Michael Smith is Managing Partner of Halpin Wealth, one of South Australia’s largest and longest-serving financial planning companies. In this podcast, Michael shares his tips for success and the power of continually assessing yourself, your processes and your client interactions to ensure you are always on top of your game.
Andrew Bridgland:
Hello. My name is Andrew Bridgland, State Manager for MetLife in South Australia. It's my pleasure to welcome today, to the MetLife Adviser podcast series, Michael Smith. Michael is a Senior Adviser and Managing Partner with Halpin Wealth Advisers. Michael is married to Tanya and has four beautiful children to keep him busy. Welcome Michael, to today's podcast.
Andrew Bridgland:
Michael, tell us about the path you've taken to now be a managing partner at Halpin Wealth.
Michael Smith:
I guess, like most people started the journey in the power planning role, and then moved through the ranks. Mid-stream I think I spent a little bit of time out of the direct advice space, but then moved back into it in about 2005 again, where I started the business, which ultimately was merged into Halpin some three and a half years ago.
Andrew Bridgland:
Just tell us a bit about Halpin Wealth, and how it's structured.
Michael Smith:
So Halpin Wealth has a number of advisors who predominantly are partners in the business, and we've done that for a number of reasons, but we've got a full suite of support personnel that sit behind the advisers, and make their lives a little bit easier, and ultimately packaged up to give our clients a hopefully a good experience.
Andrew Bridgland:
Okay, so in total, how many advisers do you have?
Michael Smith:
Got 9 advisers, and there's 26 full time people.
Andrew Bridgland:
Can you tell me a bit about your typical client? The typical profile of your typical clients?
Michael Smith:
I'm not sure that we can coin it typical. There's a range in which, the good thing about having 9 advisers is that we can generally marry up client with the right advisers. So, we've got everything from young clients seeing the younger advisers, all the way up through to retirees seeing advisers that predominantly look after the retiree market, and then everything in between. We’ve got a fair portion of those clients in the medical space, and the small business space as well.
Andrew Bridgland:
What would you, if you were to list two or three things I guess, what would you consider to be key attributes contributing to Halpin's success?
Michael Smith:
We spent a lot of time reinventing and reassessing, checking processes, procedures, obviously the workflow threads. So, I don't think there's a week that goes by where we're not challenging ourselves. So yes, if you keep doing that, you're constantly assessing your position and getting feedback, which hopefully provides a better outcome for clients.
Andrew Bridgland:
And is there any method for getting that feedback? Do you run client surveys, anything like that?
Michael Smith:
Yeah, so we've run qual surveys in the past, but we're also- we have no issue asking clients, and of course key to all this is making sure that the team is happy and getting feedback from the team. I mean, our biggest attribute is obviously the team that sits around us, so we spend a fair bit of time getting feedback from them and working that into the changes that are required.
Andrew Bridgland:
What have you had to do, and what's changed through COVID-19 and how are you engaging consistently with the team, and keeping the morale up?
Michael Smith:
The first thing that we did was made sure that they understood that, despite the fact that everyone says events like this are unique, they haven't happened before and it's different this time, we've heard all these clichés before. Reality is that it's just part of change. It's how we yield to that change and survive and reinvent. So, the first thing we did was sat with the team and told them that we're okay with this, we'll deal with it.
Michael Smith:
It will mean that we'll need to go back and revisit what we're doing, and how we're doing it, and why we're doing it. But that's what we do. And they had to make the decision to work at home, of course. Some have managed well, and others have found it a bit more of a challenge, so we're trying to keep around the ones that have found it, challenging. Ultimately the team's worked really well. We've kept them well engaged. We've also made use of a lot of Zoom team meetings. We've tried to collect them all on a Friday afternoon in a bit of a social interaction as well. So, they've done really well, I'm very happy with the way it's played out.
Andrew Bridgland:
So those that did struggle, what sort of things are they struggling with, do you think, and what did you specifically do to help them overcome that?
Michael Smith:
I think not everyone works well without social interaction, so it was a matter of identifying who does that well and who doesn't, and just spending perhaps a little bit more time circling around the ones that required a bit more interaction. You know, that's, that's natural.
Andrew Bridgland:
What are some of the hurdles either yourself or particularly the business as a whole had to face, I guess over the last few years, and that you've overcome to be the business that you are today?
Michael Smith:
I think if you don't expect change, then you're going to be in a bad place. Which is, what we do know is that change is constant, and we've got to keep reinventing stuff and got an opportunity when we're presented with the challenges from a business perspective, we've had to think about how we meet with our clients to be able to it face to face. So, we've done that relatively well with the use of phone and other internet-based meetings, and it's gone pretty well. So I'm not sitting here professing to know all about the best way forward, but we're certainly discussing it on a regular basis, and at this stage the offer to continue to see clients as we have been over the last month or so is going to continue for the short term and we'll keep reassessing that, and as we've got more information and we can get closer to people again, we will attempt to do that, but I guess going forward, one of the things that we can expect is that perhaps people will embrace this remote meeting concept.
Michael Smith:
And there'll be some that'll say, well rather than coming in I'll continue to Zoom and do it. Teams, Microsoft teams and meetings. So yeah, we obviously- that's part of this change process.
Andrew Bridgland:
Get some positives out of the negatives and implement some of those going forward. What about new clients through COVID-19 that you've been given the opportunity to provide some advice for new clients, but engaging them from day one, how have you seen that play out for you? Has it created difficulties in forming those relationships or anything that hasn't really had that effect?
Michael Smith:
No, it hasn't had a great effect. We've had similar referrals to the business. So, in other words, similar new business coming in as to what we had prior. And we've dealt with the clients in the same way we had before in terms of our processes. The only inclusion is that rather than sitting with them face to face, it's via a Zoom meeting, or similar. It's harder not being in the room with the client, but it is what it is. You've just got to deal to it, but if you don't let it become an impediment, then just move on with it.
Andrew Bridgland:
And if you had your time again, looking back now over the last two or few months, is there anything you would do differently? Or you're happy with the way that you've reacted to the pandemic and what you've done for your staff and for your clients?
Michael Smith:
That's a good question because late last year we sat around and asked ourselves what was next, and we're sitting on the back of over a decade over pretty solid returns. When the markets were sitting where they were, you kind of naturally as an advisor, expected that it would be some adjustment, correction, or whatever you want to call it. And I if guess COVID-19 hadn't come along and changed the way we started 2000, sorry, 2020, we would probably have had something else, maybe not to the same level, but they would have... Something else would have reared its head, and I'm not going to suggest what, but obviously there was a number of things bubbling away that we were, as advisors, perhaps starting to get a little bit concerned with but ultimately it was COVID and the discussions we're having late last year, and certainly surrounding the decade of good returns, we did start modifying our investment philosophies to take into account the asset obligation on client's portfolios. A lot of those changes were implemented just in the right time.
Andrew Bridgland:
Is there any advice that you'd give to your advice colleagues in dealing with the challenges of COVID-19, or anything that you could suggest that they could look at doing to make their interactions with staff or clients better for them?
Michael Smith:
I can't profess to be a specialist in that field, but as I said before, I think it's a matter of continuing to reassess your processes, and your procedures, and the interactions you have with clients and your own team.
Michael Smith:
If you're constantly circling around those issues and items, then you're going to be well poised to adapt to change. I think the advice I would give anyone in businesses is keep watching out, keep evolving, keep change close. As I said earlier, I think there'll be a lot of opportunity that will come from this.
Michael Smith:
The population still in spite of the recent reduction, and the population is still pretty solid in terms of demand, and those demands need to be met. They may not be met through our traditional means post-COVID, but they'll still be there, and it'll be just a matter of where they shift to, and it's a matter of making sure as a business that can be there to work with that shift and find what ways and means which to help clients through that. So, it's a matter of reassessing and keeping abreast of what's going on.
Andrew Bridgland:
Any advice you'd give to product providers?
Michael Smith:
Yeah, I think to be fair, some of the product providers probably been somewhat asleep at the wheel. Then others have been quite active. As I said, we're sitting in sunny Adelaide making the decision that there'll be a wave at some point. We don't know what the wave is going to look like, but it'll come, and that was the decision that we sort of, as I said, talked to late last year, and then of course COVID was the wave, and it came and it crushed in a big way and we were expecting change.
Michael Smith:
Whereas I think there was a lot of people that are still focused on the fallout of the Royal Commission, and perhaps not as nimble for obvious reasons, but ultimately I think some people have been a bit slow to assist the end users, the customers, the clients, whatever you want to call them.
Michael Smith:
But ultimately I think there's been a few that have been really slow to move, and others that have been pretty nimble, but one thing we all are pretty confident in our business is that the way we interact with clients is probably going to be a little bit different to the way we're used to, and therefore feel that some of the product providers are going to have to move into that paradigm as well, because some of them aren't well positioned to deal with electronic signatures, and deal to electronic means in other ways. So yeah, I think there'll be some required changes.
Andrew Bridgland:
Help us where you can see where you're focusing, I guess, your attention for your business over the next sort of 30, 60, 90 days, what's your main focus going forward?
Michael Smith:
From a business perspective, we've got a number of stages mapped out in terms of how we integrate the business back to business as usual, in terms of having a full time present. So, we'll be implementing those on the basis of advice from the government officials and so forth. In terms of the way we interact with our clients during that phase, it'll be obviously pretty transparent. We'd like to think that we can inform them pretty quickly post making any stage or procedural change, and then I guess it'll be a matter of making sure that we reach out to the ones that we think are going to be impacted in the certain sectors. So clearly there'll be certain sectors that will be hit harder than others. We'll focus on the ones that we expect to be in a bit of pain, and then we'll work that work out with the greater client group as well. But ultimately there's clearly going to be some people that'll be impacted severely by what's transpired over the last couple of months.
Andrew Bridgland:
Thanks Michael, for that. That brings our podcast to a close today. You shared some valuable insights in a number of areas, and especially looking at ways to consistently challenge yourself and your staff to seek opportunities for improvement across all aspects of your business, and how this helps you to continually grow. Michael, thanks again for your time today.
Michael Smith:
Thank you very much, Andrew. Thanks.
Disclaimer:
You have been listening to the MetLife podcast. To find out how you can partner with us, please visit metlife.com.au. This podcast has been prepared by MetLife Insurance LTD. and intended for advisor and internal use only and should not be provided to clients or attributed to MetLife in any advice provided. This material is intended to provide general information only and has been prepared without taking into account any particular person's objectives, financial situation, or needs. Any general information contained within or given during this podcast is not intended to be investment, or financial advice, nor recommendation to invest in a financial product, or undertake any particular strategy or course. In accessing this podcast, you agree to MetLife podcasts disclaimer terms found that metlife.com.au.
