A personal approach to planning

O’Connell-Campbell’s resolve to commemorate her brother’s life by increasing awareness of mental health issues as an important part of her business. This goal stands alongside her ability to provide services such as investment advice, retirement planning and advice on charitable giving.

O’Connell-Campbell’s candor has motivated clients to be as honest with her about their own struggles and has strengthened her ability to help those clients plan for the future.

“The money and the investments are the tools to make happen what is important to the client,” says O’Connell-Campbell. “The more I understand what is important to clients, the better I am able to connect with my clients.”

Building relationships with clients has fuelled O’Connell-Campbell’s success over her 22-year career with Bank of Nova Scotia and its brokerage arm.

O’Connell-Campbell, 42, initially joined the bank after graduating from Carleton University with the goal to put her business degree to good use. She quickly realized she enjoyed the interactive nature of the work.

She took a position in personal banking in 1996, in which she sold basic loan and investment products, because that job provided another opportunity to connect with clients.

“I learned that it’s the relationships that I have with my clients, [that] I get the most out of,” O’Connell-Campbell says.

She then moved to ScotiaMcLeod and became a financial planner, working alongside investment advisors. O’Connell-Campbell’s job at the time was to talk to clients, connect their portfolios with their goals and help clients understand the necessary actions that would enable them to realize those goals.

O’Connell-Campbell became a wealth advisor in 2001, a position that requires that she work in local bank branches to assist clients with more complex needs. Her initial clients came from the bank, through seminars she conducted and through cold-calling – although the last method was not her preferred way of marketing.

“I never felt very comfortable with the idea of just calling someone and saying, ‘Can we do business?’ I don’t know anything about [that person],” she says. “I have always tried to find that personal link to connect to the individual.”

As O’Connell-Campbell’s practice grew, she focused on providing financial planning services to women. She has enhanced her knowledge by obtaining the certified financial planner and certified divorce financial analyst designations. Her team includes a senior associate, Carole Girard, and an administrative associate, Kris Kasey.

O’Connell-Campbell’s profile in the community has grown with her practice, especially after she began advocating for mental health support and research.

Her brother, Danny O’Connell, was a talented musician who began playing a fiddle at the age of four and would maintain his love of traditional Celtic music for the rest of his life. He had a remarkable ear for music and could quickly learn to play new instruments without formal lessons, O’Connell-Campbell says.

As Danny grew older, he struggled and was making unwise choices, which included some substance abuse, although he was never formally diagnosed with a specific illness.

“He may very well have been depressed in his teenage years, but [the signs of depression] weren’t well known,” O’Connell-Campbell says. “Let’s face it, there are still a lot of missing links and research we don’t have.”

At the end of Danny’s life, he was a college student who seemed to be getting back on his feet, having returned to a sober lifestyle. He had released his third compilation of Celtic music in late 2003 and his family felt his health was improving. His suicide in February 2004 left many unanswered questions.

When O’Connell-Campbell returned to work following her brother’s death, she was open with her clients regarding the reason for her absence.

“I don’t have anything to hide,” she says. “I didn’t do anything wrong. Why would I pretend it was anything other than what it was?”

O’Connell-Campbell’s clients find that sharing their own struggles, such as the grief that follows the loss of a spouse, the darkness that precedes a suicide attempt and the intense stress that leads someone to turn to alcohol or other substances, is made easier by their advisor’s honesty about her personal life.

O’Connell-Campbell’s experience with these sensitive issues provides her with insight into ways of approaching delicate aspects of financial planning.

For example, one client had her life insurance application rejected because of a dependence on alcohol. O’Connell-Campbell did not know that was the reason until the client told her. Once she was aware of that client’s problem, she knew it would be best to give the client some time before they repeated the underwriting process, as opposed to rushing into another application.

O’Connell-Campbell’s passion for mental health awareness extends into the community. For many years, she and her family have organized an annual concert called Fiddler’s Friends in Danny’s honour.

O’Connell-Campbell provides two complimentary tickets to each client to attend the event, and proceeds go to the Danny O’Connell Memorial Fund, which helps to encourage young fiddling talent.

She also is a founding member of Women for Mental Health, a philanthropic effort under the auspices of the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health. The group’s goal over the past five years has been to raise $10 million to help fund a depression research centre and a women’s psychiatry program, among other initiatives.

O’Connell-Campbell’s other philanthropic ventures include an initiative called the Ottawa Makeover Project, in which she provides financial planning assistance to an individual who would otherwise not be able to afford her services.

And she is looking forward to Almonte Celtfest, a summer festival in the Ottawa Valley that celebrates Celtic music and dance. Her family founded that event 20 years ago, and O’Connell-Campbell sponsors the weekend affair.

Her personal time is spent with her husband of 19 years, Scott Campbell, and cheering on her teenage sons at their hockey games. She clears her mind with yoga and running, but wishes she had more time for activities from her childhood.

“Growing up, I step-danced and I dabbled in fiddle lessons, but that went to the wayside,” she says. “I hope, at some point, I will pick that up again. It calls to me sometimes.”

CONNECT WITH CLIENTS

Colleen O’Connell-Campbell, a senior wealth advisor with ScotiaMcLeod Inc. in Ottawa, has made connecting with her clients a professional and personal priority since she began in the financial services sector 22 years ago. Here are her three strategies for getting to know clients better and earning their trust:

1. Be curious

Ask your clients to tell you what matters most to them, then have conversations on those topics. Clients’ priorities could include their family, job or longtime hobbies.

“Hobbies are a direct link to where [clients] are spending their discretionary dollars,” she says, “or where they may want to spend their discretionary dollars during retirement.”

2. Listen

Give your clients the opportunity to explain their priorities or struggles, O’Connell-Campbell says. She also recommends listening with your eyes as well as your ears.

“What comes out of their mouth is one thing,” she says. “But if it’s not congruent with [their body language] or tone of voice, there’s a need to dig a little more.”

3. Be patient

Each client processes information differently, O’Connell-Campbell says. If you make your clients feel comfortable in asking questions, you will stand out from other advisors.

She recalls one prospect who had planned on dividing her assets between O’Connell-Campbell and another advisor. O’Connell-Campbell became that prospect’s sole advisor when the other advisor told the client that she asked too many questions.

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