At Commonwealth, J.D. Power Award Won't Change Recruiting Process

Andrew Daniels, managing principal, field development, for Commonwealth Financial, says the independent BD is “tremendously honored and humbled” by getting the highest approval rating in the recent J.D. Power & Associates survey of advisors, and by the fact that its independent contractor representatives “took the time” to complete the J.D. Power survey. However, Daniels says he tells his recruiters “all the time” that Commonwealth remains a “work in progress” that represents a “symbiosis” between Commonwealth and its reps: “They need us; we need them, and our success is directly predicated on the success of our advisors.”

(The J.D. Power award isn’t the only honor Commonwealth Financial has received over the years; 10 times in 20 years it has won Investment Advisor’s annual Broker/Dealers of the Year award.)

Daniels (left) says that Commonwealth “recruits reactively” and the BD’s salaried recruiters add to the rep force at a “careful rate that continues to service the Commonwealth community,” and reflects “an appreciation that growth is critical to survival,” but not growth at the expense of that community. “We don’t want to be the biggest, but the best,” says Daniels.” Moreover, Daniels says that he tells his recruiters not to be “shy” about recruiting “demanding” reps, since those are the advisors who know what they need to grow their practices and serve their clients. As an example, he cites the noted advisor Alexandra Armstrong, whose team joined Commonwealth in 2009, which had “very concrete” ideas about what it needed from a BD to continue its growth.