Financial advisors surveyed for this year’s Brokerage Report Card are overwhelmingly happy with their sales assistants, noting that these assistants are considered critical members of advisors’ teams who help advisors deal with clients and resolve problems effectively.

Advisors were asked to rate their sales assistants for the first time in this Report Card. The overall average rating was a stellar 9.0. In addition, advisors also were quite vocal about how essential their assistants are to their businesses. In fact, the “your sales assistant” category had the fourth-highest overall importance average, at 9.3.

“A good sales assistant is critical,” says an advisor in Saskatchewan with Toronto-based CIBC Wood Gundy. “You can’t do your job without one.”

The highest-rated assistants are those who act as effective intermediaries between advisors and their clients. The list of characteristics of a good assistant reads like a good resumé: detail-oriented, hard-working, reliable and efficient. In essence, an assistant makes an advisor’s job easier.

“For every account we review, [our sales assistant] writes up reminders for me,” says an advisor in Alberta with Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd., “so I’m completely prepared for the client interaction.”

The need for assistants to be independent thinkers and effective problem-solvers was mentioned by many advisors, who say sales assistants are expected to take initiative and produce results.

“Our assistants are very good at coming back to us immediately and being very accurate whenever we need assistance,” says an advisor in British Columbia with Vancouver-based Odlum Brown Ltd. “If they’re ever unsure about something, they’ll inquire, get the right answer and bring it to us.”

Advisors are not alone in recognizing the importance of these team members. Brokerage firms’ executives also cite the vital role that sales assistants fill. For instance, some firms, such as Wood Gundy, RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (DS) and Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. (both also based in Toronto), emphasize the importance of sales assistants getting access to the same company-provided training as the advisors.

“We don’t exclude [sales assistants] if we’re providing training on any new system,” says Monique Gravel, managing director and head of Wood Gundy. “The [advisors] and sales assistants will be trained identically.”

DS also ensures that its sales assistants have access to its rigorous training programs. In addition to online training, business-application specialists are available throughout the country to provide one-on-one training for sales assistants. DS also has a mobile team that holds seminars on pertinent topics such as wealth management.

“As you look at the business,” says David Agnew, DS’s CEO and national director, “the way it’s evolving, the [advisors’] practices are much larger than they used to be, so they require real, top-notch support and sales assistance within the team.”

In some cases, the firms learn from their sales assistants. Case in point: Vancouver-based Canaccord Wealth Management and Montreal-based National Bank Financial Ltd. (NBF) have established committees for sales assistants to share best practices.

For example, NBF’s sales assistant council was created this year, says Martin Lavigne, president of NBF’s wealth-management division, and provides feedback to management.

But as much as firms try to provide knowledgeable and helpful sales assistants, not everyone is satisfied. In some cases, lower ratings are not an indication of the lack of skill on the part of the sales assistant but of concern among some advisors that they have to share their sales assistant.

“My only concern is the allocation of resources,” says an advisor in Alberta with Toronto-based Raymond James Ltd. “I have to share my assistant with another advisor.”

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