By 2019, the wealth management division of a Fortune 500 financial institution had reached an impasse. Thanks to mounting pricing pressures and changing customer preferences, the senior leadership team realized they had no choice but to radically rethink how they serve their customers.
Traditionally, financial services firms based their business model on giving customers tips on equities and other products, and then earning a fee on the resulting transactions. However, the firm’s leadership realized that they had entered a “brave new world” where this model is obsolete. “The information that we used to get paid for is now a commodity,” one financial advisor told the UNC Executive Development team. Further, customers are increasingly resistant to paying fees on transactions.
The firm’s leaders recognized that its value proposition needed an urgent update. They decided that their financial advisors should focus less on facilitating one-time transactions and more on providing customers with personalized financial wellness planning. “The investment business is dead,” explained another financial advisor at the firm. “I want to be my clients’ life coach and personal CFO.”
Resistance to Change
Not every financial advisor at the firm welcomed this new “personal CFO” role. Some argued that their customers neither wanted nor needed holistic financial planning services. To address these concerns, senior executives collaborated with UNC Executive Development to design a tailored program that would coach financial advisers on the new strategy while demonstrating how it would ultimately help their business.
“The Best-Laid Plans…”
In the fall of 2019, the UNC Executive Development team rolled out the learning program. The plan was to teach the new business strategy and coaching techniques to nearly 1,000 participants as part of an in-person program at the Rizzo Center in Chapel Hill, NC. Afterward, the participants would return to the firm to coach financial advisors on their new role as “personal CFOs.”
However, in March of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.
The pandemic left the firm with no choice but to cancel all face-to-face learning sessions. But despite the global health crisis, the firm still had an urgent need to develop leaders into skilled coaches by the end of 2020. With the deadline looming, the UNC Executive Development team proposed an innovative virtual program.
A 5-Part Recipe for Virtual Learning
UNC Executive Development partnered with the firm to create a customized learning and development program with five key elements:
- Excitement and Engagement
The team designed engaging interactive sessions that would create excitement about the firm’s new strategy and the upcoming learning process. - Concentrated Learning Experience
Instead of the original plan of an in-person program held over two days, the team created a virtual program that required just six hours. - Expert Feedback in Real Time
The team gave participants opportunities to engage with course faculty during one-hour virtual coaching sessions and “office hours.” - Peer-Supported Learning
Participants practiced real-life coaching scenarios in virtual breakout rooms with worksheets for giving and receiving peer feedback. - Reinforcement of Learning
The team provided one-on-one coaching to help participants practice their skills. Team members also produced 16 podcasts to reinforce participants’ learning through personal reflection.
Unlocking ROI
Despite the challenges of pivoting to a virtual learning model in the middle of a pandemic, the firm’s leadership team praised UNC Executive Development’s success in developing nearly 1,000 participants into skilled coaches. Even better, the program created the financial gains that the firm’s senior executives had hoped for. Internal data analysts found that the company’s most successful financial advisors are those who are leveraging the new financial planning strategy. On the other hand, financial advisors in the bottom third of the firm in terms of net new assets generated are those who continue to conduct their business using the outdated transaction-based model.
A Job Well Done
Financial services firms, like organizations in many industries, are facing a “brave new world” of unpredictable economic disruptions and shifting customer preferences.
UNC Executive Development is proud to have designed a customized learning program that withstood pandemic disruptions. The team’s innovative and collaborative approach allowed the financial services firm to successfully adopt a fresh business strategy while also empowering and developing its most important asset: its people.
