Data is the oxygen of today’s business environment: it needs to be secure, accurate and accessible. Once those foundations are achieved, advice practices can shift their attention to growing their business, improving client outcomes and growing profit margins.
Adele Martin knows this well, as someone who founded The Financial Adviser Scale Squad and supports other advisers to grow their businesses. As part of a special four-part series on data for the ensombl podcast, she spoke to Paul Benson, principal of Guidance Financial Services, about how to define high quality data, how to apply it for top results and grow sustainably.
Putting data to work
Financial advisers are inundated with data, but turning that data into meaningful business outcomes is where the real challenge lies. Adele explained, “data tells a story… It shows us what’s working and what needs tweaking”.
Whether it’s tracking workshop conversions, email engagement or website behaviour, Adele emphasised that data helps advisers avoid guesswork and focus on what actually moves the needle. For example, one adviser client noticed that email campaigns were getting clicks, but the adviser wasn’t receiving bookings. Rather than dismissing the campaign as a failure, they used the data to identify a bottleneck in the booking process—ultimately improving conversions and client engagement.
Unlocking the power of AI with high-quality data
Once quality data is in place, advice practices can begin to see the full potential of AI, from file note-taking applications to strategic reviews. With AI, client data can be pulled in automatically, file notes summarised and meetings can stay focused on strategy, rather than admin. The result is greater capacity for the adviser to proactively serve clients and foresee their needs before they arise.
Some businesses are taking this one step further by automating outreach based on life events and engagement data. When a client changes address, opens a new account or misses a booking, it triggers a new workflow. According to Adele, this kind of responsiveness can build trust and improve retention. The client perceives their life as important to their adviser and in turn, wants to continue that relationship long-term.
How high-performing practices set themselves apart
One of the clearest differentiators in high-performing practices is the way they centralise information to give them a powerful picture of their revenue, projections and client base.
Adele often sees advice businesses using multiple platforms that don’t speak to each other – email here, tasks there and data somewhere else. The firms pulling ahead have invested in systems that communicate seamlessly. When your CRM, client portal and calendar all talk to each other, everything from follow-up tasks to advice implementation becomes faster and more accurate.
Ultimately though, while data and systems are important for business growth, the culture drives its success.
Practices that build a culture of curiosity and ownership, where every team member understands the ‘why’ behind clean data and efficient processes tend to see better adoption and better outcomes. In these environments, tech isn’t considered a threat, but instead a tool to help to build closer client relationships and hit business goals.
The magic formula
The practices leading the way are combining clean data, smart tech and empowered teams to build operations that are not only profitable, but sustainable. With the right data collection methods and inputs, they are setting themselves up for future success today.
Practices should be asking themselves a few key questions to see whether they are doing enough to stand out to clients: Are we collecting the right, accurate data? Are our systems connected? Are our advisers spending excessive time on administrative tasks that could be automated? And, does our team know how to use data to serve clients and the practice’s success?
Within the next few years, practices without a clear data strategy are likely to fall behind, not because they’re doing anything wrong, but because they’ll be outpaced by those doing it in smarter ways.
At intelliflo, we believe quality data is the foundation of practice growth and client trust.
Our dashboards help advice practices bring their data to life —turning raw figures into clear, visual insights that help you understand performance, uncover opportunities, and deliver advice with confidence. Book a demo to see how intelliflo can help you harness the full potential of your data.
