How Advice Firms Prove Value and Grow Businesses That Buyers Can Trust

Exit readiness is what you can show, not what you can say: fair value delivered consistently, with costs under control.

In this episode of Sense of Identity, Paul and Adam are joined by Colin Sloss (Consultant) and Paul Miles (Principal) from Silverback Consultancy.

Colin has over 30 years of experience across wealth management and adviser technology, and Paul focuses on making advice businesses simpler, more efficient, and exit-ready.

They discuss what that looks like for the intermediaries they work with, focusing on the operating model, the evidence, and how reliably the firm delivers outcomes.

The thread running through the conversation is practical: simplify how the firm works, measure outcomes properly, and strip out avoidable manual effort. That improves client experience and makes the business easier to value, whether you ever sell or not.

Why Exit Readiness Has Become a Strategic Discipline

“Exit-Ready” Is About Optionality

Silverback’s starting point is simple: If the business depends on informal knowledge, founder heroics, and manual workarounds, it becomes fragile.

Paul describes his current focus as helping firms “get businesses exit ready”.

He then holds leadership teams to account for the changes required to make that real.

That accountability matters because “exit readiness” is easy to postpone because it's seen as solely about selling.

But readiness is also about efficiency today - and is better implemented when a firm is functioning well than when it's too late.

Transformation Starts With a Clean Map of Reality

Adviser firms often adopt different tools over the course of years, but never fully rebuild their operating model to match.

That leaves duplicated effort, partial integrations, and data scattered across platforms, CRMs, and spreadsheets.

It drives up cost-to-serve and makes consistent oversight harder.

A useful first move is to “start with a clean piece of paper”.

Map how work actually flows through the firm, then decide what should be standardised, automated, or removed.

Consumer Duty, Cost-to-Serve, and the Advice Gap

Consumer Duty Pushes Firms Towards Evidence

When Colin talks about regulation, he keeps coming back to evidence: changes that firms must be able to demonstrate.

The FCA’s Consumer Duty rules and supporting guidance require firms to act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.

That includes communications customers can understand plus a focus on fair value.

In practice, “fair value” becomes much easier to defend when you can explain your service clearly and segment it sensibly.

It also helps when you can show, with management information, that outcomes are being monitored and improved.

The FCA has published examples of what strong and weak approaches look like.

That includes its observations on Consumer Duty board reports and its price and value good and poor practice update.

Cost-to-Serve Is a Constraint, Not an Internal Metric

Colin frames cost-to-serve as the link between compliance, client outcomes, and business viability.

If each client requires too much manual effort, the firm either prices itself out of reach or over-stretches its staff.

Neither is compatible with sustained “good outcomes”.

He describes “something like nine million” people who would value regulated advice but cannot justify the cost.

This theme is supported in industry research and commentary such as Royal London’s 9.4 million estimate on this gap in advice.

The FCA’s own consumer research also shows a persistent reliance on informal support and guidance from consumers.

This shows why scalable models matter, as set out in its Financial Lives findings on financial advice and support.

Efficiency Gains Are Now Measurable

One of the most concrete examples of where impact can be made is a support-capacity target.

A firm where each adviser effectively required 0.9 full-time equivalent support was aiming to reduce that to 0.6 over the next couple of years - an ambitious target only possible with automation.

He points to meeting transcription as a straightforward starting point, as well as “data cleansing tools” that can improve accuracy in some setups.

Such automated tools can remove avoidable admin so firms can reinvest time in client-facing work and service improvement.

What “Exit-Ready” Looks Like in Practice

Simplify the Proposition Before You Add New Tools

Paul’s strongest valuation example comes down to simplification.

He contrasts a typical fragmented setup with a streamlined alternative.

In one case: multiple platforms, low profitability, and a support-heavy model.

In another: one platform, a centralised investment proposition, and a tighter operating structure.

In his experience, that shift translated into a big difference in valuation multiples.

Businesses that are easier to understand, run, and oversee are easier to underwrite.

"Financial adviser businesses have taken on board a lot of technology... that’s become a bit of a mess, actually."

Paul Miles, Principal, Silverback Consultancy

Use Segmentation to Protect Outcomes

Segmentation can sound like a commercial exercise but it can also be a customer-outcome tool.

If you offer “full service” to everyone, you often end up with inconsistent delivery. Inconsistent delivery is hard to defend as fair value.

A practical segmentation model makes the service promise explicit:

• Service definition: what a client receives, how often, and what “good” looks like.
• Hand-off rules: when complexity, vulnerability, or life events trigger a different level of support.
• Evidence: the MI that shows whether each segment is receiving what it was promised.

It also makes automation safer because edge cases are designed in, rather than discovered during a problem or in a complaint.

What Consolidators and Buyers Are Really Buying

Data Quality and MI Decide How Fast Integration Happens

Colin says that consolidators often worry about data quality and MI first.

These concerns are linked to questions about whether the acquiring firm can manage outcomes, risks, and service consistently post-deal.

They align with the FCA’s own focus on long-term outcomes in its multi-firm review of consolidation.

There is always a risk of poor outcomes if consolidation is not governed and monitored effectively.

The aim is to reduce reliance on one-off reporting and fragile manual work and making data-driven processes more systematic.

Honesty Up Front Improves Consolidation Outcomes

One of Paul’s most important points is about people and expectations.

Post-sale, it will not feel the same to people in the business. Pretending otherwise increases the chance of disappointment and attrition.

He stresses the importance of both sides being honest about what will change. Matching operating models and expectations is how consolidations can avoid unnecessary integration challenges.

For sellers, that means understanding the buyer’s platform and process requirements early.

Where appropriate, it also means planning a multi-year glide path to align, as change doesn't happen overnight.

AI and RegTech Can Reduce Risk - If They Are Governed

Transcription Is the Gateway Use Case

Transcription stands out as a key example, because it is easy to pilot, measurable, and linked directly to capacity.

Done well, it compresses a workflow that used to involve dictation, manual typing, and iterative clean-up.

It can produce a near-real-time record that feeds onboarding, suitability documentation, and follow-up communications.

The governance is important though. You are still processing sensitive data, so privacy and accountability controls matter.

That is set out in the ICO’s guidance on AI and data protection.

AI File Checking and GRC Tools Are Changing Oversight

Colin also points to the growth of RegTech and GRC tooling that can automate parts of compliance monitoring, such as file checking.

Instead of a manual process, often based on sampling rates that vary by adviser, firms can systemise checks.

Automation can help spot missing information, inconsistent disclosures, or process drift.

The strategic benefit is that oversight becomes more continuous, rather than waiting for periodic audits.

That supports both Consumer Duty monitoring as well as acquisition due diligence.

Identity and Trust Still Sit Underneath the Operating Model

Trust comes from verifiable controls and day-to-day proof.

That's true whether you are running or selling a business.

As firms integrate, outsource, and automate, they widen the set of people and systems that handle client data and communications.

That makes basics like domain protection and secure channels harder to treat as “IT tasks” alone - as they become core operational foundations.

With a simpler proposition, a clearer operating model, and trustworthy MI, it becomes easier to protect outcomes, trust, and reputation and to run the firm at a sustainable cost.

FAQs

What Does “Exit-Ready” Mean If You Are Not Planning to Sell?

It means you can run the firm without relying on informal workarounds.

You have a clear proposition, reliable MI, and processes that deliver consistent outcomes.

It also makes recruitment, succession, and resilience easier.

How Does Consumer Duty Change the “Value” Conversation?

It pushes firms to evidence outcomes and fair value across different customer groups.

It reduces reliance on assumptions about what clients are getting for their fee.

Where Should an Advice Firm Start With AI?

Start with a contained use case like meeting transcription.

Measure time saved and error rates.

Put privacy, retention, and accountability controls in place before you scale.

What Do Consolidators Typically Look for First?

Clean, trustworthy data and MI that can support governance post-acquisition.

They also look for an operating model that can realistically be aligned to the buyer’s platform and processes.

References

Silverback Consultancy, Silverback Consultancy, 2026

PRIN 2A - The Consumer Duty, Financial Conduct Authority, 2025

FG22/5: Final Non-Handbook Guidance for Firms on the Consumer Duty, Financial Conduct Authority, 2022

Consumer Duty Board Reports: Good Practice and Areas for Improvement, Financial Conduct Authority, 2024

Price and Value Outcome: Good and Poor Practice Update, Financial Conduct Authority, 2024

Financial Lives 2024 Survey: Financial Advice & Support - Selected Findings, Financial Conduct Authority, 2025

Multi-Firm Review of Consolidation in the Financial Advice and Wealth Management Sector, Financial Conduct Authority, 2025

We Must Tackle Misconceptions Fuelling Advice Gap as 9.4m People Miss Out, Royal London, 2021

Guidance on AI and Data Protection, Information Commissioner’s Office, 2023

Email Security and Anti-Spoofing, National Cyber Security Centre, 2019

Reviewed by

Sam Kendall, 04.03.2026