Financial Advice - Sales or Not?

There's an interesting perception in the financial services industry that its only the IFA working on a truly 'whole of market basis who works on an advisory rather than sales basis.  I personally don't subscribe to that belief and I'll tell you why.

Despite the IFA working on a 'whole of market' basis, how many of them are targeted?  Thats right, the T word. Whether employed or self employed most IFA or advisory jobs that require the effective 'sale' of a product to a consumer are targeted.  If you're working on an employed basis there are often salary validations to be achieved, no employer in the advisory environment gives money away! And if self employed, unless the IFA has a huge amount of funds under management and has enough trail commission built up to pay the mortgage and take at least two holidays to Dubai in a year, they will have to set themselves some personal targets, even if just to survive. How do financial advisers and IFA's make any money? They gain commission or a fee on the provision of a particular product from a particular provider to a consumer - a sale! They are selling products are they not?

If there are targets in a role then there are quite often sales that have to be made in order to achieve those targets.  When the IFA goes to see a client, yes of course they go with the idea that they will provide the best advice to a client but they are still effectively selling the features and benefits of a particular financial product and what is a fact find if not a sales process?  What are you doing in a fact find?  Yes, thats right, you're are building a rapport, probing for information you can later use to disturb the client and generate a need for a product and closing the deal by securing a commitment to do the business - a sale by any other name.

So, is it any better to see an IFA than it is to see a financial adviser from a bank or perhaps a multi tied organization?  In terms of the sales focus I doubt it. Yes, they may be able to offer a wider range of financial products and therefore be able to offer something more closely fitting your particular requirements but don't be blinded by the holier than thou attitude, financial advice is primarily a sales focused process, whether IFA or not!

England, Summer and the Financial Services Industry?

We are back people!  After taking a brief vacation from the blog in order to crack on and get some actual financial services recruitment work done, we are back and fully committed to keeping the IFA and Financial advisory world up to date with what's happening in the heady world of financial services recruitment. Actually we were really watching the World Cup but England's sad demise means we now have the time to work on the blog!

Its been a busy couple of months with a real pick up in the economy beginning to become visible.  Early 2009 there were a hugely limited amount of jobs particularly in the banking sector and if you were a financial adviser looking for a role in bancassurance, well, you had more chance of meeting an honest recruiter! Irony, I like it! Of course, I'm joking about the honesty of recruiters, there are some of us out there but in terms of the job prospects within financial services last year, they were minimal to say the least. There are still certain limiting factors within the recruitment of financial advisers and IFA's with organizations still having strict criteria and they all have the boxes that most definitely need ticking, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel and a movement towards pre 2009 levels.  Whether RDR kills that off is for another day but for now, lets just bask in the warm glow of increased profit sheets and more placements.

The economy isn't such that you can easily get into the FS industry as a new entrant just yet.  The blue chip financial institutions in particular are still looking for the 'top quartile performer' with competent status and a record of achieving or exceeding sales targets which of course means that it it is still very results orientated out there but it's something and it is definitely better than it was last year when there just weren't the jobs at all. Unfortunately this also means that the smaller regional IFA's and smaller financial organizations are also looking for financial advisers and IFA's that can hit the ground running but for those who want to look, whereas last year there was very little, this year the opportunities are there to be looked at!

We have yet to see how the budget and the recent shift in policy towards replacing public sector jobs with private sector will effect both the recruitment industry and the financial services industry and my thoughts are that you will begin to see more people beginning to look at the FS industry as a viable career choice, despite the regulation and the level of qualifications required.  this gain can only be a good thing.  So lets look ahead with renewed hope, at least for a while and lets make hay, while the sun shines!  A summer reference, good one!

An Action Plan for IFA's - How To Generate New Business

For those of you working as a financial adviser or IFA in the current economic marketplace, next to the potential ramifications of RDR and the potential impact of TCF, what would be considered one of the most important characteristics of the IFA role and most important in ensuring that your business is moving forward and functioning as it should, in a profitable manner? Thats right, it's the generation of new business.

Comercially astute IFA's and financial advisers have simply come to realise that throughout the economic turmoil, the generation of new business, along with the strengthening of existing business relationships, is key to their survival as a profitable and going concern. Winning new work for most has become an absolute commercial priority, 'the' number one concern. However, if there is no effective business development strategy in place, how can one be expected, as an IFA to generate new business, keep the business you have and move forward as an organisation?

Seminar presentation is perhaps the one way, that an IFA, a Wealth Manager or financial adviser can generate large numbers of clients on a fairly regular basis. The majority of IFA's rely primarily on referral business for their new business generation either from existing clients or professional connections but it is absolutely imperative now that a robust business generation plan is thought out and put into effect. The securing of new business via seminars or group presentation can be highly cost effective and very profitable if done correctly and is most defintely a viable method of new business generation.  There have been reports, according to the IFA Life social networking forum, that there are financial advisers out there that have increased their business by as much as five or even ten times using seminar presentation. If that isn't an incentive to get out there and start marketing yourself and your business, then I don't know what is!

Financial qualification - Brand Financial Training

RDR and 2012, words to strike fear into the heart of any qualification shy IFA or financial adviser.  Those financial advisers and IFA's without their advanced or diploma qualifications need to ensure that those exams are secured by then, its either that or the loss of status as a whole of market, fully qualified IFA, so what choice is there?  For those financial advisers out there worried about taking their advanced financial qualifications pre RDR, there are a number of organizations offering to provide financial training, hopefully ensuring a first time pass. CII qualifications are not the cheapest exams to sit and being run in only April and October makes it difficult to fit them in timing wise, especially as like most financial advisers and IFA's you should be trying to make money!  There simply isn't the time, nor usually the cash spare, to fail them.

One such organization is Brand Financial Training.  Run by Catriona Brand, this organization comes highly recommended by those financial advisers and IFA's in the know.  Many of the financial professionals we come across at XL-Recruitment in our role as financial services recruiters, have used Brand Financial Training to assist with their training and mock papers prior to taking the advanced financial qualifications, particularly the J0 papers.  The overriding feature of all of their comments is that Brand Financial is helpful, always there to assist and help with any queries and is also great value for money.  What more can the discerning IFA want when choosing which training provider to use?

The company themselves provide training and mock exam papers on almost the full gamut of financial qualifications from CF1 to CF6 and from J01 to J07 and also include the FA1 and FA2 papers.  And thats not all they provide, as well as the above you also have workbooks, personal coaching and tuition, online training programs and audio master class's, a great way to vary your study methods. Brand Financial Training also offer training for both individuals and business's as a whole, something that differs from a lot of companies offering similar training courses.  Another good part to the Brand Financial experience is the RISK FREE, 14 day money back guarantee.  They are that confident that you will be satisfied with your purchase that they offer you the money back if you are not.  All in all Brand Financial Training and Catriona Brand have provided the financial services industry with a great product.  Financial training and exam study assistance that come with a high level of customer service and that personal touch that is often missing from many organizations in the FS industry.  Check them out by clicking on their logo on the right side of the page - you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Cheap Recruitment - a false economy?

In the begininng of 2010, a major talking point will be the cutting back of costs and the minimization of any extraneous expenditure that isn't absolutely required. 2009 was a tough year for us all and especially those of us working in financial services. For many companies, the start of the year and the uplift in the economy will prompt a rethink on their recruitment strategies and how much they are paying overall for securing their advisory staff.


With regards to recruitment in the financial services industry there are two distinctly different schools of thought. The first and often thought of, wrongly, as the cheapest method, is the low cost, high volume method employed by many recruitment agencies and prospective financial services employers. Involving the sourcing and production of large numbers of CV's by agents, that are then pushed forward to the prospective employers, in the hope that at least some of them will stick, this method although cheap is not actually the most cost effective, professional or time efficient.

The second method is the employment of a financial services recruitment company that practice a low volume, high quality submittal process. Although these organisations will often charge a very small percentage more at the outset for any aplicant employed, it is quite often the quality of the work done in qualifying and pre-screening to ensure that the candidate is of the absolute right calibre for the role, that eventually demonstrates the overall cost effectiveness of this process comparitively to the 1st method.

The process itself if done correctly, saves the potential employer money in man hours spent sifting through CV's and interviewing candidates in order to qualify them as, of the right calibre for the role, and time in interviewing the candidates face to face, not to mention less training costs. Many proponents of the high volume low cost method of recruitment are often faced with the tasks of sifting through large numbers of poor quality CV's and of interviewing potential candidates up to 3 or 4 times in order to ensure they are the right fit whereas with the 2nd, low volume method, the employer will be sent one or two CV's that have already been qualified by the agent to make sure they are the right fit. This saves the employer the time of having to screen the applicant themselves and also the interview process can often be cut down to just two interviews, a face to face and a competency assesment because the potential employer can be safe in the knowledge that the candidate will be of the right calibre and will be able to hit the ground running, needing less training and less money spent on the training itself.

Another facet often offered by the recruitment specialist operating the 2nd method is the clawback schedule. A system whereby if the financial adviser were to leave employment over the first 6 mths employed, the employer can claim a percentage of their recruitment fee back on a sliding scale. Beginning with 80% paid back if the employee leaves within the 1st month employed, 60% in the 2nd, 40% in the 3rd and 4th months and 20% in the 5th and 6th months employed.

Proponents of the high volume, low quality method of recruitment will often have no clawback so if the employer pays, as an example, £1000 for a financial adviser, if that employee leaves within 2 months, the employer has lost that £1000 and will have to go through the whole process again. With the method employed by recruitment companies such as ourselves, although slightly more expensive at the outset, that employer would recieve 60% of any fee back. Using £2000 as an example they would receive £1200 back therefore saving £200 instantly. Its not until months 3 and 4 that the employer woud face any real expenditure.

So, the upshot is, take a litle time to think about your recruitment process. We all had a tough year in 2009 and we can all do with saving time and money. Sometimes it pays to go with the agency that seem to be charging a little bit more at the outset. Quite often the quality offered by that agency will far outweigh the time, effort and cost expended in using, on face value, a cheaper agency.

New Year - Financial Focus for 2010

For many of us in the financial services recruitment arena, we look upon the beginning of 2010 with trepidation.  How many of us are still suffering the after effects of last years meltdown? Many of the financial organisations shed staff like it was going out of fashion and consequently, come the end of 2009, there was little need for recruitment of new IFA's or new financial advisory staff, meaning that substantial numbers of our poorly placed or less professional competetitors went to the wall. Not a bad thing,  somewhat like a case of nature ensuring that only the strong survive. There is reason to look upon 2010 with a little less forbodeing than we naturally are however, as the financial markets stabilise and financial recruitment picks up - if only by a small percentage!

This year should be for many of us within financial services recruitment, the herald of good things to come.  As above, professional service standards have been lifted to the nth degree and those companies without the best standards of both client and candidate care have not and will not survive as both clients and candidates alike begin to realise that there are financial services recruiters out there that are a cut above the rest and choose to work with organisations that can provide a highly professional and courteous service. Skills have been rediscovered and new skills honed and polished over the last year that have ensured the survival of the best financial services recruiters and because of that, financial advisory organisations and IFA employers are now  provided with a higher level of service and a better client experience than they ever were. Companies within financial services recruitment have realised that the two key components for their success, clients and candidates, need to be treated as the highly important aspects that they are.

2010 holds new promise and should for the financial services recruiter be a good year.  We are seeing growth in the economy, however small, and the resulting uplift in the recruitment of financial advisory and IFA staff will see a rewarding and profitable year, most definitely compared to 2009.  It can't get any worse, can it!  So, lets jump into 2010 with renewed hope and vigour and lets all ensure that this year, 2010 is the year we all hope it can be!

Xmas - traditionally a time to slow down or a time to get going?

With Christmas looming up on us as quickly as ever, it got me thinking about the effects the holiday period has on us personally and professionally and on all our business's as a whole, whether working as an IFA, a financial adviser, a mortgage adviser or a recruitment consultant. Of course, there is all the jollyness, brevity and 'good will to all men' normally associated with the festive season, usually fueled by too many hot toddies and holiday beverages brought by colleagues who don't speak to you throughout the rest of the year, but there is also the perceived notion that Xmas is a time when it all slows down.  Is that, or should that, be the case though?

Seriously, what is about Xmas that makes the majority of us go mad at about this time of year.  We start winding down at about the 10th December, we forget that to get ahead in the New year we should be pushing right up until the final whistle, as it were and instead we go all misty eyed at the Christnas Lights in our respective towns, following some old adage that 'nobody wants to do business at Xmas anyway'  Now this isn't my bahh humbug moment although many will perceive it as such, its simply a realisation that despite the fact that many of us do sit back, eat too may mince pies, indulge in Secret Santa, and make fools of ourselves at the Xmas party, we could still get ahead of the game, if there was a little bit of forethought.

As a financial adviser, an IFA, etc, I'm sure its probably different.  Timing isn't as crucial for someone looking to invest, or start a pension as it is for someone looking to fill a financial advisory role.  In the financial services recruitment industry, January is the time when the financial organisations want more staff, to get a flyer into the New Year, so what do many of us do, we go AWOL. Although we are physically sat at our desks, the activity level is probably at about 50% of what it is in September. What we need to do, is crack on, get those calls done, contact those candidates, check out what your clients are doing - who has new roles coming up in January and start working on those now, not actually in January. We can all still enjoy the Xmas period without grinding our business to a halt.  Keep the activity level high for as late as you can pre Xmas and I can guarantee, you won't have a hangover come New Year when looking at your pipeline!