Blog

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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 - ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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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Even though some states are re-opening and the worst is hopefully behind us, the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 has taken over 100,000 lives, destroyed thousands of businesses, and devastated many associated livelihoods.  We published the article entitled “Employing Remote Team Members” four years ago in May 2016. What then may have been suggestions, for uncomfortable change, for some firms came to reality overnight as the government shut down state economies to slow the progression of the virus. As ...

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Social distancing and shelter in place restrictions have made it almost impossible to interview candidates in person in your office. Conducting an effective interview is a challenge, by itself, and removing the component that gives you the greatest insight into a person’s energy, gravitas, body language, and overall presence can make choosing the best candidate much tougher. We have interviewed thousands of candidates via video over the last decade of recruiting for financial planning firms. ...

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When your team members are working harder and longer to serve your clients consider these tips to keep them motivated so they will be able to more effectively help you navigate through these challenging times: Positive reinforcement - Tell them they are doing a good job. It is a management best practice to do this anyways, but team members are seeking affirmation from you that their extra efforts are not going unnoticed. While it is obvious to do this in the moment, consider calling, ...

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