Category Archives: Financial Advisor

The Art and Science of Practice Management With Kevin Bishopp (Ep. 32)

The Art and Science of Practice Management With Kevin Bishopp (Ep. 32)



Taking your practice management to the next level, nurturing your organizational culture, and improving client experiences might require switching your mindset from advisor to CEO.

In this episode, Duncan MacPherson speaks with Kevin Bishopp, Vice President and Performance Coach for the Advisor Consulting Group at First Trust, about the art and science of practice management — including several actionable ideas for financial advisors.

They discuss:

  • What stops advisors from dissociating from clients who are not a good fit
  • The impact of professional scarcity on advisor branding
  • The difference between client service and client experience (and how to balance them)
  • The HOW and WHY of nurturing a cohesive organizational culture
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Duncan:

Connect With Kevin:

Promotions:

About Our Guest:

Kevin Bishopp is a Vice President and Performance Coach for the Advisor Consulting Group at First Trust. His focus is the best practices and mission-critical strategies that propel professionals/firms to be truly unique within the industry. His insights into key metrics, resource allocation, team structure, marketing and client acquisition equip professionals/firms to make high-quality strategic decisions that can generate dynamic results. Prior to joining First Trust, Kevin spent 12 years with Russell Investments, where he held positions as Director of Practice Management, RIA

Channel Head and Business Development Director. In those roles, he focused on coaching, content creation, sales management, national account management, and business development. Before joining Russell Investments, Kevin spent 5 years as a wealth manager for The Bishopp Group LLC, a family-owned wealth management practice. In 1994, he started his career in financial services as an associate for Principal Financial Group. Kevin holds an MBA from the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington and a BA in Finance from Eastern Washington University.


The Evolution and Elevation of the Financial Professional With Thane Stenner (Ep. 31)



The Japanese have a concept called Kaizen, which means “constant and never-ending improvement.”

If you want to become the advisor of the future and avoid a growth plateau, it’s important to strive for Kaizen.

In this episode, Duncan MacPherson speaks with Thane Stenner, CIM®, FCSI®, senior portfolio manager and senior wealth advisor at Stenner Wealth Partners. They share proven strategies to engineer professional contrast and achieve constant growth.

They discuss:

  • The evolution of the financial industry from transactional to relationship-focused
  • How he grew his business by reducing the number of clients
  • How to mold the way your clients articulate your value to their network
  • Every reason to be at the front of the change curve (even if it means making mistakes)
  • And more

Resources:

Connect With Duncan:

Connect With Thane:

Promotions:

About Our Guest:

Thane Stenner is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is a Senior Portfolio Manager & Senior Wealth Advisor of Stenner Wealth Partners+ at CG Wealth Management Canada and CG Wealth Management (USA), Inc. He has spent more than three decades understanding and managing the unique financial complexities facing wealthy investors, family offices, and institutional fiduciaries in North America. Thane is cross-border licensed with FINRA in the USA, and with IIROC in Canada, with clients based in San Francisco and The Bay Area as well as across Canada. He is a Fellow of the Canadian Securities Institute (FCSI®), the highest Canadian Securities Institute designation and Chartered Investment Manager (CIM®), the recognized standard for portfolio management.


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Why You Should Be Podcasting with Matt Halloran (Ep. 3)



Podcasting is an incredibly powerful tool for financial services professionals. It has the ability to drown out the noise and make people focus on what you’re saying.

In this episode, Duncan MacPherson is interviewed by Matt Halloran of ProudMouth about the merits of podcasting and why financial service professionals should consider adding it to their marketing and branding efforts. Duncan explains why he chose to start a podcast.

Duncan discusses:

  • Why he chose to bring podcasting to his followers, clients, etc.
  • How podcasting allows you to move people from suspects to prospects (or skeptics to fans)
  • Why intellectual property is so important for a fee for service professional
  • How his clients have used organic growth to improve their practice 
  • And more

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Connect With Matt Halloran:

About Our Guest:

Matt got started in the financial services industry 20 years ago as a certified life and business coach.   As he became immersed in his client’s biggest needs, he built his knowledge and expertise as a financial branding and social media expert.  More recently, Matt has added podcasting to that list.

Matt respects how tough it is to be great and effective at marketing while running a practice, living a life, and loving a family. He teaches advisors how to be themselves, let their passions shine through and create strong brands that resonate with ideal prospects and centers of influence.


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How to Achieve the Maximum Enterprise Value with Ted Jenkin (Ep. 2)



Do you have a succession plan in place? Have you considered your exit strategy and the enterprise value of your business?

In this episode Duncan MacPherson and Ted Jenkin, serial entrepreneur and CEO of oXYGen Financial discuss how to drive enterprise value, re-imagining what it means to be a financial professional, and how to get out of the wealth management business. Ted also shares his experience as a serial entrepreneur and his favourite books.

Duncan and Ted discuss:

  • Deploying a process to work on your business and drive enterprise value 
  • Re-imagining what it means to be a financial professional
  • Getting out of the wealth management business
  • Ted’s experience as a serial entrepreneur
  • And more

Resources

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Connect With Ted Jenkin:

About Our Guest:

Ted grew up in NJ (actually off of exit 8), he is a Boston College grad, and has the best wife in the world Genna, with three wonderful kids (Olivia, Lyla, and Louden). Ted is now a Milton, GA resident and in his spare time Ted can be found playing tennis, working out, and running businesses.


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What Separates the Best from the Rest with Chris Jeppesen (Ep.1)



Over the last 18 months the best advisors have separated themselves from the rest, but how did they do it?

In this episode, Duncan MacPherson is joined by Chris Jeppesen of First Trust. They discuss what they’ve seen in the last 18 months, and what the best advisors and teams have done to separate themselves from their competitors. They also touch on what separates the best wholesalers from the rest.

Chris discusses:

  • What the last 18 months have revealed about the best advisors 
  • What the fastest growing advisors are doing to propel themselves upward in the future
  • The type of adjustments elite teams have made in their approach toward clients
  • What is separating the best wholesalers from the rest
  • And more

Resources: 

Connect With Duncan MacPherson:

Connect With Chris Jeppesen:

About Our Guest:

Since joining First Trust in 1997, I’ve met with thousands of brokers, advisors, and wealth managers learning the vital elements that have the most meaningful impact on delivering a consistent investment experience, scalable growth, and predictable revenue. I coach a select group of advisors and collaborate with business development areas of select firms with long-standing relationships with First Trust. I share what I’ve learned with thousands of advisors each year as a frequent guest speaker at financial advisor conferences across the country.