Brian Hill became an independent financial adviser (IFA) in 2007 having struggled to find an adviser who put his needs first. He is a big advocate of building public confidence in financial advice and recently completed a Master’s dissertation on the subject.
Brian is a member of VouchedFor, the adviser rating platform, on which he has built a rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on 88 verified client reviews. His firm, Jones Hill, was also one of only 16 firms to meet VouchedFor‘s 2020 Top Rated Firm criteria. He believes VouchedFor‘s core value lies in the independent validation it provides to prospects and clients.
“While it’s true that people find and make contact with me through VouchedFor, treating the platform purely as a lead generator risks disappointment and, more importantly, risks missing out on the bigger prize!” says Brian.
“There’s no question that VouchedFor’s independently-verified reviews encourage more of my clients to refer to me”
“Of course the best way to generate client referrals is to deliver a transparent, brilliant service. But there’s no question that VouchedFor’s independently-verified reviews encourage more of my clients to refer to me, as well as building confidence with those they refer.
Added to this, a bit like TripAdvisor, many people find me on VouchedFor but choose to make contact through my own website.”
As of March 2019, VouchedFor gives advisers like Brian stats to help better quantify these benefits. Brian’s stats since March 2019 are detailed below:
Brian continues, “Many of my financial planning clients come from, but not necessarily through, VouchedFor. Marketing is like a football team with VouchedFor as my wingers. They may not score goals directly, but many goals wouldn’t happen without them!”
VouchedFor’s adviser proposition has changed significantly in recent years. Brian is on VouchedFor’s £45+VAT per month Verified Membership, which gives advisers various tools to demonstrate their client rating, review count and checks to everyone they contact. It’s designed to offer value whether advisers receive enquiries directly through VouchedFor or not.
“A bit like TripAdvisor, many people find me on VouchedFor but choose to make contact through my own website”
VouchedFor has also introduced more checks to help inform consumers. These include making clear whether advisers display their fees, showing how many recent reviews each adviser has and enabling advisers to invite annual ‘follow-up’ reviews. VouchedFor also invites everyone who contacts an adviser through its platform to leave a ‘first impression’ review and displays the percentage of first impression reviews that are positive on each adviser’s profile.
Brian concludes, “I’m passionate about increasing transparency across the financial advice profession and to that end, I’m keen to see as many firms as possible encouraging all their clients to review them regularly and publishing their review count/rating. But, from a competitive perspective, the more advisers who don’t, the better it is for my business!”
