Financial services firms that have a positive attitude toward training and deliver the quality programs that advisors want and need received the highest ratings for ongoing training in this year’s Report Cards.

“We’re big believers in training — lifelong training,” says Gary Reamey, head of Canadian operations at Edward Jones, which garnered a score of 8.8 in the category, tied with Investors Group Inc. for second place overall.

Edward Jones receives plenty of feedback from its reps — and management listens. At its reps’ requests, for example, the company has added a fifth segment to its four-tier training regime. The new segment deals with advanced estate and financial planning.

At Toronto-based Equinox Financial Group Inc. — also rated near the top, at 8.2 — general manager Daniel Dessureault says the firm researched the marketplace and found most companies today don’t really do much in the area of generic sales training and business development training.

“They are more interested in marketing training around their product offering. So we identified this gap and are trying to provide an option to address that gap in terms of generic business development training.”

Earlier this year, Equinox partnered with a professional training company to customize an e-training program for insurance advisors that can be taken anytime, anywhere.

The other firms rated tops for training are PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. at 9.4, brokerage firm Wellington West Capital Inc. at 8.2, and TD Canada Trust, the highest among the banks at 8.1.

As a group, banks and insurance distributors earned the top marks for ongoing training programs in this year’s surveys, both at 7.4, followed by brokers at 7.0, and planners at 6.6.

Five of the six firms that rate more than an 8.0 are big firms or have parents with deep pockets. But Wellington West is a small company with only about 100 brokers. So, while money may help, it clearly is not the only answer. Nor is it sufficient in itself, given that firms such as Great-West Life Assurance Co. and Freedom 55 Financial (Investors Group’s sister companies), Clarica Financial Services Inc. , the other big banks, and the bank-owned brokerages didn’t score nearly as high.

For Wellington West, attitude wins out. The company is “huge on education,” says Charlie Spiring, the Winnipeg-based company’s chairman and CEO. “We provide a lot of financial support — more than our competitors. Our belief is we want Wellington West’s clients to be better served than any in the country. To achieve that, our advisors need more horsepower, more tools, more capabilities, more technology. We help them get it.”

Not all firms believe training is necessary for the senior advisors that they attract. FundEx Investments Inc. , for example, does no training. “Why would they need sales training if they’ve been in the industry for a number of years?” asks David Vowles, president and CEO. “We don’t offer it because we don’t see the value, and our advisors don’t see value in it.”

Senior advisors at other firms agree. “We’re at the top of our league so we don’t really need training,” says a Freedom 55 advisor.

At Peak Investment Services Inc. , one advisor adds: “We don’t really expect it to [offer training] — it’s not part of its role as a dealer.” Says another: “It’s not its primary role — but it has a good mechanism in place for discussion among agents.”

This is a minority opinion, however. On average, planners rated ongoing training a 7.8 in importance and insurance agents gave it an 8.1. That compares with 8.6 from bank
account managers and 7.4 from brokers.

Nor is there much difference in the importance rating by age, experience and assets under management. In each case, the top 20% gave it a slightly lower rating, but in no case was the difference greater than 0.5.

AEGON Dealer Services Canada Inc. is another firm, like FundEx, that doesn’t offer
much training; like FundEx, that is not its business model. Sister company Money Concepts Canada, which is a full-service planning firm with branches, provides plenty of training and receives a better but still low rating of 6.3.

Training varies from self-learning — programs accessible anytime on the Web or CDs — to one-on-one training or coaching from experts. There are also conference calls advisors can plug into, courses they can attend, seminars held at head office or that travel across Canada, and national and regional conferences.

@page_break@The self-serve model offers the possibility of a broad array of programs from which advisors can choose when they feel the need or have the time. But there is the “risk of
feeling isolated,” says a Bank of Montreal account manager.

One-on-one training is labour-intensive, but some smaller firms believe it is worthwhile. Investment Planning Counsel, for example, has an eight-module system. “A coach sits down with advisors and goes through each module, addressing different aspects of their businesses and rating their strengths and weaknesses,” says president Chris Reynolds.
“The coach puts a plan in place to help them overcome weaknesses and capitalize on strengths.”

It sounds great, but IPC got a middling 7.4 mark.

Most firms offer prepackaged programs and conferences, and some of the big firms provide virtually all kinds of training. But the latter is no guarantee of success, as indicated by scores of 7.1 for Royal Bank of Canada and 6.9 for Clarica, both of which have large staffs available for coaching. IE