The importance of finding and retaining productive advisers within risk advice practices has been highlighted by Melbourne-based adviser, Chris Browne.
Mr Browne, Principal at Financial Design for Life (FDFL), says the ability to not just recruit but then retain great adviser support is a serious challenge facing many advice practice principals in Australia.
“Gone are the days where a practice principal hands his or her colleague the Yellow Pages and tells them to ‘go for it’,” said Mr Browne, whose own practice specialises in delivering insurance and investment solutions for Gen X and Gen Y clients. Rather, to form lasting and productive relationships with those advisers who support the practice, Mr Browne endeavours to apply five key guidelines within his business:
- Hand over more responsibility – forget about their age and stop being a control freak. Give them responsibility even if they can only do it 70% as well as you can. If you show faith in their ability they are likely to develop quicker and help grow your practice.
- Offer flexible hours – if advisers work late, tell them to have a sleep in. Be open to part-time hours or even consider longer hours Monday to Thursday, allowing them the opportunity to start their weekend at lunchtime on Fridays.
- Become renowned for having a great team culture, which will help attract the best emerging adviser talent. The FDFL culture is based around its motto of ‘One Team, One Ride, Shared Success’.
- Deliver random acts of kindness. Give them your ticket to corporate boxes, ‘shout’ them a night at a 5 star hotel with their new partner if they’ve had a great win for your business.
- Maintain a fresh office – Gen X and Y hate stale, dusty and old office environments. Mr Browne suggests advisers look at examples in their area of how banks have been modernising their branches and apply that approach to their own business.
According to Mr Browne, these five guidelines can form the basis of achieving the right balance in the relationship between practice principal and adviser support staff in order to create a long-term productive outcome. But he added the principal will usually need to invest considerable time and effort in this area to ensure the choices he/she makes reflect the values of their own business.
