Family - Support - Partnership - Relaxed - Respect
Words our reps use to describe us.
This is our story: We purchased a FINRA broker/dealer in 2000 with the idea that we could bring a diverse group of registered reps together to provide our clients with a wide range of products offered by hundreds of companies with a variety of specialties. The reasons a rep joins our firm and stays with us are just as varied.
We treat our brokers like family. There is no other way to put it. Our reps have our work, home, and cell phone numbers and we always take their calls. I have been a registered rep with other firms. (To work in this business, you must be registered with a B/D.) Too often you wind up being treated like an employee. Well not with us!
Support: I (Rick Carlesco) take several rep calls a day, just to answer questions or to get my opinion on a case. If you need a product we don't yet have, we will cross oceans and deserts to get it for you. The approval process for most new products is days or weeks, not months. I am your sales support. Bounce ideas off me, I'm happy to do it. Chris Avery is an experienced problem solver. He handles the day-to-day operations of the firm, such as commissions, life insurance, annuity, long term care or group benefit quotes. He also assists our reps with marketing, advertising ideas and support. Chris is your problem solver.
Partnership: Means that you are included in decisions. My top reps talk with me regularly. Before any decision is made that might impact your business, I bring the issue to our top reps and get their input. I have made a promise to our reps that our firm will always be a FINRA Small Firm. This is so we can remain family oriented and you will always have access to me.
Relaxed: Is why we are in business. We all have lives to live and we don't need our careers complicating our lives. We do everything we can to make your life easier. I believe that the more time you can spend selling the more money you will make. We do everything in our power to keep things as simple as possible. Our compliance meetings are quarterly and we make them fun. We have dinner and we hear from four to five wholesalers and then I hold the compliance session where you are kept up to date on any new or ongoing regulatory concerns. One of our compliance meetings each year is held at NBT Bank Stadium for a Syracuse Chiefs baseball game. We hold the meeting in the private restaurant overlooking the field. It's a great time! We even offer to pay towards a hotel if any rep must drive more than 50 miles and wants to stay overnight. If you can't make one of the compliance meetings, we offer the compliance credit online. We also offer voluntary lunch meetings with our wholesalers so you can stay on top of their latest products, news, and sales ideas.
Respect: Means we work for you and not the other way around. At most broker/dealers, only the top producers receive special treatment. Here, we truly respect all our reps and treat them with dignity. You can go to the "Our Associates" page and call any one of our reps and ask them for an honest assessment of how they are treated.
We have as competitive a pay package as anyone. We can even put producers on payroll to solve the quarterly tax issue. We take our top 25% of reps each year to such destinations as Las Vegas, Grand Cayman Island, New Orleans, Nashville, St. Pete Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. We also take our top producers on annual overnight trips. We have done wine tours, casinos, The Thousand Islands in Upstate New York, and Saratoga for thoroughbred races. My goal is to take increasingly more reps on our trips until we are taking everyone. I have no problem spending the money we earn on the people who make it all possible, our producers.
Call me and we'll do lunch. Call our office (315) 652-4426 and ask for Chris Avery and he will schedule a visit to our office. Or I will visit you if that's more convenient.
