Investire | September 2024
The financial consultancy sector grows every year at impressive rates, both in absolute terms and compared to other neighboring sectors which show decidedly more sluggish growth trends.
Considering the current market shares conquered by financial advisors – today equal to 20% of total investors and 40% of private ones – there are broad growth prospects and there is room for at least another 7,000 professionals.
Yet the networks struggle to attract new talent from the banking sector or other sectors and, in the absence of alternatives, to grow they are forced to recruit professionals from other networks in a game that – for the sector – is zero-sum.
Going from employee to financial advisor would allow you to increase your gross annual salary by five to ten times, which in the best-case scenario varies between fifty thousand and seventy thousand Euros.
To recruit a financial advisor from a competing network, there are companies willing to offer an incentive that sometimes exceeds 4% of the assets managed by the individual professional, which means an incentive to change the network quantifiable in millions of Euros.
If the remuneration aspect is therefore a necessary but not sufficient condition for attracting new talent, what else is needed to induce a bank employee to become a financial advisor or someone who is already one to choose another network?
To answer this question there is some empirical evidence that has emerged both from the FINER research carried out for ASSORETI and presented in April at the Salone del Risparmio 2024, and from the most recent continuous monitoring conducted by FINER.
For the over five thousand professionals interviewed – selected from financial consultants, private bankers and bank managers of the main banks and networks – the relevance of the image and reputation of the bank or network in evaluating a possible change of colors emerges unequivocally.
This empirical evidence is further confirmed by cross-referencing the recruitment data communicated by the networks – number of incoming professionals – with those that quantify the value of their image monitored by FINER.
A direct statistical correlation emerges from the analysis: the top networks in terms of number of consultants recruited in the last twelve months correspond almost exactly – also in terms of ranking – to the top networks that enjoy an above-average image and reputation.
Added to this is the fact that the image and reputation of the banks and networks perceived by those who work there, together with their satisfaction, are a powerful propellant capable of increasing the so-called retention, i.e. the ability to retain and retain consultants of your bank.
Furthermore, what applies to customers also applies to consultants: acquiring a new consultant costs on average five times more than retaining and retaining one who already works in the bank.
It might seem like a simple thing, but it isn’t: to build a good image and a solid reputation – internal and external – it takes years of commitment, while it only takes a moment to destroy it.
Almost all networks and banks are very clear about the importance of their image both for customers and for those who work there, some start with a solid position income, others younger ones have built it in more recent times.
The same principle applies to all of them: image was more effective than money in making proselytes – both among clients and professionals.
Nicola Ronchetti