
There’s a lot outside of our control, but you can look at your numbers and know if you need to make any pre-emptive decisions. Also, if you’re on top of your data, when an opportunity comes up, you know whether you can take advantage of it in a safe and prudent way.
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