Quote:
A former TD financial adviser in Calgary says he would downplay the risk of products that gave him a big boost towards his quarterly goal.
"I was forced to lie to customers, just to meet the sales revenue targets," he said.
"I was always asked by my managers to attach unnecessary products or services to the original sale just to increase the sales points — and not care if the customer can afford it or not."
A financial adviser who worked for six years in Nanaimo, B.C., before quitting says "people eventually snap, or lose all sense of themselves and do anything to close sales."
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Sorry, no you were not. You could work somewhere else.
I worked in Automotive finance for years, you want to talk about being pressured to sell products? And the potential ramifications of losing your job were way more dire, as the automotive community is small and the stakes are much higher as far as income went. I took a 7 month break and tried the RV business. The money was better, but it seemed too sketchy, so I went back to my old employer. It's pretty simple. If you don't like what you are being asked to do, find another employer or career path. It's not like there is a shortage of banks to work at.
And in all, if I felt morally compromised in anything anyone asked me to do, I simply said no. Want to fire me, go ahead. I still have to sleep at night. My conscious trumps any career. Thankfully I work for a dealer that was always above board, but there have been certain products we have been asked to offer that could have easily boosted my numbers, that I refused to sell, as I felt they were of little or no value to my customers. I never had industry best numbers, but I always had happy customers, top level CSI, and people that came back for second, third and fourth purchases.
So no. None of these people were forced to do anything. They chose to do these things to get a bigger pay cheque first and foremost. TD may have/had a boiler room mentality, but the door is right over there if you don't like the culture or ethics.