Sales Assistants

Aug 27, 2007 4:52 pm

I am a staff writer for Registered Rep., and I am doing our annual sales assistant story for our october issue. If you are an advisor, with a sales assistant, what issues do you think your sales assistant faces these days? What do they most often complain about? Is it compliance, the constant avalanche of paperwork (if at a wirehouse, is it additional paperwork of moving from fee-based accounts?) is it becoming well versed in technology, or is it garnering a respect and level of professionalism for their position?

Thanks

Aug 27, 2007 5:40 pm

She is most upset at wrong information given by the home office (LPL). It causes her to do the same paper work two or three times for the same account.

Aug 27, 2007 6:19 pm

Wrong information and bad attitude from home office (AGE) staff.

Aug 27, 2007 7:13 pm

My daughter works for the big green koolaid machine.  Funny thing, I left shortly after she started, but anyway, she hates the IR/FA who thinks he never makes a mistake and constantly blames his mistakes (ie, not following-up with a client, not placing a trade, not doing his paperwork right) on her. If he screws up, his pat answer is that “My branch office administrator screwed up again,” even to the point of lying to the home office to cover his a$$.  Honesty in the business and integrity go both ways.

Aug 27, 2007 10:38 pm

1 - Accuracy on paperwork & follow through on customer issues.

2 - Setting minimum standards for accomplishment.

3 - Lack of firm set structure. All the structure for what she does comes from me, but at the end of the day I’m not her boss.

Aug 28, 2007 4:07 am

1.  Extra work created from home office on incorrect wires sent, lost paperwork, and different answers from each person in the same department.

2.  more recent with AGE/WS merger; nervous if they’ll have jobs should reps leave the firm.

3.  disappointing office bonuses at YE from manager.  

Aug 28, 2007 4:24 am

Based on what I see in my office, I wouldn't want to be an SA for the following reasons:

Meager pay relative to the workload (Most SA's in my office do 4x's the work of the FA, and have better rapport with the majority of the clients than the FA).

NO - ZERO Respect from FA's

Lousy annual bonus' (8-10% on 30K after taxes is damn near nothing)

Lack of consistency from regional operations

Bureaucratic/Unaccountable backoffice operations

Aug 28, 2007 4:26 am

[quote=Chris Hansen]

Based on what I see in my office, I wouldn't want to be an SA for the following reasons:

Meager pay relative to the workload (Most SA's in my office do 4x's the work of the FA, and have better rapport with the majority of the clients than the FA).

NO - ZERO Respect from FA's

Lousy annual bonus' (8-10% on 30K after taxes is damn near nothing)

Lack of consistency from regional operations

Bureaucratic/Unaccountable backoffice operations

[/quote]

Important Note - FWIW, I do not have an SA assigned to me. This is just what I see/hear.

Aug 28, 2007 12:10 pm

Ask them if they are frustrated, even angry, that in wirehouses they are being required to get registered.

I believe you'll find that they are of the opinion that they did not hire on to be a broker and they resent having to pass the exam in order to (in many cases) keep their job or even get a raise.

Aug 28, 2007 9:55 pm

Do you feel like the practices that have a higher turnover among SAs are the less successful ones? Countless top producing reps credit their SAs with their high production and the success of their business and recognize them as integral to their business (as a note: I am talking about licensed sales assistants who do alot if not most of the communication with clients)

Aug 29, 2007 1:02 pm

#1 from GoingIndy is the one I hear the most. Poor home office communication - follow up - different answers each time they call with a question - makes their jobs much more difficult than it should be.

We're a top producing partnership and my SA doesnt want to get licensed. Thats fine by me because she still takes care of 110% of operations and all client communication that does not require a 7.