The sixth annual planners’ Report Card marks another victory for PFSL Investment Canada Ltd. The firm’s Investment Executive rating of 9.6 this year beat out all competitors for its fifth victory since IE started the survey in 1999. This is the company’s fourth consecutive win.
“Our planners have a little bit of independence, a little bit of freedom and a little bit of choice,” says Jeff Dumanski, the Mississauga, Ont.-based firm’s executive vice president, marketing. He characterizes his planners’ morale as “very high,” and credits the firm’s multiple business lines (mutual funds, insurance and debt consolidation) with providing planners with consistent revenue in the down markets.
Despite its victory, PFSL’s scores were down in 14 categories, although some of the decreases were by less than half a point. There were only minor improvements in mutual fund research (8.9 vs 8.3 in 2003) and corporate culture (9.6 vs. 9.5). With scores waning, PFSL will have to keep an eye out for two firms that are now hot on its heels — Manulife Securities International Ltd. and Laurentian Financial Services. Both made impressive gains in 2004’s Report Card.
Manulife placed second in this year’s survey with an IE rating of 8.0, several steps up from its sixth-place finish last year. The Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.-based firm’s scores rose in 15 survey categories, most notably in the areas of advertising (to 7.0 from 5.9), branch management (7.6 from 6.0) and prospecting materials (7.8 from 6.1).
“They seem to do things right,” says one British Columbia-based Manulife planner.
Even more impressive is the performance of Montreal-based Laurentian. The firm jumped seven spots to take third place, with an IE rating of 7.8. Laurentian saw improvements in every Report Card category, with major gains in mutual fund research (to 7.1 from 3.5), image with the public (7.2 from 4.7) and client account statements (7.9 from 6.1). “They have it right,” says one Laurentian advisor based in Ontario. “A lot of advisors don’t know how good we are,” says another.
With the markets showing signs of life after three bleak years, it’s no wonder that planners across the board are happier. But today’s gains aren’t just a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel. It is those who invested in their firms during the industry’s dark days that are now reaping the rewards.
“With respect to the down market, it was at that period of time that our team saw opportunities and decided to pursue them,” says Brian Ironside, Edmonton-based vice president of independent advisors at Manulife Financial. “Those opportunities have led to fantastic results.”
Those opportunities include an increase in the amount of sales support available to Manulife advisors and the reorganization of the company’s distribution into three distinct channels.
Manulife has also spent a large part of the past year soliciting advice from its advisors. “Last spring, we held 21 meetings in 13 cities across Canada,” says Ironside. “We asked them what was working, what wasn’t working and how we could fix it.”
Ironside says that initiative was favourably received, and at least one Manulife planner agrees. “They really do listen to their field force,” says an Alberta-based agent.
Laurentian also scored a better performance on this year’s Report Card. “We’ve increased our marketing budgets quite significantly,” says Toronto-based Stephen Cole, Laurentian’s regional vice president of sales.
That’s good news for Laurentian planners. “We’ve been asking them to do this for a long time,” says one Ontario rep. This increased expenditure bumped the firm’s advertising score to 5.5 from 4.3, placing it above the relatively low industry average of 4.6. But there’s still room for improvement. “I haven’t seen a lot of it,” says a Nova Scotia planner about his firm’s advertising.
Over the past year, Laurentian has launched a new training program for rookie advisors, and extended its educational compensation to cover both CFP and CLU costs. Although it’s easy to see why Laurentian planners rated their ongoing training as above average (7.7), a new compensation grid with increased bands also garnered the top mark. “We’ve increased the level of gross dealer compensation that you must achieve to move up,” says Cole.
Still, Laurentian advisors rated their payout at 8.5, a 1.5-point improvement over 2003.
That score may reflect the careful consideration Laurentian took before making the change — the first made to the grid since 1993.