Ameriprise Introduces Business Development Program for Next-Gen Advisors

Ameriprise Financial has launched a new training program that it said was “designed to advance the development of the next generation of financial advisors, while at the same time driving growth for their practices.”

The new Associate Financial Advisor Business Development Program “sets up” licensed Ameriprise Associate Financial Advisors for “long-term success in the industry by teaching them to consistently deliver a goal-based, premium client experience,” it said Monday.

A pilot of the program was already tested, and 100% of those surveyed after graduating from it said they felt confident in their ability to “begin building a new relationship and understanding someone else’s needs and goals” based on what they learned in the sessions, according to Ameriprise.

Additionally, participants acquired almost twice the number of clients and more than quadrupled the revenue of their peers, it said.

“We ran a pilot in 2019 (July through December) and then expanded the pilot in 2020 (July-December),” a company spokeswoman said Wednesday. The full program became available in January, she added.

The announcement came less than two weeks after the company introduced an “Ultimate Advisor Partnership” go-to-market strategy that it said was developed to help advisors “accelerate growth in their businesses and deliver an excellent and highly referable level of service to clients.”

More than one-third of advisors in the industry are expected to retire within this decade, Ameriprise said Monday, citing a Cerulli report. As a result, there is an urgent need to develop the next generation of advisors to prevent a talent shortage in the industry, Ameriprise said.

The new development program should serve as an especially appealing offering for “established Ameriprise advisors who are looking to address this challenge by developing talent and broadening the expertise of AFAs on their staff,” it said.

Ameriprise is “committed to the success of each of our 7,800 independent financial advisors — at all stages of their careers,” according to Bill Williams, executive vice president of Ameriprise Independent Advisors.

“We launched this unique program because we know independent advisors want to develop their teams, but they may not have the time or resources to do it effectively on their own,” he said in the announcement. “Our training can help them accelerate the process, advancing the expertise of their AFAs so they can build an even stronger future for their practices and the clients they serve.”

All coursework in the six-month Associate Financial Advisor Business Development Program is being conducted virtually, so the company’s network of associate advisors can participate from anywhere, it added. However, “only a small subset” of the firm’s 10,000 advisors are associate financial advisors, the Ameriprise spokeswoman said.

Pictured: Ameriprise headquarters in Minneapolis. (Photo: Bloomberg)