BT Life BDM gets the award

“I always desired to be the business development manager (BDM) I wanted as an adviser - someone who cared, wanted to help and had the tools and knowledge to challenge me.”  

These are the words of Michael Baragwanath, who was named this year’s Money Management BDM of the Year.  

Just before entering the final round of this competition, Michael was promoted to national distribution development manager at BT Life - a result of a successful five-year BDM gig.  

In his new role, Michael will be responsible for coaching and development of BT’s life insurance BDM team nationally as well as working on improving BT’s insurance offer to market.  

What made Michael stand out, however, was his impressive background in financial planning.  

He started his career as a paraplanner before moving to ANZ as a junior financial adviser, where he worked for 18 months.  

He then moved to Integrated Financial, where he specialised in succession planning and estate solutions for retail and business consumer segments.  

Michael started his BDM career at Aviva before moving to BT.  

“As a BDM I enjoy the opportunity to help new practices grow,” he said.  

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with advisers that have chosen to start their own business, and working with a business from scratch has been the most exciting part of my role,” Michael added.  

“The late-night and early-morning phone calls to celebrate successes, commiserate failures and plan for the rebound has often extended working relationships into genuine friendship.”  

What impressed the judging panel most was Michael’s strong grasp of the issues facing the industry and advisers specifically.  

The commitment to self-improvement and a desire to involve oneself across all aspects of the business was crucial, according to Richard Dunkerley, head of marketing for life and investments at Zurich, who sat on this year’s judging panel.  

“The perfect BDM is the one who works as a true partner with his/her advisers and constantly looks for ways to help advisers develop and grow their business and the industry overall, rather than simply trying to steal share from others,” Dunkerley said.   

“A good BDM is one whose radar is always on, and who is strong enough to form their own judgements rather than blindly taking sides with their advisers or their institutional employers,” he added.  

“Part business coach, part psychologist, part creative thinker, part confidante, part networker extraordinaire, BDM is one of the toughest roles to do well.”  

This year’s BDM award had three other state finalists, with Western Australia missing out on the final round.  

Michael is based in Adelaide, but had the responsibility for both South Australia and Northern Territory for the past four years.  

CommInsure’s Alex Kambos won the NSW BDM of the Year title, while Matthew Wakefield from AIA won the Queensland award.  

Stewart Pender from Asteron Life is the Victorian finalist and was deemed a standout by the judging panel.  

Finding the BDM of the Year 2013  

Each year the Money Management BDM of the Year attracts an outstanding group of candidates, and 2013 was no exception.  

In February this year, Money Management called for industry participants to nominate business development managers (BDMs) they felt were worthy of the award. Companies Australia-wide were represented in the final nomination pool, which featured a list of 20 BDMs.  

A voting advertisement, which listed the 20 finalists, was published in Money  

Management over two issues and was also published on the Money Management website.  

Financial planners were asked to vote for the BDM they considered most worthy of the title 'BDM of the Year’, and score their technical skills and/or product knowledge, practice development and adviser relations on a scale of one to five.  

Money Management received approximately 800 voting forms, which were checked to ensure only financial planners voted.  

The number of votes received for each candidate was tallied and an aggregate score calculated. Taking aggregate scores and qualitative information provided by each of the 20 finalists, Money Management’s senior editorial panel then decided state winners.  

State winners’ biographies as well as their responses to a series of questions were provided to an external panel of judges. Along with this information, we forwarded their scores and number of votes received.  

Each judge individually assessed the final contenders and offered their vote for who should be named national BDM of the Year. These votes were then tallied and, after careful consideration, national BDM of the Year was determined.  

Money Management would like to thank those who nominated and voted for the BDMs, and for their overwhelming interest in the award.  

We would also like to extend our gratitude to the members of the judging panel for their time and commitment to making a tough decision.