Clare Ridlington
Southwater,West Sussex
Summary
Dynamic professional with a strong foundation in communication skills, problem-solving, and team building. Demonstrates expertise in strategic planning and leadership, driving successful outcomes through effective collaboration and innovative solutions. Committed to leveraging these core competencies to achieve organisational goals and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
Overview
23
23
years of professional experience
Work history
Head of Advisory
Bigmore Associates
Walton on Thames, Surrey
05.2024 - Current
- Oversee team of financial advisers on daily basis, including conducting team meetings and one-to-one sessions.
- Establish achievable targets for adviser team, monitor KPIs and formulate development plans where necessary.
- Actively engaged in problem solving and strategic development of Financial Planning Business. Established broader business goals through VTO and managed implementation to completion.
- Delivered analysis of sales team targets, pipeline, and performance at monthly finance meetings.Ensure advisers meet individual targets and drive lead generation activities.
Independent Financial Adviser
Bigmore Associates
Walton on Thames, Surrey
09.2021 - Current
- Focus on building strong relationships with clients based on mutual trust, education and being the safe pair of hands.
- Resolve clients financial concerns and problems in a clear and concise manner.
- Provide financial advice on a wide range of areas including pension consolidation, income tax calculations, inheritance tax planning and investments.
- Use of cashflow planning to build a financial plan that clients can understand and identify with, to give them peace of mind.
- Deliver financial education presentations on various financial topics to existing and new clients and groups. Both in person and via Teams.
- Identified new business opportunities through networking events, professional connections and individual company clinics.
- Regularly produce relevant content to be shared across social media and on the website, which can be used with existing and prospective clients.
- Maintained up-to-date knowledge of regulatory changes and completing CPD records to remain compliant.
Strategic Account Manager
Standard Life
City of London
05.2002 - 04.2021
- Several different account management roles throughout the 19 years working at Standard Life. Resulting in being in the top five in the country by the time of leaving.
- Managed key accounts, through delivering high level of service to clients to maintain and extend relationships for future business opportunities. Often resulting in strengthened business ties with many only recommending Standard Life products to their clients.
- Understood the individual business challenges that my clients faced and helped to identify ways of resolving them through a business assessment tool that lead to a personalised business plan. Which I then helped to implement, often sitting within their management teams.
- Liaised between my clients and internal teams, fostering open dialogue and clear communication lines. Problem solving, fire fighting and resolving issues that they encountered.
- Developed comprehensive sales strategies by understanding customer needs and industry trends. Which were then shared no just within my team but the other account managers.
- Built and delivered an educational programme for financial advisers and those new into the industry as well as training junior account managers to deliver consistent service quality across all accounts.
- Ran account manager team meetings, stepped into area manager responsibilities when he was not available with the view running the team in tandem as we brought on telephone based account managers.
Education
Fellowship -
Chartered Institute of Insurance
08.2008 -
Chartered Financial Planner - Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning
Chartered Institute of Insurance
08.2008 -
Bachelor of Business Administration - Business Management
University of Brighton
09.1997 - 06.2001
Skills
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving
- Team building
- Strategic planning
- Leadership
Timeline
Head of Advisory
Bigmore Associates
05.2024 - Current
Independent Financial Adviser
Bigmore Associates
09.2021 - Current
Fellowship -
Chartered Institute of Insurance
08.2008 -
Chartered Financial Planner - Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning
Chartered Institute of Insurance
08.2008 -
Strategic Account Manager
Standard Life
05.2002 - 04.2021
Bachelor of Business Administration - Business Management
University of Brighton
09.1997 - 06.2001
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