Aussie Advisers Centre Stage at MDRT

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Three Australian advisers took to the main platform at the MDRT Annual Meeting in Miami last week to share the benefit of their experiences with ten thousand of their peers.

Adam McCann …what is your unique ability?

In what is the biggest financial advice industry gathering in the world each year, Aussie advisers Adam McCann (South Australia), Gino Saggiomo (Queensland) and Peter Graham (New South Wales) joined advisers from other countries in delivering a collective set of learnings at the main platform ‘MDRT Speaks’ session, offering quick tips and ideas intended as instant take-aways for advisers to assist them in their own businesses.

McCann, Saggiomo and Graham shared elements of their own experiences as advisers and as individuals, each of which have shaped the advisers they have become and the way that they add value for their clients.

Gino Saggiomo …breaking the mould and escaping mediocrity

McCann’s message related to the value of having a mentor and how they can help shape the direction an adviser and an advice business can take, especially as it relates to specialising in a particular field or client demographic. One of the key questions he left with his audience was: “What is your unique ability?”

Saggiomo shared with his peers the moment during which he found he was prepared to lose an important prospective client because they did not appreciate the value he was seeking to offer them. However, in being prepared to let that client walk out of their initial meeting, he instead secured the high net worth couple, who have since become advocates for Saggiomo and the value he and his business bring to their financial circumstances and to the rest of their lives.

Peter Graham …an inspiring personal journey that teaches both life and business lessons. You just had to be there.

By far the most emotional and rending of all presentations at this year’s MDRT Annual Meeting was delivered by NSW adviser and cancer survivor, Peter Graham. Graham has been through several bouts of cancer and associated treatment in recent years, and his inspirational message to his peers was one of never giving up and having the discipline to do what it takes – every day, without exception – to achieve what one must achieve to literally survive in life or to succeed in business.

Graham’s presentation and the impact it had on the audience of ten thousand was one where you simply had to be there to appreciate its power. It was a special moment. He later told Riskinfo he didn’t know he could shake that many hands.

Also walking the main platform at this year’s Meeting was Queensland adviser and MDRT President, Ross Vanderwolf, who spoke to his member audience of the changing advice environment and the critical importance for advisers to be able to adapt to the new regulatory reforms sweeping the advice world on a global scale.