'Sales' is not a dirty word, says Synchron

By convincing younger financial advisers that 'sales' is not a dirty word, Synchron has reduced the average age of its representatives by 10 years since 2006, according to managing director Don Trapnell.

The average age of a Synchron planner has fallen from 59.8 to 49.6 over the past six years - something Trapnell puts down to the group's NextGen program, which focuses on 'soft skills'.

The NextGen program is specifically targeted to the needs of financial advisers under 40 who have worked almost entirely in a post financial services reform world and lack the 'soft skills' of their older colleagues, he said.

This younger cohort of advisers understands the compliance and technical aspects of advising "back to front", but "no-one ever taught them how to sell", according to Trapnell.

"Unfortunately, the PC police turned around and tried to make the word 'sales' a dirty word. And that's what 'soft skills' is - it's a euphemism for the word 'sales'. But 'sales' is not a dirty word. Nothing happens until something's sold," he said.

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Trapnell emphasised that he was not referring to the "hard-nosed" sales techniques of real estate agents or car salesmen.

"I'm talking about allowing a client to come to a logical conclusion. And removing barriers that may be in the way to make that decision," he said.

At Synchron's most recent NextGen conference, Trapnell discovered that many younger advisers were caught up in the 'dirty word' aspect of the word 'sales'.

"None of them wanted to sell anything. They wanted to batter their clients into submission with knowledge … That's rubbish. You've got to sell something," he said.

"We found by doing this the younger adviser started to make more money. It's the coarse reality. They satisfied more clients' needs. As a result of that, we've been able to attract more younger advisers to Synchron - lowering the average age," Trapnell said.