{"id":54,"date":"2016-03-18T07:35:30","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T21:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/?p=54"},"modified":"2016-04-12T21:25:48","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T11:25:48","slug":"what-do-you-want-from-your-business-development-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/what-do-you-want-from-your-business-development-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"What do you want from your Business Development Manager?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- Start shortcoder --><div class=\"intro generic\">\r\n<h3>A skilled business development manager can make a significant difference to the business of a financial adviser and, as Andy Marshall states, there are three central characteristics which make a good BDM.<\/h3>\r\n<\/div><!-- End shortcoder v4.1.6-->\n<div class=\"instoryYoutube2\"><iframe width=\"745\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a0ql_2oiNCQ?rel=0;showinfo=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/2015\/11\/24\/latest-poll-bdm-value-services-need-to-evolve\/\" target=\"_blank\">recent adviser poll in riskinfo<\/a> asked the question \u201cAre you satisfied that the current services you receive from BDMs will remain relevant to your business needs in an evolving advice sector?\u201d\u00a0 The results would be enough to win a federal election in a landslide with 51% of respondents answering \u201cNo\u201d, which begs the question, what services are relevant in this changing environment?<\/p>\n<p>The role of a risk insurance BDM runs across a spectrum of \u201cbrochure delivery\u201d to in depth practice management, collaborative business planning and indeed some BDM\u2019s sitting on the board of advice of an advice business.\u00a0 The type of true professional partnership might be rare, but is truly transformational for the adviser and the BDM.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Pollack wrote in his contribution to Forbes (\u201cWhat Does A Biz Dev Person Actually Do?\u201d March, 2012) that in his opinion there are three main activities a BDM should excel at:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Customers<\/b>: Find new ones and extract more value from current ones.<\/li>\n<li><b>Markets<\/b>: Figure out where new customers \u201clive\u201d (both geographically and in terms of \u201cbuying mindset\u201c) and find a way to reach them.<\/li>\n<li><b>Relationships<\/b>: Build and leverage relationships founded on trust and integrity to facilitate opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now these seemingly generic \u201cslogans\u201d require further investigating because underneath them there is absolute value.\u00a0 The question is: Are the current crop of BDMs actually able to deliver that value?<\/p>\n<p><b>Customers<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This is surely about referral techniques and sharing best practice, about niche plays and about expanding services, for example, beyond insurance to perhaps include things like estate planning and cash flow services right through to a detailed process for intergenerational advice.<\/p>\n<p>Would a business experience growth in revenue, share of wallet and referrals were it to successfully implement processes that delivered an expanded service regime to existing clients and attracted new clients as well?\u00a0 Undoubtedly yes.<\/p>\n<p>So when you think that there are BDMs who can equip advisers not only with the tools, the processes and the case studies of such successes, it makes me wonder why more advisers are not utilising to the fullest extent what is on offer.<\/p>\n<p><b>Markets<\/b><\/p>\n<p>This is about knowing an adviser\u2019s client base.\u00a0 There are diagnostics that can be overlaid on an advice book of business.\u00a0 The analytics can then be used to actively market or plan for filling the gaps in a client base or suite of services.\u00a0 Further social media expertise can then lead a business to listen and engage with these new and existing opportunities.\u00a0 Such expertise exists in the ranks of the BDMs I know.<\/p>\n<p><b>Relationships<\/b><\/p>\n<p>None of the above can occur without the relationship.\u00a0 This is simple but rare.\u00a0 As an adviser I had a client who was always interested in what I knew, what I\u2019d read, seen and heard. In other words, he wanted me to have an opinion on things. That opinion requires knowledge.\u00a0 It\u2019s about credibility.<\/p>\n<p>Any BDM should be investigating their own niche and be an expert in that field.\u00a0 Having a story to tell builds credibility and leads a curious adviser to ponder how such an individual can assist their business.\u00a0 Such development of knowledge requires curiosity from the BDM.\u00a0 A genuine interest in not only developing themselves but an interest in the adviser.\u00a0 That\u2019s the connection.\u00a0 And that connection leads to trust, to solutions and to advocacy on both sides.<\/p>\n<p>So when I look at the above, all of it, I know lots of BDMs who can add this value to a business.\u00a0 I also know a lot that don\u2019t add this value.\u00a0 The disconnect that seems to be represented in this riskinfo poll, is perhaps we (BDMs) aren\u2019t telling the story well enough.<\/p>\n<div class=\"AuthorBox\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-303\" src=\"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/15\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2014\/06\/img-andy-marshall.jpg\" alt=\"img-andy-marshall\" width=\"400\" height=\"600\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"blurb\"> Andy Marshall is the Head of Sales Strategies and Research, Life Risk at Zurich Financial Services Australia Limited, having previously held the role of Regional Manager, Life Risk for Zurich in Victoria. He has more than 20 years financial services experience across a range of roles, including sales management, staff development and underwriting plus seven years as a financial planner. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact or follow the author:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andymarshall68\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">if (typeof(addthis_share) == \"undefined\"){ addthis_share = {\"passthrough\":{\"twitter\":{\"via\":\"riskinfonews\"}}};}\n\nvar addthis_config = {\"data_track_clickback\":false,\"data_track_addressbar\":true,\"data_track_textcopy\":true,\"ui_atversion\":\"300\"};\nvar addthis_product = 'wpp-3.5.9';\n<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-53a3668b19172d69\"><\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zurich\u2019s Andy Marshall takes a look at the criteria that make up an adviser centric business development manager.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-views"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/magazine.riskinfo.com.au\/24\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}