The non-partisan approach

As ambitious as it might sound, Total Financial Solutions Australia (TFSA) managing director Michael Scott says that 151 per cent growth was exactly what the group’s board of directors had been planning for.

Strong growth in Victoria, and the acquisition of a dealer group, have resulted not only in increased adviser numbers, but brought additional field support to Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland. Scott adds: “Strategically, TFSA planned to become a national unaligned dealer group with equal presence in each state.”

And the group has no intention to rest on its laurels and focus on consolidation. During 2005, TFSA plans to increase adviser numbers in each of the states, and continue to look for opportunities for further growth through merging with, or buying, other unaligned groups.

As the fastest growing independent group on this year’s list, Scott says the independent status of the group means it “can provide an alternative to big writers from institutionally-owned dealers that can transition to TFSA for an immediate benefit — both from a cash flow and an equity perspective”.

But competing against the larger institutional groups does mean TFSA has to remain top of its game. “We need to manage our growth carefully to ensure that we remain profitable and deliver the key services to our advisers in the field.

“We have done this successfully in the past where three distribution groups became a single entity that now sees TFSA as a profitable, debt-free organisation, owned by those advisers who have supported it.”

The recruitment process is often based on word-of-mouth referrals, Scott explains: “We are getting a larger number of internal referred leads from our own distribution groups, but also from external authorised reps who have seen their peers move to TFSA and have witnessed at first hand their growth.”

TFSA recently launched a new three-tiered pricing model which aims to accommodate the needs of planners and risk writers alike. In addition, TFSA has improved its authorised representative offer, increasing the levels of support provided at practice level.

Scott adds: “While this organic growth strategy will maintain our moderate growth targets, we will continue to explore other options with those distribution groups which hold similar values and directions as TFSA.”