"He is very pro-active about communications," says Mark Quinn, Royal Alliance's senior vice president and general counsel. "For example, he was shocked when he got here to find out we didn't have an up-to-date list of broker e-mail addresses."
Karen Morstad, first vice president of marketing for AIG Advisor Group, agrees that Goldberg's enthusiastic mingling with advisors has been a key ingredient in the firm's turn-around strategy. It's also provided him with unique insights into the business that is helping refocus the firm's strategy.
"He's very visible, and if a rep were to call and ask him to take part in a client dinner or presentation, he jumps at the chance and does it," she says. "That's as opposed to other organizations with leaders who may not have the time or wherewithal to be on the front lines."
Goldberg says he feels advisors are now having an easier time staying informed-meaning he confronts less confusion and uncertainty when he hits the road. "They know when, where and how all the information is coming," Goldberg says.
That set the stage for the nuts-and-bolts changes that were yet to come. Such as the launch of the Vision20/20 fee-based advisor technology platform, which took a hodgepodge of advisor tools and merged them into a unified, more user-friendly package.
"What Mark did was long sought by advisors, and that was to put everything in one place," says Art Tambaro, Royal Alliance's executive vice president. "It's now all on one basic platform." Tambaro adds that about $1 billion in advisor assets has been transitioned to the platform among all six AIG broker-dealers since it was launched in July 2002. Indeed, Royal Alliance has become something of a laboratory for programs that the parent eventually seeks to roll out across the entire AIG Advisor Network.
In the area of recruitment, Goldberg oversaw the launch of a program that allows the managing executives of local offices to undertake their own recruiting. The program, designed to give managers greater control in growing their local operations, is now the firm's chief recruitment engine. Goldberg says 60% of recruiting is now done by managers building up their own offices. Recruitment has also been boosted through acquisitions, including the purchase of PIM Financial Services of San Marcos, Calif., which brought 100 new advisors into the Royal Alliance fold. Goldberg says acquisitions will continue to be a key part of the firm's growth strategy.
"He's always trying to push things along," says Gary Bender, Royal Alliance's vice president of recruiting. "For him, the status quo is not acceptable, and we're always kind of pushing the envelope."
To boost the firm's offerings of value-added services, and to give advisors help with practice management, the firm launched the Royal Academy a year and a half ago-a suite of videos and turnkey seminar packages offered to advisors at virtually wholesale prices. And to get some kind of handle on the firm's service quality, Goldberg had Royal Alliance start keeping count of the complaints it receives from customers.
In 2002, he says, the firm handled 1.3 million service requests-including 750,000 calls and 35,000 account transfers-and logged about 387 customer complaints. "Frankly, that's too many because it amounts to one-and-a-half per business day," he says.