After swooping in to a new role as head of deVere’s Middle East operation following the departure of David Hughes, Green told International Adviser in his Dubai office: “I’ve noticed a different type of person succeeding. Now, I’m trying to switch the recruitment towards that type of person that’s succeeding.”
He said deVere advisers have got to be better at getting recommended to other people, as well as having the good activity levels, communication skills and knowledge already identified.
“The only quality data is referrals,” he said.
“It used to be that you could pick up the telephone and if you made enough phone calls, someone would actually listen. Now, they probably don’t even like their phone ringing. 50% of the population don’t. It’s different if advisers already know something about a person when they phone or they have been introduced by a client.
“You’ve still got to have activity and communication skills. Knowledge has gone up a stage as well, so you tend to move in the direction of people that have that. But you’ve also got to have the ability to be referred. You can’t phone switchboards all day.”
Challenged to adapt
Was David Hughes fundamentally not the right person to be heading up the Middle East as the region changes its rules and regulations for the financial services industry?
“Everybody has to change, and whether David was the right person or not wasn’t the fundamental point but yes, I do think that all of us are challenged to adapt and deVere’s advantage is we’re big. Our big advantage is we should be nimble but sometimes, are we nimble enough or is somebody else nimbler?
“Am I moving too quickly? I think you’ve got to go there within a relatively short period of time. I could be wrong. Some people have done things before the industry has changed and that sometimes causes you a problem but the industry’s changing quite rapidly and it’s not the regulations I’m concerned about, it’s the community. Everybody googles everything.”
