Getting to know you

(October 2005) This issue marks my last as part of the Advisor Group. For five years I’ve had the privilege of leading a team dedicated to producing the best magazine, website, conferences and newspaper for financial professionals in Canada. As I embark on a new adventure, I leave behind a talent-rich team that will no doubt continue to serve the needs of advisors well. I wish them — and you — continued success.

With that, a sage and prosperous advisor once told me his guiding principle for success is to never assume he knows his clients — no matter how long he’s been working with them. With every contact he has with a client, he looks for ways to better understand his or her needs and desires. He gleans his client information from multiple sources, combining his own queries with those of his staff and periodic client surveys, as he believes this approach forces him to work to earn his clients’ business — never taking them for granted.

I think the lesson holds well in any client-focused industry — including publishing. In our case, you are our client. Understanding you and your business is our job and we tackle it in a variety of ways to create the content you want, including: consulting an editorial advisory board comprised of practising advisors; day-to-day contacts with advisors by our reporters; attending industry conferences; direct feedback from you; and yes, our annual Dollars & Sense Survey.

This marks the fourth consecutive year we’ve gone out to our readers, asking you serious questions about your practices and your clients. It’s our hope the stories and survey results presented in the pages that follow (and online at Advisor.ca) will help you get a better sense of how your colleagues are meeting the same challenges that you face. We added some new questions this year on the topic of compensation disclosure and fee transparency — a standard the industry seems bound to evolve toward. “Take the Offensive” (page 23) by editor Deanne Gage looks at the survey results and explores the idea of competing by being open and upfront about compensation.

Associate editor Philip Porado follows this with a closer look at compensation on the insurance side of the business in “People Get Ready” (page 39). Portus, Norbourg, Norshield. The past year has served to remind advisors and their clients that sometimes things are not what they seem. Compliance, often seen as an administrative burden by advisors, has become a business essential.

In his story, “When Lightning Strikes” (page 31), investments editor Steven Lamb takes a closer look at how advisors deal with due diligence and product blow-ups. Finally, the industry paperwork can bury you, and of course, there’s the struggle you then face finding the right person to fit the needs and culture of your practice.

In “Finding the One” (page 44), assistant editor Heidi Staseson garners advice from advisors on how to hire smart. The coverage you read in this issue is extended online at Advisor.ca, with more articles and tools to help you meet the needs of your growing practice. On behalf of the entire Advisor Group, I thank you for your continued readership and offer a special thanks to the more than 2,000 advisors who took time from their summers to participate in this year’s survey. It guides us in our never-ending mission to know you.

Darin Diehl is executive editor and associate publisher of the ADVISOR Group.

(10/17/05)