People skills key to advice, principal tells grads

The podcast featured Alisdair Barr, founder of graduate recruitment consultancy Grad Mentor, interviewing Wealth Partners Financial Solutions general manager Hayden Remnant about how to hire the right staff for an advisory practice.

Mr Remnant suggested advisers wanting to secure new clients seek out people with “internal drive and motivation”.

“If part of the needs of your business in terms of growth is new business, then you need to find people who are skilled at rainmaking – getting out there and [being] able to drive new clients and new revenue in the door,” he said.

“Rainmaking is the skill of really wanting to be in front of new people and telling them your story at the expense of anything else.”

Mr Remnant said such people had certain natural characteristics that could be nurtured and polished.

“It’s like the great sportsman – the talent is already there, the desire is there, it’s just putting the structure around it,” he said.

However, this type of staff member is difficult to recruit, Mr Remnant told the podcast.

“It’s a rare skill these days to find genuine 'rainmakers' who either aren’t doing it for themselves or are well looked after by a practice,” he said.

He encouraged advisers thinking of hiring new staff to consider their business needs and goals.

“You need to understand what your business is made up of and what your client base is made up of, and then design advice roles on the needs of your business,” he said.