Angela D’Angelo on The Impact of Team Structure on Your Ability to Grow

Show Timeline:

02:54 The elements of mindset that impact your ability to grow
04:10 Understanding why and when clients actually refer
09:12 The importance of your team in making your business more referable
14:50 Understanding the impact diversity can play in attracting the right clients and how to enhance your hiring practices
18:35 Examining the right time to ask for a referral
22:19 Strategic conversations that drive more referrals
27:21 Tackling the obstacles that get in the way of engaging the next generation

Links:

Website:           https://www.nbfwm.ca/
LinkedIn:          https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-d-angelo

Want more?
Stephen Wershing: http://advisorchecklist.com/blog/
Julie Littlechild: http://www.absoluteengagement.com/blog

Episode Transcript:

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Julie Littlechild:
Welcome to Becoming Referable, the podcast that helps you become the kind of advisor people can’t help talking about. I’m Julie Littlechild. And today, Steve and I are speaking with Angela D’Angelo, who is the Vice President of Training and Client Experience at National Bank Financial. Now, I have to share that I have learned a great deal from Angela over the years. So, I was just thrilled to finally get her on the podcast. She’s one of those rare people who is not only a visionary, but can really bring ideas to life. We talked to Angela about why and when clients refer, and how you can tap into that motivation to help drive more referrals in your own business through comfortable conversations that focus on value. And we do a deep dive on the need to structure your team in a way that reflects your client base, something that’s helpful for referrals, but also, something that we really need to address in this industry as a whole. And with that, let’s get straight to the conversation with Angela. Well, Angela, welcome to the Becoming Referable podcast.

Steve Wershing:
Bienvenue Angela.

Angela D’Angelo:
Thank you.

Julie Littlechild:
So great to have you here. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Angela for a lot of years and have often thought, every time we have a conversation about the industry, “I’ve got to get you on the podcast.” So, I am thrilled to have you here. Hey, Angela, could you just start with a little context on your role, and how you and your team work with advisors?

Angela D’Angelo:
Sure, Julie. We’re called the Best Practices Team. So, I think that says it, pretty much, all. But really, I have a fabulous team who help advisors and their teams every day on structuring and defining their practice. But before we get into those areas, we actually help them adopt the right mindset. And the last couple of years, we’ve been working with some pretty serious teams on becoming better leaders and on the team dynamics because advisors are growing their business at an incredible pace, which requires them to build bigger teams of experts in most cases, adding planners and tons of experts to really address their client needs. But that means that they have to become better managers of these teams. We’re often very present in those areas of an advisor’s business.

Julie Littlechild:
Yeah. And I do want to talk to you about teams in a moment because I know you’ve done a lot of work in that area. When you talk about mindset, which is an interesting comment, before we even think about growth, is it primarily that leadership piece or are there other elements of mindset that you think advisors need to focus on when they want to grow?

Angela D’Angelo:
Yeah. Leadership is one of the areas. The other mindset is how do you use technology to leverage the client experience? Because clients are now demanding that. I think of my day-to-day, I can’t live without some of the apps that I use every day. And so, our clients in the financial space are also asking for direct access to information. When your average age of advisors is getting up there, because of the nature of our industry, then, it’s a harder switch. It’s a harder mindset to adopt.

Julie Littlechild:
Yeah. It’s an interesting comment because we always think about technology as a skill when I think you’re right. It starts as a mindset, as a shift. I wanted to talk to you, obviously, about referrals and becoming referable broadly. But I have to say that we talked about this at one point, and you talked about, obviously, your hairdresser because that’s natural. Do you mind if we just start there and sharing that story that you shared with me about your hairdresser and why… It was just such a great example, I thought, of why and when clients actually refer.

Angela D’Angelo:
Yeah. It might seem a trivial example, but I think the best examples are the things that we deal with every day that make a huge difference in our lives. And so, for me, I finally, 25 years ago, found this amazing hairdresser, this guy who just got me. He got my hair. He just got me. And it was an experience every time I sat in his chair. It was fun. I looked forward to the appointment. I left feeling good. And I remember saying to him one day, very shortly after I had met him. I said, “If every you leave and don’t call me, I will hire a private detective to find you.” And he looked at me with this gaze, but the truth is that when people like something or when they love something, they are prepared to go to great lengths to keep that person, that service, or that offer in their life. And that was me.