Leadership with Lateral Thinking: Kris Martin, KDM Financial

As our client partner KDM Financial scaled its operations, the importance of sourcing top-tier talent across borders became clear. Kris Martin, the company’s Founder and Managing Director, discusses how partnering with ASW Global supported their growth through a flexible, international team model.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about KDM Financial, the history of the business, and your journey within the business?

Kris Martin: KDM Financial was founded in May 2008 after I spent several years at the bank. I wanted to create my own firm to offer a better and more tailored service for clients. Initially, it was a boutique one-advisor firm, but the complexity of financial advice and changes within the profession led me to expand the team around 2014-2015. My first crucial hire was my business partner, Luke, who focused on estate planning advice. Together, we built the team to 23 in Australia and 4 offshore, totalling 27 members.

Q: What were the challenges or opportunities KDM faced prior to building the team?

Kris Martin: Finding good, qualified, hard-working team members was always a challenge. We predominantly hired university students whose focus was to move into advisor roles, but we needed career admin support people for the long term. This led us to explore offshore staffing to bolster our admin support team.

Q: Had you tried international or outsourcing previously?

Kris Martin: Yes, about six or seven years ago, we tried a staff member from India, but faced issues with language barriers, time zones, and infrastructure. We also didn’t invest enough time in training them. This time, we focused on integrating offshore staff as part of our team and invested in their training.

Q: How did you go about hiring your international team?

Kris Martin: We run a diamond pod structure with a senior advisor, two intermediate advisors, and three admin support roles. Our first hire was Darrell, a senior administrator, followed by Dais, an admin support person, and John, another senior administrator. Earlier this year, we hired another admin support person.

Q: What has been the impact of hiring international staff on your local team?

Kris Martin: It has provided stability and confidence within the team, allowing us to promote local talent more effectively. The offshore team has alleviated concerns about managing client books and enabled us to focus on specific roles needed in Australia.

Q: Did you have to change your processes to grow your team overseas?

Kris Martin: Not significantly. We already had satellite offices in Australia, so the team was used to working remotely. We focused on hiring team members with experience working with financial advisors, but our best-performing offshore team member had no prior experience and has been phenomenal.

Q: What does the future look like for KDM Financial with the international team in place?

Kris Martin: We aim for 40% annual growth, combining organic and acquisitional growth. We have very little turnover, especially among advisors, and a steady flow of interns from universities. This stability allows us to scale more aggressively and generate more revenue.

Q: What advice would you give to businesses looking to build an international team?

Kris Martin: Invest time in finding the right fit and ensure they are part of the team. Focus on training and integrating them into your processes. Communication is key, and having an embedded, integrated team ensures responsiveness and effective collaboration.