Better Business  

'If you're standing still you're going backwards in our industry'

And the third tier is the most comprehensive level of service, which offers an array of services, typically offset by the percentage based advice fee coming in.

"So if they come to us throughout the year and ask us to review five new pension plans, then we can use the annual adviser charge to offset that cost of the work, we don't need to talk about one-off fees for any additional work throughout the year," says McInally.

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Providing value for money is a key driver behind service at Mearns & Company.

"I just love doing a good job for my client," says McInally. "I'm always challenging my team to think about, right even if it's a two-minute call or whatever, just leave the client thinking I didn't know that, that was impressive, or leave them feeling reassured that they're working with you.

"Financial advice is not inexpensive, it is a lot of money when you think of it, so you need to really not get complacent."

To ensure service and standards stay on point, Mearns & Co has a number of processes in place.

This dates back to the days when Margaret Mearns was in charge, and is something the firm has followed religiously since.

"Margaret was always about you need to have a process and everyone follow the process. Of course, if you've got an idea raise that for the process to be developed or changed, but have a process there that mitigates mistakes," says McInally.

A particular process Margaret liked to follow was peer reviews.

These see the adviser, paraplanner and a second adviser discuss the case after the paraplanning stage. 

"Three heads are better than one at the end of the day," says McInally. "So those peer reviews are massively helpful, this is something that Margaret’s always had, it's part of the business and is something obviously we want to continue doing."

He adds: "What I'll say to clients when they come to us is that you are a client of Mearns & Company at the end of the day. Yes, you'll have a main point of contact and that's who you have the main relationship with but you've got a consistent Mearns & Company strategy to do that advice process and the peer review is one way of really ensuring that and protecting that."

But there have also been changes since Mearns' departure. The new directors introduced cashflow planning, new technology and opted to make the business a more commercial operation - a balancing act between maintaining standards and culture while taking the business to the next level.