Trolling for talent has always been a competitive game. But Andrew Marsh, CEO of Toronto-based Richardson GMP Ltd., is taking the process to a whole new level: his firm is now using customized iPads to grab the attention of potential hires and their teams.
Richardson GMP puts the iPads in the hands of the target advisors and lets them review an in-depth, video tour of the firm at their leisure. The iPad is password-protected and will shut down automatically after three weeks. The firm then uses this event to set up a face-to-face meeting with the potential recruit.
“There are lots of [recruiting] binders floating around,” says Marsh. “So, once you hand it out, there is no guarantee that you’ll hear from that prospect again. But with the iPad, we know we have to meet up in order for them to return the device. And that allows us to have a face-to-face meeting.”
Marsh points out that using the latest in mobile technology in a new way sends a clear message that the firm is open to change. “It shows our entrepreneurship,” he says, “and our nimbleness as a firm.”
The mobile strategy is clearly working: the firm has 14 iPads that it is using this way and, so far, has landed several new advisors over the past few months.
Since the launch of the new recruiting strategy, the firm has brought on five new investment teams with a total of $500 million in new assets under administration (AUA). Richardson GMP hopes to have 10 to 12 new teams by yearend (adding $1 billion in new AUA overall).
Pulling this strategy together, though, wasn’t an overnight job. The firm – together with Toronto-based marketing agency, Plastic Mobile – spent a year developing the special application for the process. The resulting app, launched this past March, uses high-quality video segments.
Executives appear in a video to welcome the viewer and show him or her what Richardson GMP has to offer, including the histories of the two original founding firms, industry Report Card ratings, products and services. The pitch also includes internal advisor testimonials dealing with Richardson GMP’s specific offerings for advisors who work with the firm.
“A binder can only provide static content, but this new device gives the opportunity to stimulate the viewer,” says Warren Reynolds, managing director, national wealth management, with Richardson GMP. “It allows the advisor to have an inside view of the firm from the comfort of their office, home, cottage – wherever they want to be.
Adds Reynolds: “They can take the company for a spin and see how we are.”
For Mick Mitrovic, a 41-year-old investment advisor who had joined Richardson this past May, the iPad tool left him and his team wanting to know more about what the firm had to offer.
“I was pleasantly surprised with the iPad, because we are in an age where all these gadgets and social media are available to us, but we don’t know how to incorporate this into our business as an advisor or as a firm,” says Mitrovic. “Richardson was the first firm I saw that was incorporating it into a useful tool.”
After 15 years in the financial advisory industry, the opportunity for Mitrovic to build his own iPad application for his clientele was a significant bonus, something the advisor has wanted to do but his former firm wasn’t willing to allow: “Right away, I thought this will actually fit beautifully with what I am trying to do with my own business plan, when it comes to social media and technology.”
Toronto-based Macquarie Private Wealth Inc. is also integrating mobile tablets into its recruitment planning. Although the firm hasn’t yet developed its own recruitment application for a mobile device, Macquarie is currently using iPads during discussions with prospective advisors.
“Using these kinds of devices,” says Bill Sacre, senior vice president with Toronto-based Macquarie, “really supports who we are as an organization, when it comes to social media and technology. We pride ourselves on being a little bit ahead of the curve in these areas.”
Sacre has been using his iPad for the past 18 months during recruiting meetings. The device covers all the material found in the recruitment binder but also allows Sacre to scroll through photos of company events and charity functions, and display video from a sales conference and online information such as the firm’s product offerings, desktop applications, office photos and advisor testimonials.
“It also allows you to have this information always at the tips of your fingers,” adds Sacre. “Photos or videos that may not be in the recruitment binder can easily be pulled up with the click of a button and viewed instantaneously.”
Although Macquarie still provides hard-copy presentations to those advisors who want them, Sacre says, he prefers the iPad because it allows the advisor to be placed in a “real-time” environment.
“When I can show a video of our advisor conference or photos of a charity event we were involved in, it allows them to see exactly what our advisors are experiencing,”says Sacre. “It allows them to get a real flavour of what our organization has to offer.”
But for other financial services firms, the idea of shifting into the digital space for recruitment isn’t at the top of their list.
“We still feel that the recruitment process is very much a face-to-face environment,” says Peter Kahnert, senior vice president, corporate communications and marketing, with Toronto-based Raymond James Ltd. “And that while using these devices can provide some additional information, at the end of the day, it isn’t what is going to bring an advisor over.” IE
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