As you may have witnessed, or personally experienced, recruiting top talent is very challenging right now. The last three consecutive quarters are as tough a talent market as I have seen in my 20 years in the profession. This difficult environment is squeezing an already tight, pre-Covid, talent pool even further as firms who put their hires on hold last year are now scrambling to make their 2020 and 2021 hires this year. Due to this, hiring demand has doubled and talent supply has mostly stayed ...
May10
Transitioning Clients to the Next Generation Planner Effectively Part 2
Last month we shared with you the reasons to hire a new planner and transition clients and in this month’s post we conclude our two part series with tips on when to transition clients, how to transition clients, and how to overcome pushback you may receive. When to Transition Clients Timing will differ - Every firm is different and not everyone will be ready to take on client relationships at the same time. It will largely depend on your service model, client type, ...
Apr21
Transitioning Clients to the Next Generation Planner Effectively Part 1
Recruiting new talent for your firm right now is very difficult. Those seeking to attract talent in this highly competitive environment must have a detailed plan for showing their new planner how the firm will help them get to where they want to go professionally. One of the best ways to do this is for firms to involve new planners in client meetings from the very beginning, so they can start learning the craft! Then once they have developed the confidence, maturity, and skills that you ...
Mar17
Leading Your Team to Better Results
The firms we work with are busier than ever right now, and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. This is a critical time for financial planning firms to continue the momentum, so you want to ensure you are getting the most out of your team to capitalize on the opportunities that are ahead of you. You have probably had some team members step up over the last year to tackle the new challenges your firm faced, but what about the others in your organization who might not have stepped up ...
Feb19
How To Avoid Turnover
Virtually every firm owner has at some point experienced the challenging financial and non-financial impacts of staff turnover. The estimated financial cost, depending on the source, can range anywhere from 1-3 times a departing team member’s compensation. This is not the most detrimental cost though – even worse is the psychological impact of frequent turnover in firms, and how it causes the existing team members to lose confidence in their leader(s), increases the difficulty to ...
Jan29
Why Resumes Are Overrated
Historically, resumes have been a very large part of the hiring process. After all, what could be better to understand a candidate’s experience and capabilities than a chronological account of a job applicant’s work history right there on one (hopefully) or more pages, for hiring firms to review and use as a guide for developing their interviewing questions to delve even deeper. Yet as much as firms rely on these pieces of paper when hiring a new team member, a resume review is not the ...
Dec16
Goal Setting
2020 is almost in the books and what a challenging year it has been! What we have heard and seen from the firms we talk to across the country is that it was a different year, but still a good year for most. If you want to continue on the momentum you have built up, it is imperative that your team know exactly what they should be doing next year. Goal setting can be a delicate process because you don’t want to set your goals too low and limit yourself, but also don’t want to set them ...
Nov16
Year End Bonus Ideas
As we approach the holiday season and reflect back on what a tough year it has been, I want to encourage you to thank your team members who are the core of your business. It is important to publicly acknowledge their hard work for you and the firm’s clients and reward them accordingly. This month, I wanted to give you some suggestions on a few year end gifts/bonus ideas that will go a long way for people who have shown dedication and commitment during turbulent times. Christmas Bonus - ...
Oct13
Timing Your Hires
Welcome to the 4th quarter of 2020. Congratulations, you made it! It didn't seem like we would ever get here in March when everything imploded. It has been a tough year. Your revenues might still not have fully recovered, and there is a lot of uncertainty with the presidential election, overall economy and stock market. However, as the leader of your firm, you have to continue making informed decisions to move your business forward. Understandably, revenue may still be slightly off and in ...
Sep21
Integrating New Planners Into Virtual Meetings
Undoubtedly, these last few months have forced you to expand your capabilities and challenged you to become a better planner and business owner. While virtual client meetings existed pre Covid-19, they were not employed exclusively for most financial advisory firms, and were generally only with clients themselves (not to manage internal team members as well). But now that in person meetings have shifted virtually, for both clients and prospects, and advisory teams themselves, it can be easy ...
Aug18
Employee Benefits
As we approach year end team member reviews and budget planning for 2021, now is a great time to review your employee benefit offering, to ensure that you are staying competitive with a constantly evolving talent market. You might find that coming off a tumultuous year, your benefit offering needs some tweaking. In this month’s article, we have laid out some common employee benefits we see in the advisory firm marketplace for your comparison, along with some other ideas for you to ...
Jul20
Leading Your Team During a Crisis
Leading an organization during a crisis is a challenging endeavor, but it comes with the territory. After all, if it were easy, then everyone would do it! Leadership is about inspiration, and getting people to deliver their best towards a common set of goals they share with your organization. But leadership does not mean having all the right answers all of the time... so don't put this additional pressure on yourself. It means garnering trust, so people have the confidence to follow you and ...
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