Out go the BDMs

Newpark has decided it doesn't need business development managers anymore.

Wednesday, September 26th 2012, 7:12AM 7 Comments

Dealer group Newpark says that it doesn't need to have business development managers anymore and has disestablished the four positions it had in this area.

Managing director Darren Gannon says when the group asked its 200-plus members what they wanted most business development managers came in at number 10.

Of Newpark's four former BDMs three are now advisers themselves and the fourth has joined another group.

The top request from its advisers was for leads. This is one of the reason Newpark runs two lead generation programmes for its group.

Gannon says they have been very successful and if the group was a life insurance company it would be the third biggest in the market on business written in the quarter with only Sovereign and Partners Life being bigger.

Number two on the list was help keeping out of trouble with the Financial Markets Authority and the number three request was around succession planning and bringing new advisers on board.

Gannon says the business now has 49 shareholders, most of them advisers and the group has being paying good dividends.

While he had considered selling the business in the past, notably a deal with Australian-dealer group Professional Investment Services (PIS) Newpark is not for sale. In New Zealand PIS has since merged with Minerva and BIG to form the Ginger Group.

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Comments from our readers

On 28 September 2012 at 11:35 am Richard Pykett said:

Seems strangely coincidental with their decision to build their own CRM system to lock in their support base. One wonders if the 4 salaries saved will be sufficient to fund the ‘day and night’ frenzy of design and coding. History will show that this is only part of the project. The money burn is significant and prolonged. We know, we have been there over the last 10 years with E-Broker.

On 28 September 2012 at 1:26 pm Burnsy said:

Any adviser worth his salt should be able to generate their own high quality leads without expecting to be spoon fed. It's a tad sad to learn that #1 request was lead generation. I challenge anyone to say that prospecting is not a critical core component of a truly successful adviser.

On 28 September 2012 at 2:53 pm Bob said:

Advisers all already using a CRM surely? There are a number on the market. Why re-invent the wheel?

On 28 September 2012 at 3:18 pm billy the broker said:

@ Burnsy...as I understand they use a company to get the leads and you have to pay for them.
That does not come across as spoon fed to me? And if it gets you in the door a little bit easier then more power to them, as opposed to doing a hell of a lot of donkey work to get the same result.
But you keep cold calling if that's what pulls your chain Burnsy and it makes you feel good:)
There is a saying in this industry "work smarter not harder", you should try it, it just might work for you. Good luck and good night.

On 28 September 2012 at 4:35 pm Graeme Lindsay said:

@ Burnsy - Whilst we both know that "Any adviser worth his salt should be able to generate their own high quality leads without expecting to be spoon fed", the fact remains that the single most common reason for failure in our world is that the adviser is unable to obtain a steady supply of potential clients! Prospecting is the fundamental! How many advisers have you and I seen come and go over the years???

I have got to agree to with Richard and Bob - given the excellent CRM systems available to our profession, why bother trying to create another?

Richard has an enormous investment in eBroker, and I'm sure that the other vendors have similarly invested. I know too, that the ongoing maintenance and development costs are significant.

One can only hope that Newpark is ready to commit to the inevitable enormous cost of keeping it current as things develop over the years ahead.

On 1 October 2012 at 5:46 pm Richard Pykett said:

Bob – you would rightly think that everybody left in risk land would be using some form of electronic record-keeping, but the reality is that it’s not so. We are regularly asked to build databases just from carrier downloads where advisers don’t have any electronic data. We also observe that a good number of advisers who do have a system in place, are only using the system as a glorified name and address book – little data on board other than perhaps the sponsoring carrier’s dump. It all serves to underscore that many advisers significantly undervalue the worth of their data.

Graeme – another truck-load being backed down the driveway as we speak to fund coding of a new module next year. Still holding off ordering the super yacht brochure.

On 3 October 2012 at 1:25 pm Burnsy said:

Thanks "Billy The B...". Nice to see a fellow of the same ilk as me, joining me in the shared view that working smarter trumps working harder. Would that approach - by any chance - include the skill and habit of receiving a constant stream high quality "on profile" personal introductions (that I don't have to pay for). I'm not too sure whether (or not) you might consider that smart or otherwise, but it might be something you may like to attempt yourself and see how you get on. Anyway I'm sure you agree that it beats cold calling that many of those other advisers resort to. All the best then. Burnsy

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Out go the BDMs

Newpark has decided it doesn't need business development managers anymore.

Wednesday, September 26th 2012, 7:12AM 7 Comments

Comments from our readers