Investment advisors surveyed for this year’s Brokerage Report Card said it’s very important for their firms to keep the promises they make. However, the advisors noted that as of yet, their expectations haven’t been met fully.
That’s most evident when comparing the overall average importance rating that advisors gave the “firm’s delivery on promises” category (9.2) with the overall average performance rating (8.4) that they gave their firms in the category. The difference between these two ratings category is one of the largest “satisfaction gaps” in the Report Card.
Although firms performed relatively well in this category, advisors said that their firms can’t always be counted on to follow through on their promises – especially in a timely fashion.
“When they put a timeline on something, they have to deliver on time. If it’s not deliverable, don’t talk about it; it’ll get people’s hopes up,” says an advisor in British Columbia with Toronto-based TD Wealth Private Investment Advice (TD Wealth PIA).
Advisors emphasized that management at both the head office and regional level are not doing enough to keep their word.
“There are promises that aren’t being delivered on an ongoing basis,” says an advisor in Atlantic Canada with Toronto-based ScotiaMcLeod Inc. “A lot of it is local, and it’s fed by a failure to address certain issues.”
One of the reasons why firms are not delivering on their promises is inconsistency in leadership, particularly turnover at that level. “We’ve had so many changes in management that delivery on promises is nonexistent. We’re held accountable; management should be, too,” says a TD Wealth PIA advisor in Ontario.
Another hot-button topic among advisors at many firms was that their technology isn’t being updated as quickly promised.
“They haven’t delivered on promises, many times over, when it comes to technology. I’d be embarrassed if I were them,” says an advisor in B.C. with TD Wealth PIA, which received the lowest rating in the delivery on promises category, at 6.7.
Meanwhile, Dave Kelly, TD Wealth PIA’s president and national sales manager, says the firm has encountered delays in updating its technology because of economic circumstances. However, he stresses, the firm will still deliver on this promise.
“We have systems that we continue to want to put in place, which you have to defer from time to time based on the economy or business results,” Kelly says. “But that’s not a hidden conversation here. That’s something advisors hear from me every quarter, when I say, ‘Here is where we are’; ‘This is where we moved it to’; and ‘This is when you can expect to see it’.”
Not all advisors felt slighted by their firms, however. Advisors with Toronto-based RBC Dominion Securities Inc. (DS) said their firm has kept its promises – especially those related to wealth-management support services.
“[The firm kept its promise] on bonus levels and made sure I didn’t drop in the pay grid after my first two years. They look after you,” says a DS advisor in Ontario.
Advisors with Calgary-based Leede Financial Markets Inc. also praised their firm for keeping its promises. In fact, Leede’s delivery on promises rating of 9.9 is tied for the highest rating that any firm received in any category in the Report Card this year.
“They’ve more than delivered on their promises,” says a Leede advisor in B.C. “I have resources at all levels.”
Robert Harrison, Leede’s president and CEO, attributes the firm’s ability to keep its promises to management’s hands-on approach: “First of all, we put [our promises] in writing. Second, if there’s something we haven’t lived up to, it’s brought to our attention and we rectify it immediately.”
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