It is not just the case that advisers neglect to have these discussions, some have never had the training or coaching to do so.

2. Culture

Staff should understand how the firm’s purpose is relevant to delivering good outcomes and therefore trained accordingly.

As mentioned earlier, training needs analysis is a must, but how many advisers and their support staff are privy to a firm’s business plan and if so, is this client-centric and not purely focused on increasing assets under management?

3. Price and value

How does an adviser articulate the value of both the advice they give and the ongoing service they provide?

Firms more than ever are having to review what clients receive as part of their ongoing service to ascertain whether they are receiving fair value, but how many take the time to coach their adviser teams on how to promote the service?

Advisers go above and beyond for most clients and the sum of all the parts represents great value (I have seen this represented brilliantly in scorecards), but many do not feel the need to vocalise in annual reviews or keep records of what they do for clients.

I really hope the consumer duty is not a false dawn but a real opportunity to assess client propositions, a firm’s culture and how advisers can develop all members of their team to support their business plans and enhance careers to carry on the legacy.

I truly believe that practices adopted over the past 10 years have led to a greater client experience.

However, we have only scratched the surface and consumer duty could be the catalyst to take us to the next level.

Paul Sylvester-Evans is head of training at The Verve Group