Don Trapnell
Leading non-institutional licensee, Synchron, has attributed its outstanding growth, from 28 authorised representatives, turning over $2.5 million in business in 2002 to over 300 authorised representatives, turning over $40 million today, to an inclusive culture and a mission to provide its advisers with simply the best.
Speaking at Synchron’s Simply the Best national conference in Anaheim last week, Synchron director, Don Trapnell said the licensee now ranks at number 14 in Australia by adviser numbers and number one in the non-institutional space.
“That makes us about double the size of the next biggest non-institutional licensee. We are also number six in Australia for risk new business,” he said. “That means that Synchron is punching way above its weight and the average Synchron adviser earns about double the industry average.”
Mr Trapnell said milestones this year include the number of advisers reaching 50 in NSW, 100 in Queensland and 34 in Western Australia.
“We have only been able to achieve this incredible growth because we understand the bigger picture,” Mr Trapnell said. “And we understand the symbiotic relationship that exists between advisers, licensees, product providers, underwriters, sales executives, software manufacturers and the press. By taking an holistic view of our environment and not placing ourselves ahead of any other party, we always have win/win relationships.”
Mr Trapnell said that in order to be sustainable, the industry needs to embrace the same symbiotic culture. “Everyone in this industry relies on someone else. Without the product providers, sales executives would have no product to show advisers and advisers would not be able to give sound financial advice. Without sales executives, product providers would have difficulty distributing their product and advisers would lack the fundamental assistance they need to navigate the labyrinth of product differences. Without advisers, apart from the direct channel, life companies and fund managers would have difficulty getting their products to the end customer.”
The Synchron conference featured world class speakers including International Hall of Fame Social Media Marketing Speaker, Terry Brock; acknowledged US expert on customer service, Laurie Guest, Jeffrey Scott, Manager of Insurance and Technical at CommInsure and surprise guest speaker and the Australian voice of Siri, Karen Jacobsen.
In his opening address to Synchron advisers, Mr Trapnell criticized what he called the previous government’s attack on overseas conferences.
“The previous government didn’t seem to believe that our industry was important enough to have access to world’s best practice,” he said. “The previous government said if you want to have an overseas conference it has to be in New Zealand or there are no tax breaks. I like New Zealand but I don’t think it is the epitome of world’s best practice on a world stage.”
