We recently interviewed Sarika Dhanjal, head of Advice Quality at Progeny. Given her experience of managing paraplanning teams, as well as heading up T&C and quality areas, we asked for her key points on how paraplanners can make sure they are top of their game. She said:
- Know your fact find inside out.
- Work on all kinds of cases. Don’t get pigeon-holed, particularly when you are starting off. When you have a lot of general experience under your belt, then it can pay to specialise in a certain area.
- If and when you can, it helps to sit in on the client meeting. At Progeny, our paraplanners will help take file notes and fill in the fact find, as it helps them better understand the meeting and what the client wants, and they can write a better report off the back of it.
- Learn cashflow modelling so this is your skill which you can present to the client.
- Paraplanning is about more than technical knowledge. As well as Chartered status we’re introducing Certified Financial Planning exams for the Academy candidates, as that is more about getting under the skin of the client and asking the right questions.
- Make sure you have a good communication channel with your adviser(s).
- Be open and able to adapt when changes happen around you.
- It’s important to keep up CPD and attend technical seminars, not just for the technical information but also for the networking opportunities and keeping up with what other people are doing and their approach to business and cases.
- Work closely with compliance. Have the confidence to approach compliance and talk through complex cases so you know you are on the same page.
- Don’t be afraid to ask other members in the team and learn from their experience. Know who and where to go to if you need more information or a second opinion.
- Look at more ways of taking responsibility. If you are an experienced paraplanner, can you support and mentor another less experienced member of your team?
- Find a mentor outside the business, to help you by providing another view and to help with your career strategy.
- Use MI to identify where improvements need to be made and how training can help address them. Feed back into the whole team as everyone is responsible for the overall client journey.
This article was first published as part of the Profile article in the July/August 2022 issue of Professional Paraplanner .
