Thank You for 2009 and Hello to 2010!
By: Scott Umstead, Chief Marketing Officer
To say that 2009 is now in the history books would be a gross understatement!! It brings to mind two well known sayings…the Chinese proverb: “May you live in interesting times.” …don’t we wish the Chinese would have kept this concept to themselves?! And the second is the age old adage: “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger.” Well, the first quarter was way too interesting for most…but, it was clear that ProEquities, its employees, and its affiliated advisors were up to the challenge and proved their amazing resiliency and resourcefulness!! As a result, the wise observer could easily argue that the organization is and will continue to be stronger in the years ahead. Our future couldn’t be brighter!
So let’s review 2009 to get a sense of some of the remarkable accomplishments that took place in the year that defied the odds:
The Client Services area answered 84% of 38,392 calls in under 20 seconds, reduced “hold” time by an additional 7 seconds, and abandoned calls decreased to an all time low of 1.88%.
The Due Diligence team replaced ARC Insight, completed enhanced reviews on over 40 programs, and implemented a new page on Advisor Portal. This team also invigorated the Financial Institutions Program by readying their web page and creating a marketing video about their capabilities.
Even with the 15% production increase within the ACATS team, they were able to cover many advisors with their training webinars.
The Technology department certainly was not asleep at the wheel completing:
- Continued refinement of Advisor Portal
- New Protective Securities web site
- Upgrades of the Enterprise Database, WinOps to v6.03, and Sungard Protegent
- Installation of Sungard AML
- Replacement of ARC Insight (previously mentioned)
And on to Marketing Communications where the “Listen, Think, Respond” brand was broadened, the Predesigned Communications Library was launched, a process was developed and executed to assist advisors with logo development, new procedures were refined to keep web data accurate and timely, and Protective Life Corporation asked ProEquities to be a leader at the table for the redesign of the Corporate site.
With the advisor world in full spin, the Product Services group really kept up the pace. Core Products completed road shows and added four new Preferred Product Sponsors. Direct Investments held its Jump Start program, completed five OSJ Road Shows, coordinated 59 conference calls and webinars, and added five new sponsors to fill out product gaps. Not to be outdone, Investment Advisory increased sales in this bear market by 2.47%, held its Fee Based Academies, 50 conference calls and webinars, penetrated the market with the Private Access offering (already exceeding $95M in AUM!) including three new managers, and kept CAM more than competitive in the marketplace. The Retirement specialists were hustling with seven deliveries of Retirement 101 and the inaugural delivery of Retirement 201, followed by 75 conference calls and webinars plus the addition of amsource®, the 401k Toolbox, and Stadion for Mutual Funds. Whew…
ProEquities’ Corporate Training obviously supported the Product Services group by, in summary, delivering, at your fingertips, 96 group webinars and 42 individual webinars covering 313 attendees in addition to the six Training Forums.
Our advisors survived 2009, and many of them had a remarkable year. We are happy to shut the books on “what was…” and move on to “what will be…” with added strength, increased confidence, and renewed enthusiasm. Here is to a year better than the rest!
Member FINRA and SIPC