Advisory Secrets with Deb Halliday

One of the reasons I believe so strongly in advisory teams is actually quite simple: One person doesn't know everything. The traditional advisory model often puts one trusted advisor at the centre of the client relationship. They're expected to understand the numbers, know what's happening in the business, spot the opportunities and come up with the answers. But when you think about the knowledge that already exists across an accounting or bookkeeping team, that doesn't really make sense. Your bookkeeper might notice what's happening with cash because they're seeing the transactions regularly. Your accountant might spot a change in profitability or margins. Another team member might know the client incredibly well and remember that six months ago they talked about recruiting, buying equipment or expanding. Everybody sees something slightly different. In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why I believe advisory really is a team sport. When those different observations are brought together, you start to get a much fuller picture of what's actually happening in the client's business. But that only works if people talk to each other. If everyone works in their own little silo, valuable information gets lost. The bookkeeper notices something but assumes it isn't their place to mention it. The accountant sees something else. The lead advisor has a conversation with the client that nobody else knows about. Individually, everyone has a piece of the puzzle. Nobody has the whole picture. That's why building an advisory team isn't simply about training more people to have client meetings. It's also about creating a culture where people share what they're seeing, ask questions and contribute their perspective. Because sometimes the person who spots the thing that leads to the most valuable client conversation isn't the most senior person in the room. Takeaways Advisory doesn't have to depend on one person having all the answers. Different members of an accounting or bookkeeping team see different parts of the client's business. A bookkeeper, accountant and advisor may each notice something completely different — and all of it can be valuable. The real power comes from bringing those observations together. Valuable insight can easily be lost when people work in silos. Team members need to know that it's okay to say, "I've noticed something..." Advisory teams need good communication internally as well as good communication with clients. Collaboration also creates learning — people begin developing their own advisory thinking by hearing how others interpret situations. The strongest advisory insight doesn't always come from the most senior person. When knowledge is shared across the firm, advisory becomes richer for the client and less dependent on one individual. And here's the question I'd leave you with: How much valuable information about your clients is currently sitting inside the heads of different members of your team — but never being brought together? Because you may already have far more advisory knowledge in your firm than you realise. You just need to connect it. Find Out More If you'd like to develop advisory capability across your own team, visit APX Training. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community. And for longer-form conversations about advisory, search for Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday on your usual podcast platform.

When you start developing other people to deliver advisory, there's a temptation to teach them to do it exactly the way you do it. Use these questions. Follow this structure. Say it like this. Run the meeting this way. And having a framework is useful. In fact, if advisory is going to be delivered across a team, there absolutely needs to be a consistent standard. But consistency doesn't mean everybody has to be the same. In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why building an advisory team isn't about creating lots of little versions of you. Different people bring different strengths. One person might be brilliant at asking questions. Someone else might naturally put clients at ease. Another may be particularly good at spotting patterns in the numbers, while somebody else can take something complicated and explain it incredibly simply. Those differences aren't a problem to be trained out of them. They're part of what makes a team valuable. The aim is to give people a strong framework to work within — clear standards, a consistent approach and an understanding of what a good advisory conversation should achieve — while still allowing them to develop their own style. Because advisory conversations shouldn't feel scripted. You might go into a meeting with a set of questions you want to explore, but then the client says something unexpected. That's where curiosity comes in. You listen. You ask another question. And suddenly the most valuable part of the conversation is something you couldn't possibly have planned beforehand. That's advisory. So yes, create consistency. But don't confuse consistency with uniformity. We want clients to receive a consistently high standard of advisory, whoever they're speaking to. But we also want our team members to sound like themselves. Because people are usually more confident, more curious and more engaging when they're not trying to imitate somebody else. Takeaways Building an advisory team doesn't mean creating several versions of the lead advisor. Consistency and uniformity are not the same thing. Your firm can have a consistent advisory framework while allowing people to develop their own style. Different team members will bring different strengths — and that's an advantage. Advisory conversations need enough structure to create consistency, but enough flexibility to follow where the conversation goes. Some of the best advisory questions aren't planned — they come from listening and curiosity. People are generally more confident when they're allowed to communicate naturally rather than trying to copy someone else's approach. The aim is a consistent client experience, not identical advisors. And here's the question I'd leave you with: Are you developing your team to become capable advisors — or are you trying to teach them to become you? Because your team doesn't need to be full of people who think and communicate exactly like you do. It needs people who can bring their own strengths to a shared standard of advisory. Find Out More If you'd like to develop a consistent approach to advisory across your team without creating clones, visit APX Training. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community. And for longer-form conversations around advisory, search for Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday on your usual podcast platform.

If you're the person in your firm who always has the answer, it can feel like you're being a good leader. Someone asks a question. You know the answer. You give it to them. Problem solved. But there's a problem with that. What has your team member actually learned? In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why developing an advisory team sometimes means resisting the temptation to be the person with all the answers. Because if every difficult question still comes back to you, you've created exactly the dependency you're trying to move away from. Instead of immediately giving someone the solution, try asking: "What do you think?" "What have you noticed?" "What options do you see?" "What else would you want to know before making a recommendation?" Now you're not simply solving the problem. You're helping someone else develop the judgement to solve similar problems themselves in the future. And that's an important part of advisory. Your team won't always know the answer immediately — and that's okay. Neither will you. Good advisory isn't about knowing everything. It's about knowing how to think, question, investigate and use the information available to reach a considered conclusion. We also need to create an environment where people feel comfortable saying: "I don't know yet, but I'll find out." Because that's much better than someone feeling they need to pretend they know. As leaders, this requires a shift for us too. We move from being the person who solves every problem... to the person who helps other people become better problem-solvers. And over time, something starts to change. Fewer questions automatically come back to you. Your team becomes more confident in their own judgement. They start bringing you possible solutions rather than simply problems. And advisory knowledge begins to spread across the firm. That's how we start moving from one expert to a genuinely capable advisory team. Takeaways Being the person with all the answers can unintentionally create dependency. If every difficult question still comes back to you, you may still be the bottleneck. Instead of immediately providing the answer, ask your team what they think first. Questions such as "What have you noticed?" and "What options do you see?" help develop judgement. Good advisory isn't about knowing everything — it's about knowing how to think through a situation. Team members need to feel comfortable saying "I don't know yet" without feeling they've failed. Encourage people to bring you their thoughts and possible solutions, not just the problem. Advisory leadership means gradually moving from problem-solver to coach. The goal isn't for you to become less knowledgeable. It's for your team to become more capable. Find Out More If you'd like to develop advisory capability across your own team, visit APX Training. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community. And for longer-form discussions around advisory, search for Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday on your usual podcast platform.

If you want clients to trust your team, they need the opportunity to see what your team can actually do. One of the challenges with the traditional advisory model is that the business owner or most senior person tends to lead every important client conversation. Meanwhile, the team might be doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes — preparing the numbers, understanding what's happening in the business and spotting things worth discussing. But the client never sees that. So naturally, who do they think the expert is? You. In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why bringing your team into client conversations is such an important part of building an advisory team. And it doesn't mean handing over an important client meeting and hoping for the best. Start gradually. Bring someone into a meeting to observe. Then give them something specific to contribute. Perhaps they explain a set of numbers they've prepared, share something they've noticed or ask the client a question. Then, as their confidence and experience develops, give them more responsibility. There's another important part of this too. You have to give them space to speak. If you invite somebody into a meeting but answer every question, explain every number and jump in every time there's a pause, the client still sees you as the advisor and your team member as the support. Sometimes leadership means deliberately stepping back and allowing someone else to demonstrate what they know. And something interesting can happen when you do. Clients start recognising that expertise doesn't sit with just one person. They begin building relationships with other members of the team. Different people bring different perspectives to the conversation. And gradually, the relationship moves from: "My advisor is Deb." to: "This is my advisory team." That's a very different relationship — and a much more scalable one. Takeaways Clients can't develop trust in your team if they never get to experience their knowledge and capability. If the owner leads every important conversation, it's natural for clients to see the owner as the only advisor. Bring team members into client meetings gradually rather than expecting them to lead straight away. Give them a specific role or contribution, rather than simply asking them to sit in and observe indefinitely. Allow your team members to answer questions and share their own observations — even when you could answer more quickly yourself. Client trust can gradually move from one individual to the wider advisory team. Different perspectives can actually improve the quality of an advisory conversation. Part of becoming an advisory leader is knowing when to step back and create space for somebody else to shine. And here's a question to think about: When your clients think about advisory in your firm, whose face do they see? If it's always yours, perhaps it's time to start giving your team greater visibility. Find Out More To find out more about developing advisory capability across your firm, visit APX Training. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community. And for longer-form conversations about advisory, search for Advisory Conversations with Tim Seymour and Deb Halliday on your usual podcast platform.

One of the biggest things that can hold someone back from stepping into advisory isn't their technical knowledge. It's confidence. You can have someone in your team who understands the numbers, knows the client and has great ideas — but put them into an advisory conversation and suddenly they doubt themselves. What if I say the wrong thing? What if the client asks me something I can't answer? Am I experienced enough to have this conversation? In this episode of Advisory Secrets, I talk about why I don't believe confidence is something you either have or you don't. Confidence can be developed. And one of the best ways to develop it is through experience. Bring team members into client meetings. Let them observe. Then give them a small part of the conversation to lead. Ask for their opinion. Give them feedback afterwards. And gradually increase their involvement as their confidence grows. Because we can't keep someone behind the scenes and then expect them to suddenly feel confident sitting in front of a client. We have to give them opportunities to practise. And different people will need different levels of support. That's also why, at APX Training, we've partnered with Hetty Verney. Hetty isn't only an accountant with around 30 years' experience; she's also a Belief Coding® specialist, working with people on some of the beliefs and confidence issues that can hold them back. Because sometimes someone has the knowledge and the ability. The thing getting in the way is what they believe about their own ability to do it. So perhaps the question isn't: "Why isn't this person confident enough to do advisory?" Perhaps it's: "What opportunities are we giving them to become confident?" Takeaways Technical knowledge alone doesn't automatically create a confident advisor. Confidence can be developed through experience, practice and the right support. Don't expect someone who's always worked behind the scenes to suddenly feel comfortable leading client conversations. Start small — observation, contributing one point, asking a question or leading one part of a meeting. Give feedback afterwards and help people recognise what they did well, as well as what they can develop. Different team members may need different kinds of support to build their confidence. Sometimes the barrier isn't capability at all — it can be the person's belief in their own capability. Before deciding someone "isn't confident enough for advisory", ask whether they've actually been given enough opportunities to develop that confidence. Find Out More At APX Training, we've partnered with Hetty Verney to support the confidence and belief side of developing advisory professionals. You can find out more about Hetty and our approach on the APX website. You can also join our free Advisory Teams Facebook community for more conversations around developing advisory capability across your team.