Ep 413: Building An Internal Advisor Training Program To Solve The Talent Pipeline As A Growing $4B Advisory Firm with Kevin Leahy
Financial Advisor Success
Michael Kitces
4.8 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 26 November 2024
⏱️ 90 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kevin Leahy is the CEO of Connecticut Wealth Management, an RIA based out of Connecticut that oversees approximately $4 billion in assets under management for 1,100 households. Kevin's firm stands out for its systematized training program designed to onboard and develop young talent straight out of college, effectively maintaining a robust advisory talent pipeline. This approach has supported the firm through organic growth and strategic acquisitions, ensuring a smooth transition of clients from retiring advisors to new ones, all while keeping a low client-to-advisor ratio of 35-to-1.
Listen in as Kevin shares how his firm's structured new hire training program starts with comprehensive initial training on systems and financial planning processes, followed by a focus on enhancing client communication skills. He also discusses sourcing new talent from a vetted internship program and how hiring in cohorts optimizes learning and integration. You'll also learn about the interview process Kevin's firm uses with veteran advisors, how his firm is able to maintain its core values as it grows, and more.
For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/413
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with |
| 0:07.1 | financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading |
| 0:12.4 | financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success |
| 0:17.4 | and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next |
| 0:22.2 | level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome, everyone. |
| 0:28.9 | Welcome to the 413th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is |
| 0:34.8 | Kevin Leahy. Kevin is the CEO of Connecticut Wealth Management, an RIA based in Farmington, Connecticut, |
| 0:39.8 | that oversees approximately $4 billion in asset center management for 1,100 client households. |
| 0:45.3 | What's unique about Kevin, though, is how his firm has built a systematized internal advisor training program |
| 0:50.2 | to efficiently onboard young new talent straight out of college while maintaining a strong |
| 0:54.7 | advisory talent pipeline as the firm has grown to four billion of AUM through both organic |
| 0:59.5 | growth and acquisitions of retiring advisors whose clients can then be transitions to the |
| 1:04.1 | upcoming young advisors they're developing, while maintaining a high level of service with a relatively |
| 1:09.1 | low 35 to one client to advisor ratio. |
| 1:12.2 | In this episode, we talk in depth about how Kevin's firm New Hire Training Program ramps up through the first six months, |
| 1:17.9 | starting with an initial 90-day stage that uses standardized case studies to teach the firm's planning process |
| 1:23.3 | and how to review and input data in the firm's systems, followed by a second 90-day stage that builds new hires confidence in their client |
| 1:29.9 | communication skills by conducting mock client presentations and receiving constructive feedback |
| 1:34.7 | from peers and current advisors. |
| 1:37.3 | How Kevin's firm uses a software platform called Playbook Builder to compile training materials |
| 1:42.2 | from videos to PowerPoint presentations to word documents |
| 1:45.0 | in a centralized location and make a more systematized onboarding and training process. |
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