Branch Manager Development Program
program overview

Objectives

  • Examine a branch manager's key areas of responsibility and identify the management principles needed to succeed. 
  • Provide an organizational framework that addresses these responsibilities and train managers in the practical skills needed to be effective.
  • Provide a challenging environment in which to explore and practice decision making and problem solving.
  • Provide practical techniques that allow managers to balance personal goals with overall office objectives.
  • Start the managers on the critical path to success through professional support in a  focused follow-up effort.
  • Expose attendees to Panels of Experience - Successful Branch Managers and FCs presenting action-oriented ideas and hearing from FCs on what they need and want from their managers.

Overview

Each session is tailored to meet the needs of its participants, which is why we limit attendance to 24.  Before the program, we ascertain each participant's experience levels in several key areas of management. We achieve this through self-evaluation and through input from peers and assistants. This information provides a foundation for us to craft every course to each particular group - a highly successful approach for many years.  Our pre-course work covers such areas as management skills, sources of increased production potential, organizational and personal objectives, recruitment, coaching, and business planning.

We further the program's objectives through individual follow-up with participants. Our individualized follow-up is an effective component in achieving overall success.

Detailed Topics

The Branch Manager Development Program consists of 10 specific components. A sample of the participants' program activities are outlined below.

1) Trends, Issues, and Concern - Global, Domestic, Firm-wide, and in a Branch Office Environment

Participants will:

  • Evaluate major variables affecting branch offices, such as market conditions, sentiments of prospects and clients, and attitudes of FCs.
  • Identify the branch manager's wide-spread, complex responsibilities and address the question: "What does the branch manager need to accomplish?"
  • Assess and evaluate individual skill levels and identify strengths and areas requiring development.

2) Leadership

Participants will:

  • Explore differences between leadership and management.
  • Discuss successful leadership principles.
  • Identify leadership techniques for challenes that eist in managing and leading a diverse group of individuals.
  • Identify each participant's innate leadership "style."
  • Effectively adapt individual leadership styles to specific situations for maximum results.

3) Strategic Planning: Individual and Branch Goals and Plans

Participants will:

  • Review and evaluate their current strategic goals and business plans.
  • Assess branch offices in terms of productivity measures and success factors, such as client service, assets under management, new account generation, etc.
  • Develop clear and concise goal statements both for their branch and for themselves.
  • Design a customized, branch-specific, personal development plan.

4) Coaching and Mentoring

Participants will:

  • Discuss an FC development model for coaching and mentoring.
  • Dissect and discuss a case study review and discussion.
  • Profile their branch's FCs to determine needs, identify development techniques, and establish performance standards.
  • Enhance their motivational skills to improve FCs attitudes and performance levels.
  • Learn to coach brokers on professional development issues, such as goal setting, client relations, time management, product knowledge, and sales techniques.
  • Learn to counsel FCs by clearly addressing factors that inhibit personal performance, such as low self-esteem, unrealistic personal expectations, unwarranted fears of failure, overall negative attitudes.

5) Decision Making and Problem Solving

Participants will:

  • Review, discuss and practice a decision making/problem solving model.
  • Explore and identify issues causing poor performance of individual FCs.
  • Develop a coaching/counseling strategy to address these issues with the FC.
  • Implement a rejuvenation program for FCs that consistently miss production goals.
  • Develop and communicate clear performance improvement standards and time frames for implementation.
  • Assess when termination is the most amenable solution.

6) Manager as Markeing Leader

Participants will:

  • Discuss and develop a branch-wide marketing strategy by analyzing brokers' skills, clients' needs, branch-wide support, and competition assessment.
  • Learn how to target high potential business from within their client base as well as identify new prospects.
  • Begin to develop the "right" message and a plan to advertise that message effectively.
  • Learn the key components of successful marketing campaigns through use of target groups, product focus, FC selection and participation, and communicate the timeliness.

7) Retention and Recuiting

Participants will:

  • Discuss successful retention activities/ideas to keep the right advisors.
  • Profile characteristics of successful FCs and learn to identify serious, high potential prospects for recruitment.
  • Learn to market the existing branch office, and the firm, to likely prospects, and build the "Branch of the Future"
  • Improve locating interviewing techniques to find and hire the correct person. 
  • Develop individual training programs for new FCs to aid their integration into the branch.

8) Effective Sales Meetings

Participants will:

  • Discuss and practice effective planning and execution of sales meetings office-wide and to select groups of advisors.

9) Teaming: Creating Branch Leverage

Participants will:

  • Identify synergies, complimentary styles, and success of current advisors.
  • Learn to encourage the creation of teams.
  • Identify and discuss necessary additions to current teams.
  • Learn to help advisors with team leadership and communication, team meetings, and careerpathing.

 

10) Branch/Individual Advisor Planning. Organization, and Execution: Effective Self/ Time Management

Participants will:

  • Develop clear goal statements.
  • Learn to use the "45 Minute Power Block" technique to focus efforts on critical activities.
  • Learn to leverage themselves effectively, through team building, product coordinators, and cross-training of administrative people for marketing activities.
  • Reconcile personal production goals with management responsibilities.