Q: What do you hear from successful advisors who want to accelerate success?

Chris Venn: We get to work with great advisors. All of them have had wins along the way, and setbacks (like any entrepreneur). What we hear most often from those who want more is, “How can I get to this result? With the clients I have, the team I have, the skills I have, how can I do this?”

“Be absolutely clear about your goal. Until you can name it, you cannot have it.”

Q: What advice do you give these advisors?

CV: To be clear, these advisors are going to get to where they want over time. But there are a couple of fundamentals to move toward success faster. The first step is to be absolutely clear about your goal. Until you can name it, you cannot have it. Write it down, and make a plan on how you’re going to get there.

The next step is to be very deliberate about whom you hang around. For instance, if you want to get in shape, you hang around people who are getting in shape. So if you want to be really good at serving your clients, for example, find somebody who’s really good at serving their clients. Hang around them, spend time in conversations about what they’re doing, what their conversations are, and how they look at things differently. And then adapt that advice into what works for you—because no two advisors or businesses are the same. How do you want to show up for meetings? How do you want to engage your clients? How do you want your business to look?

Q: Can you explain Financial Horizons’ Success Accelerator program?

CV: Success looks different to everyone. Our Success Accelerator program focuses on what that success looks like for the advisor. It’s a group program where advisors get to be surrounded with peers that are on a similar level in their evolution, but get to work on their specific goals.

The program is held locally and in person, and it begins by helping advisors get clarity about what they want their future to look like. We help them take a look at how they’re using their marketing and sales process to get to that result, and tune it appropriately. That’s followed with six months of coaching. It’s all shaped around helping them accelerate that success as they define it.

We also have additional opportunities to dive into practice management. We look at their client service model. How are they approaching segmentation? What does the operation look like? What decisions have they made about how their team is composed?

Q: Can you share success stories of advisors who’ve completed the program?

CV: There’s an advisor who’s extremely diligent, and does all of her own service work. The challenge was that she’d built such a great reputation that more people wanted to work with her, and she didn’t have the capacity.

A couple of hours into our first session, we discussed what she wanted. She realized she needed to hire someone. Otherwise, she’d be a long way off in reaching her goals.

When she took time to consider what she wanted and why it mattered, she realized she needed to build a team that upholds the promise of her business values. So, within six weeks, she made an offer to someone. Now that she has a new team member, she’s able to have more conversations with the clients she wants to work with because she has time to do that.

We’ve had other advisors who’ve reshaped their target market focus because the program helped them realize their existing market was in decline. Other advisors, after years of focusing more on the wealth side of their business, have made leaps in growth in the insurance side.

These are just a few examples amongst many who’ve made positive impacts to their goals by following our unique Success Accelerator program.

Q: Do you have any final tips?

CV: There’s an equation for getting stuff you want. First, define what you want. Second, calculate what that costs, and what it will take. For instance, will it take time, energy, or training? Third, pay for it. If it’s something that really matters to you, get clear on what it’s going to take to do it, and then do the work. There is no shortcut for the work.

Q: What industry trends are impacting advisors and their practices?

Heidi MacDonald: Volatile markets are impacting client investment strategies, which impacts Assets Under Management (AUM) and subsequent trailer fees for advisors. High interest rates mean clients are diverting available cash to debt servicing/reduction strategies and placing available funds in alternate or low commission savings vehicles or solutions like high interest savings accounts and GICs. In the wealth space, specifically segregated funds, advisors can experience significant strain on revenue resulting from the DSC ban and shift to no-load funds, including uptake of advisor chargeback funds. This is in addition to the impact of additional deposit options (ADO) on first-year commission (FYC), and recurring revenue from insurance sales.

“We help advisors accelerate their growth, no matter where they’re at in their business, by providing the right tools, technology, resources and expertise when they need them.”

Meanwhile, advisors are feeling the pressure to digitize their practices. COVID helped move the industry forward with updated technologies. Now an advisor’s business must be easily accessible from anywhere—at any time. And the client expectation is a one-stop shop.

That’s why the value of advice goes far beyond knowing your product and sales today. It’s about understanding the industry and being prepared for where things are going. This is where we partner with our advisors, so they can support their clients through that journey.

Q: How does working with the right MGA partner help advisors sustain their practice and success?

HM: Success looks different for everyone. At Financial Horizons, our commitment is to help advisors accelerate their vision of success. We distinguish ourselves as industry leaders in this space through distinct programs, access to industry-leading experts, best-in-class education, and proven approaches that work.

We can say that confidently because we listen to our advisors’ feedback, and continuously search out new solutions so that we can enhance the tools and services that drive their success.

We also have local teams across Canada. So, whether an advisor needs support in leadership, sales, operations, compliance, or back office, our experts are available to understand the local perspective, unique needs and, most importantly, the advisor’s definition of success with a path to get them there.

Q: How are you advocating with regulators on behalf of advisors?

HM: We have a proactive team of compliance experts that work side-by-side with advisors to help them safeguard their practice and provide best practices to navigate through the various challenges they’re having within a compliance or regulatory space.

Not only that, but we’re on various industry committees also ensuring we are at the table when regulators are shaping policy. We advocate for advisors, we are on industry boards that represent MGAs and independent advisors, and we partner with the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA). Through that, we represent all of our advisors – their needs and the needs of their clients – and the industry.

Regulators may not understand a day in the life of an advisor and what their clients expect. We provide education and information to regulators on the impact of some of the policy decisions they’re looking to implement.

Q: What other support do you provide advisors?

HM: We help advisors accelerate their growth, no matter where they’re at in their business, by providing the right tools, technology, resources and expertise when they need them. We listen to our advisors, follow industry trends, and then act by creating new programs and solutions that keep their businesses ahead of the curve.

For advisors working in advanced markets, our complex case support includes a proactive operations team, and the expert advice of insurance and investment strategists who can act as an extension of the advisor’s team to help identify new opportunities and deliver better solutions to their clients. We’re also constantly modernizing the advisor experience. Our innovative Accelerator programs are a fully immersive experience designed to help advisors gain clarity on what success means to them, setting them on a path to get the business, clients and life they want.

Those are just some of the ways Financial Horizons helps advisors accelerate their success today and amplify it tomorrow.