Brendan Maloy, a financial advisor with Insight Financial Horizons, located near Boston, was not new to the financial industry when he took part in Commonwealth Financial Network’s mentorship program. In fact, he already knew he was going to take over the advisory firm from his mother.

Similarly, Magdalena G. Johndrow had accumulated an impressive resume, including a degree from the London School of Economics and a work history that included stints with prominent Wall Street firms advising high-net-worth clients, when she became a mentee in the Commonwealth program. She is now an advisor with the family-owned firm Johndrow Wealth Management in Farmington, Conn.

But both now sing the praises of how the mentorship program added skills for their careers and improved the odds of their being successful in the financial services industry.

“My confidence is strong now, and when I sit down with a client or a prospect, I am more prepared and more comfortable so I can deliver better services for my clients,” Maloy said.

Johndrow added, “I learned a lot on Wall Street about finances, but the mentorship program taught me how to build meaningful and long-lasting client relationships. I learned how to be a better public speaker and how to help educate my clients.”

The coaching and training program developed by Commonwealth through a partnership with Allego, a technology company geared toward the financial services industry and other business enterprises, is unusual in its intensity and its use of videos as practice tools.

The mentors and mentees who volunteer for the year-long program meet for in-person two-day sessions three times in the year. They also have monthly peer group sessions and weekly telephone consultations. That is supplemented by sessions between the mentor and mentee that can take place at any time the two parties desire, Commonwealth said.

The mentorship sessions are in essence coaching and training programs that rely on a technology video platform developed by Allego. The advisor who is the mentee records their practice presentations and role-playing sessions, which are then reviewed by the mentors and the participants’ peers. The videos are used as teaching tools, with coaches stopping and starting sessions to give immediate feedback.

Advisors also use them to practice pitches or presentations that they can then ask the mentors to review, looking for ways to improve their work before the advisor actually uses it on a client or prospect. The videos are interactive with observers having the ability to leave comments and feedback for the advisors who made the recordings. 

“So few advisors practice what they are going to say to a client or prospect before they do it,” said Mark Magnacca, co-founder and president of Allego. “They miss a lot of opportunities with clients by not doing that. Using the video practice sessions and the role playing the new advisors can learn from those with experience.

“We wanted the advisors to learn the same way they would if they were at home” rather than in a formal office setting, he added. “It’s like having your own private YouTube network.”

“The videos that people saw by the end were not my first try,” Johndrow said. “You can record yourself and then make improvements. You have to be a confident speaker to instill confidence in your clients.”

The format meets compliance standards, added Magnacca. The videos also can be used to help advisors who are new to a firm learn how the firm’s technology platforms work. The program, called a sales learning and readiness platform, prepares advisors to be before clients at a faster pace.

The format also can help asset managers and custody and clearing firms make presentations to advisory firms.

“The old way of having a wholesaler go to a series of advisor meetings is becoming obsolete,” he said. “It is better to have an expert do a video that can be put before members of firms at any time.”

David Israel, director of field outreach and practice management at Commonwealth, who oversees the mentorship program, said the advisors Commonwealth looks for to go through the program are those who are planning long-term careers.

Commonwealth also hopes to use the mentorship program to attract more women to the field, which will further boost the company’s diversity efforts, he said. The goal is to have half of the mentors in any given class be women.

The program was launched in 2013 and is run every other year. Eighty-five advisors have been involved so far and 44 mentors are part of the program. Commonwealth firms, all of whom are independent advisory practices, have achieved an 80% retention rate for program graduates, Israel said.

Maloy said, “Everyone in my session had some experience, but we all were still getting our bearings. This allowed us to learn from others. “

Johndrow added, “The connections I made with other advisors were some of the most meaningful aspects of the program to me. I met some phenomenal colleagues. We now exchange emails about how to grow in the industry.”

Both advisors said they want to return as mentors.