Like many of you, I view the turning of the year as a time for reflection and the re-setting of priorities, both personal and professional. I know we do a great job for our clients because our customers tell us, so, take a look at Vouchedfor. We are proud of what we do and after allowing a moment of self-congratulation for the Blue Sky Team, my festive focus soon became this:
‘How can we be even better and deliver even more, on our ambition to make a difference for our clients, their families, friends and our wider community?’
Our Plan For 2015
Our response to this self-imposed challenge has been both stimulating and exciting. It has manifested in a specific plan to achieve even greater success in 2015 for our clients and our business. I would like to share it with you:
1) We will improve our client experience
2) We will encourage more people to plan their financial futures
3) We will do even more, as a socially responsible business, for our community
In this communication I am really excited to map out the renewed vigour that Blue Sky will embrace in 2015.
Improving Our Client Experience
We have reviewed our client relationships and have formulated an even more engaging and tailored service to enable our customers to realise their financial goals and rest easy in their choice of planning partner.
Our whole emphasis is to try and create a great customer experience, so, who better to talk to and give us feedback, than our existing customers.
With this in mind we therefore decided to set up a client forum. The resultant conversations were fascinating;
In essence, we were told that we were excellent on the financial planning front and really good on our communication, but the sticking points were around placing too much emphasis on clients to fill in paperwork, much of it related to the process around compliance. We have always striven to deliver a ‘concierge service’ to our clients and the feedback we have acted upon will ensure we provide an even better experience.
Encouraging More People To Plan
Many people tell us that we are one of the south coast’s best kept business secrets and one of our aims is to enable more people to benefit from our proactive and bespoke financial planning skills.
Enable more people to benefit from our proactive and bespoke financial planning skills
The best advert is by word of mouth and so we will be arranging several ‘taste the difference’ events throughout 2015, where clients and invitees will get to know us in more detail and really experience the ‘Blue Sky edge’. Below is an introduction to some of the events that we will be holding:-
- Kicking off the year is an event, in conjunction with Charles Stanley Stockbrokers, offering a relaxed informal session about what to expect from the investment markets in 2015. Everyone is welcome and it will be held at the West Hants Club on Thursday 22nd of January (11am – 12.30pm). Make a date in your diary and if you or someone you know, wishes to attend, please get in touch with fiona.ford@blueskyfp.co.uk and a VIP invite will be sorted out.
- The next event on the calendar is on Thursday February 12th, when we will be holding a breakfast seminar (8.30am – 10am) at The Village Hotel, Bournemouth. Focussing on how best to make the most of tax saving opportunities when planning your future, there will be a particular emphasis on pensions and Enterprise Investment Schemes. The changing world of pensions will be discussed and Juno, from the EIS world, will be our guests and their input is expected to be particularly engaging. An invite will be sent out next week, but again, if interested, please contact fiona.ford@blueskyfp.co.uk
- Starting Wednesday 18th February (location to be confirmed), we will be starting our financial education programme for youngsters aged 16-25. This will be a 4 week programme on successive Wednesday evenings , fully funded by Blue Sky, and is intended to give young people a level of understanding that perhaps we were never given when we were young.
There are still places available, so if you have children/grandchildren, between 16 and 25 who you think would benefit and be interested, please contact fiona.ford@blueskyfp.co.uk
Our Social Responsibility Commitment
We want to develop our Social Responsibility commitment in 2015
We will do even more, as a socially responsible business, for our community
An example of our existing commitment is our Social Enterprise, Local Epicentre based in West Moors (www.localepicentre.co.uk), is essentially a lovely coffee lounge where people can get help from the experts, on a variety of matters, in a friendly and unintimidating atmosphere. This resounding success has encouraged me further and I am keen not only to continue our commitment to ‘make a difference’ in our community, but to be more co-ordinated in our approach.
We have therefore selected a local breast cancer support charity as our nominated charity partner for 2015 and a number of activities will be happening throughout the year to raise awareness and funds for this great cause.
Towards the end of last year, I mentioned that I would have a surprise for you!
- The first big event will be on Saturday March 14th at Mr Kyps in Parkstone, Poole. We are organising a Charity Music Event in aid of our Breast Cancer support charity and also to raise money to facilitate financial educational programmes for young people. Yours truly, will be singing with a soul band…yes, I can’t believe it either, having never sung before whilst also being told by everyone I can’t sing!! Perhaps you should be the judge of that! Tickets are limited and it is expected to be a sell-out (300). For more information http://mrkyps.net/events/event-298.html At the moment tickets are only available through Blue Sky.
Yours truly, will be singing with a soul band…yes, I can’t believe it either,
- There will be several other Events planned throughout the rest of 2015 and I will update you all at the start of each quarter. All should be enjoyable and illuminating!
If anyone reading this has any thoughts or ideas they would like to discuss please contact me. Together we can make an even bigger difference– I’m all ears!
Have a great 2015 and I hope to see you somewhere along our journey.
Let’s make a difference together.
