Forum

Aligning to Build Customer Relationships at Ameriprise Financial

The Situation

Ameriprise Financial is a leading U.S.-based financial planning company. Spun off from American Express in 2005, it is among the top 300 Fortune 500 companies, with about half a trillion dollars in invested assets. The company serves more than 2 million customers, among them individuals, business, and institutions.

Ameriprise aimed to grow by building long-term relationships with its customers and helping them to fulfill their dreams—instead of just selling them products. Doing so required aligning its 10,000 financial planners (most of whom were self-employed) with a planning model called “Dream it ... Do it.”

The Solution

Rather than rolling out a training initiative across the company, Ameriprise senior management decided to build awareness and commitment by inviting the company’s entire financial planning force to its headquarters over a period of several months. This plan would allow its planners, many of whom had never visited headquarters before, to network and discuss the Dream it ... Do it model with senior managers directly. Ameriprise contracted with Forum to design and deliver engaging Dream it ... Do it workshops to create enthusiasm among the financial planners, as well as to establish a common language and skill set for serving customers.

The Results

The Dream It ... Do It program received high marks from almost everyone involved. Eighty percent of Ameriprise’s advisors participated—a remarkably high turnout, given that Ameriprise could not mandate participation. Advisors took the invitation seriously and made a commitment to take part. They rated the experience an average of 4.5 on a 5-point scale, coming away feeling aligned, re-energized, and supported. As a result, advisors are staying with the company longer, taking greater advantage of Ameriprise’s tools and technology, and serving customers in a more consistent way. An added benefit is that corporate staff members now understand the advisors’ needs more clearly, since these staff members had a chance to meet the advisors face to face in the program.

The end result of this initiative met or exceeded top management expectations. Ameriprise advisors emerged from the Dream it ... Do It process aligned, engaged, and ready to serve clients more effectively. Furthermore, Ameriprise’s senior team credits Dream It ... Do it with helping cushion the blows of the crisis that hit world financial markets shortly after the initiative was implemented.

For more information contact Forum.