The past year has been defined by one of the worst economic recessions in recent history. Not surprising, this has placed a great deal of stress on advisors’ relationships with their clients.

Managing client relationships is arguably the most important part of an advisor’s job, and it has taken on a greater level of significance as clients saw their portfolios drop steeply in value seemingly overnight.

As a result, in response to questions in this year’s Report Card series about support from firms during the downturn, advisors at firms that provided them with meaningful information they could communicate to their clients during these tough times were the most satisfied.

“When it gets to more difficult markets, you do more conference calls and sharing of best practices,” says Sue Dabarno, president and CEO of Toronto-based boutique brokerage Richardson Partners Financial Ltd. “You look for more client solutions and you try to stay ahead of the curve.”

Says a Richardson Partners advisor in British Columbia: “The support was spectacular, from top to bottom. There were regular tours from the senior manager and visits to each of us advisors.”

To help advisors and clients cope with the shock of the economic downturn, some firms focused on the basics, stressing the need for clients to stick to their financial plans in order to achieve their long-term goals.

“It’s about picking a plan and sticking to it — that is what we do,” says Jeff Dumanski, president and chief marketing officer with Mississauga, Ont.-based mutual fund dealer PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. “The other part is all about building trust with clients, so when they say, ‘I want out,’ you can tell them the reason why they selected those products in the first place.”

PFSL advisors, who received letters and conference calls about staying on target, appreciated their firm’s focus during these tough times. “The world changes,” says a PFSL advisor in Ontario, “but the firm doesn’t change its mission.”

Similarly, Winnipeg-based mutual fund dealer Investors Group Inc., has developed client-centric marketing materials and made its portfolio managers available to advisors and their clients to help them understand market volatility.

“The market downturn is all about emotions, and the response is all about managing emotions,” says Kevin Regan, executive vice president of financial services for Investors Group. “We try to step it up by providing interpretations of what’s going on in the marketplace so advisors can have a meaningful talk with their clients.”

Says an Investors Group advisor in Ontario: “It helps that our fund managers are trying to put things in context.”

Executives at Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia were also focused on sharing information with advisors that could then be translated into client-friendly communication materials.

“We’re providing even more frequent information, newsletters and conference calls from our portfolio managers,” says Wendy Hannam, Scotiabank’s executive vice president of domestic personal banking and distribution. “All the information we share is with the purpose of [advisors] being able to have the same conversations with clients.”

Another bank that really kicked it up a notch, in terms of the support it offered its advisors, was Toronto-based TD Canada Trust.

“There are more charts, more conference calls than I’ve ever seen in my life,” says a TD advisor in Ontario. “It is almost overload, but I would rather have [the support] than not. We used to have conference calls once a week; now we have them once a day.”

Executives from TD declined to comment on the firm’s support strategy. However, Mike Reilly, president and national sales manager of Toronto-based brokerage TD Waterhouse Private Investment Advice spoke about the parent organization’s support for advisors during the downturn: “[We have] a constant flow of information that goes out on a daily basis to advi-sors to ensure that they are client-ready. We provide them with information relating to the markets and the economy, and tips on how to talk about finances with clients. We hold morning conference calls daily. I think that it’s substantial and beneficial.”

Other firms took a completely different but no less successful approach. For instance, Toronto-based boutique brokerage GMP Private Client LP applied a strategy in which collaboration and sharing of best practices was the focus.

“A large portion of our last partners’ meeting was advisors presenting what they were doing,” says James Werry, GMP’s president and CEO. “They shared what was working for them and how they were approaching market conditions. Our advisors are very open to sharing and working with other advisors in their branches and across country.”

@page_break@GMP advisors were pleased with their firm’s efforts: they gave it the highest rating in the category (9.7) among all the 46 firms surveyed for this year’s Report Card series. Says a GMP advisor in Ontario of the firm’s support during the downturn: “It was the best I’ve seen. I’ve been with a lot of firms, and nothing can compare.”

Meanwhile, advisors with Mississauga, Ont.-based national independent brokerage Edward Jones were also delighted with their firm’s full-service support efforts during the market downturn.

One of the firm’s many initiatives during the downturn was to create a website that provides information on market volatility.

“The firm created a page on our website called the Market Volatility page. This is on our internal website for advisors and associates,” says an Edward Jones advisor in Saskatchewan. “We also have approved materials on our public site.

Additionally, Edward Jones has made an effort to support their less experienced advisors during the downturn. “There are lots of people to refer to, especially for the new guys who are getting killed,” says an Edward Jones advisor in Ontario. “[The firm is] very good at supporting those guys, in terms of attitude.”

“Our partners and our management team has discussions with advisors, in terms of how things are going and what the firm can do [to help them]. We also give them ideas,” says Gary Reamey, principal and head of Edward Jones’ Canadian division, noting that younger, less experienced advisors also have “mentors that work with them to help them along.”

IE