Vanessa Oligino is director of business performance solutions at TD Ameritrade. She leads the content strategy and is responsible for the development of practice management programs, thought leadership, tools and resources designed to help drive growth and efficiency for registered investment advisors. Prior to joining the company in 2010, Vanessa held various positions at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Pershing. Her experience spans retail banking, credit card, brokerage and securities services. Her functional practice areas include marketing, practice management and sales support.
Vanessa holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is currently Series 7 and 66 licensed.
I spoke with Vanessa at the TD Ameritrade Institutional LINC national conference in San Diego on February 7, 2019.
Tell me about your role in the things that your team is doing to help independent advisors.
Our group is called business performance solutions, and it used to be called practice management. One of the reasons that we changed the name was because we thought practice management didn't speak to what we do and our mission. Our mission is to help inspire advisors take action and to help them along their journey. In order to do that, we renamed ourselves business performance solutions, because what we're trying to do with all the educational programs we create, our research and the events that we hold is to drive an advisor's business performance in a positive way.
My role is to think about the most top-of-mind challenges and opportunities for advisors, do research on those topics, and create educational programs around those practice management programs. For example, we have our FA Insight advisor-benchmarking studies. Since the year 2000, we've collected historical benchmarking data on advisory firms. We can tell a lot of different things around where are they struggling, where are they doing well, what hasn't been moving at all, and how can we help effect change. That also helps to influence the programs that we create.
One of the campaigns that you recently launched is called The Next Chapter, Building on Today's Success. What was the thinking behind that and why should advisors pay attention to that?
We were constantly hearing things like, "I really want to focus on strategy. I know I need to grow. I know I need to figure this out, but I'm stuck in running my business right now. I don't have any free time. I don't know how to get to that next level."
We thought, "Well, how do we help them define what their next chapter should be, and how do we get them moving in that direction?" That's the program that we set out to create.
We did a number of focus groups and interviews with advisors who had successfully transitioned from an advisory role into a true CEO. We wanted to understand what are the little pitfalls along the way, how did you get around them, was it worth the transition and what's it really like to be a CEO. In those situation, advisors don't know what that next step is and what it feels like. We wanted to make sure that we brought the insights from all of the [advisor or RIA] community out to their peers who are still struggling. Then we can tell the stories of those who are successful.
We created a program. It focuses on the transition from advisor to manager to CEO. How do you go along that journey? How can we help you advance that journey? The other focus is talking about growth strategies that are popular among advisory firms. They've worked really well for them, but how do we take it to the next level and help people understand what are the pros and cons of pursuing a particular strategy. Is it suitable for you, based on the vision and strategy that you've set for your firm?
We talked about six different growth strategies. We offered our help and support along the way. Often in workshops, we hear advisors say, "Oh my gosh. I can't even handle this right now. I know I need to start moving this direction, but I can't handle it right now." We want to make sure that they know that we're here to help and support them.
I'm sure that there are many people at this conference who aspire to be CEOs of the advisory firm where they work. What are some of the things that they should be thinking about, based on the research that you've done? What guidance would you offer to someone who's looking to make a successful transition?
On a personal level, they need to ask whether it is something that they're suited for. Not everybody is suited to step into the CEO role. The second thing is whether it is what they want. Because the next step on the career ladder might seem like the most obvious step for everyone in the world, but actually it might not make you happy.
We spend a lot of time with advisors running them through their DISC profile and helping them think about, based on their personality type, the things that they are passionate about and how they like to work with people. Are they really suited for that role? If they are, great. Let's continue the conversation along that path. If they're not, is it time to bring on a dedicated manager into the firm who can be the CEO or the COO, so that somebody is focused on strategy and vision and moving the firm in a new direction. If not, they're going to stay in the same plateau that they're at and not make a whole lot of progress.
What are some of the ways in which advisors can determine their strengths as an individual or as a leader?
In the workshop that we do, we have a list of leadership traits of successful CEOs. We walk through what these things mean. There's a couple things that rise to the top, such as needing to be action-oriented. They need to make decisions. Some are going to be bad, some are going to be great, but they need to make decisions. Because they're financial advisors, they often want to collect data and make sure that they're making the best decision. But in doing that, sometimes the opportunity passes by. They have to get comfortable with identifying the situations where they should collect more data. But other times, they just have to go and hopefully it works out. If it doesn't, it's okay. You move on to the next thing.
The other thing is that you need to be a little bit of a chameleon. Depending on the scenario, you may need to act in a certain way. One day, you may need to be an incredible risk-taker. Another day, you may need to be somebody who's more conservative and holding back. You need to think, "How can I be the best leader in this situation for my firm, for my people, for our clients?" People aren't always comfortable changing their behavior or their approach to things. It's a hard thing to do. You're comfortable in the way that you are. You've taken the DISC profile. Everyone's got their thing and that's how they operate. You're asking a CEO in some cases to put on a whole new outfit every year and try that on, and just really own it. It's hard for people.
Let's step back and talk about some of the ways that a firm can grow. What is your research showing about the most effective ways that advisor firms can increase their revenue and profits?
It depends on what they're excited about and want to work on. Some firms are really excited about mergers and acquisitions. That sounds sexy, "Let's go acquire a company. Let's merge with this company." It's always big in the industry media. But it takes a lot of work to successfully wine and dine somebody, close the deal and then realize the benefits that you thought you would from the firm.
A lot of people will try it and it doesn't go all that well the first time. But those who are focused and committed will try it a second and a third time. Eventually, they'll gain the experience they need to successfully identify opportunities and close deals. That can become a successful growth strategy. But for those who get discouraged or didn't realize all that goes into an M&A deal, that's not the best growth strategy.
Another growth strategy that works well for advisors if they're disciplined is having a target market. For example, not just doctors, but radiologists who work in this particular health network. It has to be more specific. Our research shows that firms who do that grow faster and perform better. But you have to be disciplined and have to have at least 50% of your clients who meet that criteria. As new people come to you as prospects, if they don't meet the criteria, you have to turn them down. Otherwise, you're just going back to serving a general population of investors, and you won't realize the benefits of the target niche.
Those are two examples. There's a whole lot of others, but again, it has to be something that you're committed to and wanting to stick with and see it through.
What can leaders of firms to do help their associates and their staff grow professionally and to achieve the right chemistry in the workplace?
Culture is one of the most important responsibilities of a leader. They drive culture within their firm, whether they realize it or not. It's important that they be visible and transparent, and somebody who their employees can trust to lead the firm. They have to be somebody who can sell their vision. If you're not on board with the mission statement that is on the wall, you're not going to give your best each and every day.
Leaders need to communicate, reinforce and make sure that people know that they're in it with them. We all need to work together as a team to achieve these goals. It can't be about the person up there, who subordinates don't even ever see or talk to. That doesn't work. This doesn't build a community culture where we're all going to move forward together for the good of the firm, and we're all headed towards this aspirational vision.
If you're not a people-person, you probably can't step into the CEO role. That's not going to be comfortable for you. You can create a lot of stress and unhappiness over the course of time.
Good CEOs are “people people.” What are some of the other successful traits of a successful CEO of an RIA?
It's somebody who has or is able to create a vision. Many financial advisors’ value proposition statements read similarly. “We offer comprehensive wealth management solutions to help you achieve your retirement dreams,” or something like that. But what does that really mean? Their vision statement really is about their product or service. It's not about a higher purpose.
But what if financial planning doesn't work anymore for investors. It's no longer relevant, but that's what you were doing. Your whole business model just went away and became obsolete.
If you have a higher aspirational vision, it doesn't matter the how you deliver it. You can still find new ways to achieve that higher purpose. We're always telling advisors, “Don't be so technical about it and don't focus so much on the specific product or the specific service.” We ask them, “What's your higher purpose? Who are you trying to serve?” That will help people be able to evolve and adapt as change happens.
Lastly, what other tips would you offer based on your research that firms can look at to help accelerate their growth and outperform in the coming year?
Once you have that higher vision, what are the specific goals that you're going to achieve in order to make progress towards getting there? A lot of firms have a set of goals or a strategic planning off-site each year, and come out not having agreed to anything. What are you working towards? It has to be clear. It has to be written. It has to be very clear who's working on those things. They have to monitor progress along the way.
Many advisors don't check in till the next annual strategic business off-site, and they could have actually stopped or pivoted in a different direction, because they would've known that one of the strategies wasn't working. But instead, it's a year later and they've lost all of that time.
Advisors need the vision, the goals to get there, and the monitoring to make sure that it's going the way they want. If not, how can you change it? What might you need to experiment with so that you don't waste time? That process is very hard for somebody who's working with the clients each and every day, which is why we're advocating that advisors need to make that transition.
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TD Ameritrade Institutional, Division of TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. TD Ameritrade is a trademark jointly owned by TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank. © 2019 TD Ameritrade.
Read more articles by Robert Huebscher
Vanessa Oligino is director of business performance solutions at TD Ameritrade. She leads the content strategy and is responsible for the development of practice management programs, thought leadership, tools and resources designed to help drive growth and efficiency for registered investment advisors. Prior to joining the company in 2010, Vanessa held various positions at JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Pershing. Her experience spans retail banking, credit card, brokerage and securities services. Her functional practice areas include marketing, practice management and sales support.
