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Industry Spotlight > Broker Dealers

Commonwealth Starts Business-Building Program for Next-Gen Advisors

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What You Need to Know

  • The NextGen Business Development Group is a year-long coaching program.
  • The new program is a first for the firm and is targeted at advisors who want to grow revenue and add AUM and new clients.
  • Interest in the program has exceeded Commonwealth's expectations and is initially limited to 24 participants.

Commonwealth Financial Network launched the NextGen Business Development Group, a year-long coaching program that was designed especially for next-gen advisors looking to accelerate their business, the company said Wednesday.

The new program, the first of its kind for the broker-dealer, is targeted at advisors who want to grow revenue, add assets under management and pick up new clients, Commonwealth said. The program “offers equal parts strategic guidance, peer reinforcement, and accountability,” it added.

As part of the program, Kristine McManus, vice president, chief business development officer and program facilitator at Commonwealth, is leading monthly group webinars focused on relevant business-building topics, including gaining introductions and referrals, the benefits of blogs and podcasts, and working with centers of influence.

“Our Practice Management team built this program in response to a growing demand for offerings geared toward next-gen advisors,” according to McManus.

“The program officially kicked off in January” for the initial 24 advisors who enrolled, she told ThinkAdvisor. Additional advisors who are interested “will be able to enroll in our 2023 program,” she said, adding there is already a “waiting list of advisors who asked to join, and they will be first on the list for 2023.”

“Interest in the program exceeded our expectations and was limited to 24 participants to ensure that they each received the hands-on training and attention they needed,” she said in a news release announcing the program.

“A small group setting allows us to know each advisor personally, and we also become very familiar with the inner workings of each individual firm,” she explained. “This helps us understand what strategy and tactics might work best for the advisor, and to tailor a plan for the advisor to meet his or her specific goals.”

Additionally, because a “goal is to build relationships and trust,” she explained that “a smaller group gets you there faster.”

Meanwhile, “Commonwealth is also learning from this group of advisors; we will have greater understanding of how NextGen advisors think and work at year’s end, which will allow us to tailor programs and solutions to better meet the needs of our NextGen advisors,” she added.

Advisors in the program set realistic and stretch goals using Commonwealth’s Business Snapshot, an internal tool that allows them to measure and track production, assets, referrals and new clients, the company said.

Bi-weekly peer group calls, meanwhile, provide reinforcement and accountability, and a special one-day session is planned that Commonwealth said will allow peers to meet with company staff to “tap the knowledge of several experts across the firm.”

Commonwealth has more than 2,000 independent financial advisors across the U.S. who managed $133.5 billion as of Sept. 30, it said.

 (Image: Shutterstock)


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