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(877) 320-0379
Advisor Recruiting
& Development
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​Tailored Onboarding: Summit customizes the onboarding process to fit each advisor’s unique needs, ensuring they receive the specific training and support required for success. This process can span two to three years, demonstrating Summit’s commitment to long-term development.
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Personalized Coaching: Advisors receive ongoing coaching, with some relationships lasting over seven years. This support covers client relations, business strategies, and other critical aspects, ensuring advisors are confident and competent.
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Mentorship: Senior advisors mentor newer ones, fostering a sense of community and collaboration.
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Collaborative Culture: Summit hosts monthly best practice meetings, business planning sessions, and other events to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration among advisors.
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Advisor Retention and Growth: Summit’s methodical recruiting process and comprehensive support system enhance advisor retention by ensuring advisors feel valued and well-equipped to excel.
-Keith Florquist, MSM, ChFC, CLU
Director of Advisor Recruiting & Development
Q & A With Keith
Q: How does Summit support new advisors during the onboard process?
A: "Oh, good question. That onboarding process is very individual. So, as you can imagine, when we recruit a new advisor, whether it's to join one of our existing offices or through a merger type process, the characteristics of that office, the individual needs, how they're currently staffed, it's all so variable and one of the things I really enjoy about my role here is that we will custom tailor not only the selection of the advisor to join that other office but also their training needs or support needs. So it's quite a project, very individualized. There's no cookie-cutter process."
Q: What resources or training programs does Summit offer in order for new advisors to be successful?
A: "Well, this is going to sound like I'm repeating myself, but again, it's very much tailored to what that particular advisor needs. We do have pretty high selection criteria for advisors we bring on, so they have to have a successful track record, and they probably have a number of designations in the industry. So we're not starting from scratch. We don't hire very many brand new advisors, really none, but have a starting point of an advisor that has a good educational background and some success in the business. Then we will work with them using our own internal coaching. I have coaching sessions with each of those new advisors on a regular basis. We use some resources from Commonwealth Financial Network. Their practice management department has a lot of good classes they can join. We use industry webinars and coaching programs out there. So it just depends on what that advisor needs to make them successful. We're willing to make a considerable investment in that person because we have taken the time previously. We're convinced that this is a good person; our futures are going to be secure with them, so we'll spend some money and make sure that they have every opportunity to succeed."
Keith Florquist
Keith Florquist joined Summit Wealth group in 2017 to assist in advisor development and recruiting. He has a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a Master’s degree in management. Keith is also a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU). Before joining Summit, Keith spent 36 years as an agency owner and manager in insurance and financial services.
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“I love working with our advisors and support staff at Summit. They have created a specialized position for me that allows me to craft an individual business development plan for each advisor. Each one is different and designed to maximize the advisor’s personal strengths for the benefit of our clients.”
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Keith also assists in identifying and selecting financial advisors to join the Summit team. “Cultural fit and personal ethics such as honesty and commitment to acting in the client’s best interest are paramount criteria we look for in a candidate. Summit insists that we keep our standards high as we seek qualified individuals to join our ranks.”
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