Advice Skills Toolkit

Advice Skills

Advice skills is an area that can be overlooked. You pass the exams and before you know it, you’re out in the real world, dealing with real clients, which can be a daunting concept to that of a case study!

There are many reasons why BTS launched the Advice Skills support but ultimately, it’s because we recognise that exams are just one element of your overall toolkit and we want to continue to support your careers, beyond that of the exams.

The BTS approach to developing your advice skills

What does it mean to be competent within an advice role?

Who actually decides what good looks like anyway?

These are both questions that the Advice Skills e-Learning module look at to begin with. It’s important that you have something quantifiable, something to measure yourself against in order to see progress in the way you interact with a client.

For anyone that has used our digital materials before, you’ll feel a sense of familiarity. The Advice Skills module has been designed in a similar way, by breaking down the advice process into manageable chunks, allow an in depth exploration.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to pause for thought, which is enabled by our research, a little science and BTS’ input which is of course backed up by the many years experience that we have within the industry.

You’ll also be able to put the reading and thought processes into action, via the interactive nature of our e-Learning. Many of us feel somewhat daunted with the idea of working on our softer skills, something that we hope will be able to relieve a little, thanks to our e-Learning. In fact – we’d even go so far to say that we think you’ll enjoy it!

Who is the Advice Skills e-Learning module created for?

The content of the module is best described as the core elements that you’d want to make sure that you get right for customers.

For people who are new to the advice role, we’ve created a stage-by-stage overview of some of the key skills that will help you meet the regulator’s and your customer’s reasonable expectations.

For experienced advisers it may act as a reminder of skills that you may not have thought about for some time.

What’s the format of the e-Learning?

We look at three of the key stages in the advice process; Initial contact, Fact finding, and Presenting a recommendation.
We set up a base model of what good looks like, and highlight some standards that you can measure your own or someone else’s advice skills against.
We share an audio recording of someone carrying out parts of the process.
We then give you the chance to act as their coach, and to mark them on how they did against the standards.

The BTS Advice skills e-Learning module is designed to be used as an online learning experience. It consists of:

An introduction video to tee up the learning
A module on initial contact
- In this module we look at the skills required when making an initial contact with a customer. We’ll examine the complete process, so that’s:
  - preparation
  - the call itself
  - post-call follow-up.
A module on fact finding
- In this module we look at the skills required when conducting a fact-finding meeting with a customer. We’ll examine the complete process as follows:
  - preparation
  - the fact-finding meeting itself
  - next steps
A module on presenting recommendations
- In this module we look at the skills required when presenting recommendations to a customer following the fact-finding meeting. We’ll examine the complete process as follows:
  - preparation
  - the presentation of recommendations meeting itself
  - next steps

Study Plans

Get off to a great start with a strategy that works for you

View BTS Study PLans

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Student Forums

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What our customers say

Check out what our customers say on our Google Reviews

I cannot recommend BTS more highly – using their study learning guides and workshops definitely made the exam content easier to understand and digest! The trainers themselves are outstanding and go above and beyond in my opinion, ensuring the information is understood, and bringing the study text to life. The Study Buddy app is awesome too with questions so similar to the real examinations, it made the exam process a lot easier and calmer.

I couldn’t recommend using Bespoke Training Solutions enough! For me The Study Buddy app was a big help in passing R03. It was great to have both the answers and explanations for practice questions, especially for those that include calculations! As I continue through my exam journey on to R04, R05 and R06 I will be sure to keep using the materials BTS provide.

BTS AF7 Learner Journeys

Click on the profiles below to find out how recent BTS candidates achieved their AF7 success:

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Insights, help and advice

Below, you will find a range of recent articles providing insights, help and advice for this unit, we hope you find these useful. Remember if you have any questions on your journey feel free to get in touch with the BTS support team.

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