Moray Financial is already seeking its first adviser recruit and has plans to add a total of six by the end of the year after receiving more than four times its referral target in its first month.
The protection insurance and mortgage advice firm which is part of Moray Group was publically unveiled last week with ambitious targets for revenue and organisation growth in its first year.
Speaking to Health & Protection following last week’s launch, managing director Michael Wales (pictured) was bullish about the firm’s prospects after its first month of trading.
Wales explained the business will be using existing Moray Group property firms Simpson & Marwick and Esson & Aberdein to its advantage to build its customer base.
He added the level of engagement with clients has been “fantastic” with a lot of referrals turning into instant business.
“We forecasted a generous number of referrals in the first month, but we have exceeded this figure by 300%,” he said.
“Making the decision not to charge a broker fee might sound counter intuitive however, this has proved extremely popular with clients as much of the market I would say charge fees.
“Out of the referrals received so far, I would say it has given us a competitive advantage.”
Q1 adviser hires
Elaborating on the target of hitting £300,000 turnover in new business in its first year, Wales said while this sounds “very punchy”, the firm’s existing infrastructure, its prominent social media presence and the introducers it plans to bring on board make this target “more than achievable”.
And he added that recruitment plans are already underway to bring in new hires.
“Given the volume of leads received already and it only being January, we are ideally looking for someone immediately with a further adviser towards the end of Q1 beginning of Q2.
“As the year goes on and more introducers are brought on board we will recruit to manage the workload, with a view to hopefully having six advisers by the end of the year,” Wales continued.
“We’d like our initial hires to hit the ground running so ideally having one-to-two years’ experience in a brokerage firm.
“All individuals will need to be client focused providing excellent customer service, meaning we put them at the forefront of everything that we do, following the exemplary behaviours of our existing brands.”
Wales noted that while an attractive remuneration package was important he did not want the focus to switch to monetary reward. “We want this to be an advantage of providing excellent client service and offering the best advice,” he added.