Advisers need to be "more professional" to maximise potential connections with fellow professionals, a new report reveals.
The Building Professional Connections study commissioned by Aegon shows that accountants and solicitors are open to closer ties with advisers but still have significant concerns about working with them.
More than two-thirds of the 250 accountants and solicitors questioned believe they can work with IFAs and do more business together, with 61% believing that advisers are considered very professional.
However, Phil Wickenden from study authors So Here's the Plan, confirmed that it was some of the age-old concerns surrounding the advice profession that came up again, with 40% of respondents feeling IFAs are too commission lead, and 47% saying there were a lot of bad ones out there.
Criticisms received from accountants centred on IFAs needing to provide relevant and timely communications in the market, a holistic financial service, and being less sales lead.
The report was unveiled at the launch of Aegon's Business Brain website, which includes toolkits and support material, to the whole adviser market. Now the provider hopes it will encourage greater adviser engagement with business protection.
Alun Beynon, head of protection sales and distribution at Aegon, said: "We are keen to help advisers seek out new business opportunities, and provide them with the tools and techniques required to take full advantage of these opportunities.
"One way to do this is through building professional connections. We don't just want to simply highlight there is an opportunity, we want to help advisers actually turn that opportunity into a working relationship that benefits all parties."
