Last month we discussed what expectations are generally unreasonable for a new planner hire and this month we look at what firm owners SHOULD expect from their new planner.  As I mentioned last month, not all new financial planners are equal. Also I have previously written on how the educational experiences between CFP Board registered programs can vary widely. http://bit.ly/NewPlnrExppart1 Nonetheless it’s reasonable to have some solid, but realistic expectations for a good candidate that ...

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In an effort to strengthen your year-end employee reviews, this month’s post will address evaluating your new planner’s performance. Simply put, did they fall short, meet, or exceed the expectations both of you set, together, at the beginning of the year? Once you and your new planner know where he/she stands on this, then you can have a more detailed discussion about if and how compensation should be adjusted, and what he/she needs to be striving for over the next year. When we help firm owners ...

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At some point in your organization’s lifecycle, you will have a team member(s) who underperforms. Underperformance comes in various sizes and shapes, but is most likely a deficiency surrounding getting things done quickly and/or accurately.  If not addressed properly, underperforming team members can wreak havoc on an organization’s work flow, service standards, and ultimately profitability. Here are some do’s and don’ts to help guide you in getting an underperforming team member back on a ...

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When firms set out to hire a non-experienced financial planner, they can choose to hire a new college graduate who will have a degree in financial planning, or a career changer who will have a certificate in financial planning. The differences between a certificate and a degree program can be substantial, and should be an important factor in deciding what candidate type to pursue. In this month’s article, we will look at some of the other advantages and potential challenges in deciding ...

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Whenever you hire a new employee, someone has to spend time training them on the intricacies of how your firm operates, no matter what the new employee’s experience level may be. Due to the nature of our profession, though, and the limited time and resources constraints for typical financial planning firms, training a new staff member is usually not the best use of a firm owner's time so your staff ends up doing a lot of the heavy lifting.  Training should not be viewed as a time intensive ...

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The impetus for this month’s post is the recent deluge of individuals who have reached out to me expressing frustration over “lack of growth opportunities” in their position at their current firm.  It’s not uncommon for candidates to reach out to me to “see what else is out there.”  What is interesting is the similarity of the recent conversations and the sense that the underlying, well documented, issue might soon have a larger impact than once thought.  So in this two part post we will first ...

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Undoubtedly you have, at some point, been exposed to someone from Generation Y (born 1978-2000). It could be in the form of a colleague, an employee, restaurant server or even one of your kids. Smile Gen Y, sometimes referred to as Millienals, Gen Text, and Gen Why have a unique set of characteristics. These characteristics often leave others from other generations, mainly baby boomers, scratching their heads. Since most financial planning firms tend to be owned by baby boomers, and most new ...

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