Back Office Advisor Blog

Okay, now did she just say what I think she said?  Hire someone before I can afford to?  You better believe it.

How many times have I seen it?  You start working your marketing strategy and guess what?  It actually works.  You actually start to see referrals coming in.  So now what happens?  You have to do the work you promised and you go from sixty to zero in 10 seconds.  You have to pause your marketing in order to do the work and this is a sure fire momentum killer.  What happens in your car everytime you come to stop sign.  It takes more energy to get it going again than it would have to just keep going (I’m not advocating you run stop signs, just giving an anology!).  Marketing is the same.  Every time you have to stop, it takes that much more energy to get back the mindset again.

Hire someone before you need them.  You know you will need them…your marketing strategy will work.  It’s never been a better time to be a financial advisor.  So, get a top notch person on staff right away.  If your concentration is comprehensive financial planning, get a junior planner in there.  They can always double as an admin person for a while.  If you’re more on the AUM side, less comprehensive planning, get a top notch admin in there who can process all the back office work, run some simple MoneyGuidePro worksheets, keep your calendar straight, set up/confirm appointments, start putting systems in place, etc.

Don’t wait until your spouse is mad, your kids can’t remember what you look like and you feel like a truck ran over you.  Get a loan, do whatever you need to but get help and get it early.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Change…YIKES! In business, it can be a scary proposition and it when it comes to changing out personnel, it can make you sick to your stomach.  But, sometimes it is necessary to reach the next level.  When this is the case, try and keep the long view in mind.

As those of you know who’ve read some of my blogs, I’m a real stickler for having my clients write a strategic plan with me.  It doesn’t cost extra, it’s all part of my quarterly retainer.  It’s probably more for me than for you (although it should serve as a reminder as to why you’re doing all of this) but I cannot help you get where you want to go unless I know where that is.  Very similar to the way you work with your clients…I mean, let’s face it…most of a financial plan is for the advisor but what’s wrong with that.  Again, how can you help me go where I want to go if you don’t know where that is!

The next step in my process is to look at the personnel you have on board and really assess whether or not they are the right individuals to go to the next levels with you.  Think back to when you hired them…you didn’t have much money to spend, you didn’t really know what they’d do so it’s entirely possible they were hired to do much less than you will need going forward.

Does this mean we have to throw the baby out with the bathwater?  No!  In many cases, the person you have can be brought up with the process by incentives (get them vested in the firm success, make it a mission not a job), training and being included in the strategic planning process over time.  When this happens, there is usually a re-alignment of their thinking and the way they view themselves within the firm and that can be a great day!  You can really start to cook at that point.

However, sometimes they just don’t fit.  It’s not their fault, it’s not your fault (well, not entirely).  It’s just one of those things.  You are not doing yourself, or them for that matter, any service by hanging on to them simply because you don’t want to go through the pain of getting a new person.  Yes, it will be painful on the front end, like it is for many of your clients when they must save large amounts of money for college or whatever but your job is to help them see the payoff on the back end.  You must do that now with this decision.  Keep your eye on the payoff…higher level of understanding, efficiencies, trust, ownership in their work, vision, etc.  These are all things that will go directly to your quality of life as you move down the road.  If you need it, hire someone like me to help you sort through candidates, do preliminary phone or in person interviews and to help you remember why this is so important to you meeting your goals and living the quality of life you want for you and your family.

Call me with any thoughts. Thanks!

As we approach the 4th of July (I can’t believe it’s that time of year already), I’ve been thinking about all the financial planning industry has to celebrate.  Seems like negativity has ruled lately (the CFP board, the markets, the Fiduciary issues) and I want to remind each and every one of you just how important what you do is to folks like me.

Because of you, my husband and I know our financial future is safe, we sleep at night.  We are long term investors and thanks to you we understand what that means.  You took the time to find out what is really important to me, not just my financial goals but my personal goals…what do I want this money to do for me?  You wrote a plan for me and you keep me accountable to it.  For that, I am very grateful and I celebrate the fact that you want to share in my vision of a great life!

Take some time today to think about the value you add to your client’s lives.  Trust me, they may not tell you enough (or at all) but the majority of them really appreciate what you do and hold you in very high esteem.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday and call me if you’d like to talk about any challenges you are facing right now (225-751-8009).

Ginny

All of us at one time or another have used dumb, illogical excuses and a juicy rationalization to avoid doing something we know we need to do.  How many of you have said “I’ll go on a diet next week” and have not only not started the diet but end up weighing more next week?

I’m sure you’ve done this in your business as well.  This is really just an excuse not to make a commitment.  If you want to grow your business, you must make a commitment to ask for referrals.  No amount of excuses and rationalization is going to make referrals magically appear.  You’ve got to get out in the community, write white papers, establish yourself as an expert, build a simple and usable web site that is client-centered, not advisor-centered.  If you’re a sole practitioner, you’ve got to commit to finding good outsource partners and load off as much as you can to them.  If you’re building your firm with staff,  you’ve got to make the commitment to hire the best staff, train them thoroughly, build a culture of creativity and trust and then let them run.

How many of you have a formal strategic plan?  Before you answer yes, does it include your personal goals as well as business goals?  Do you refer to it each time you make a decision that effects your business to make sure it is in alignment with your plan and the quality of life you are trying to build?

Now for those of you that said no, don’t kid yourself or try to rationalize it away.  You are flying blind and eventually, you will run into a wall (if you haven’t already) with no plan on how to get around it.  Make a commitment to get your plan in place no matter how busy you are now.  Stop and chart the path you will take to your dream firm and map out your vision for your quality of life so that each time you make an important decision, you can benchmark it to your plan and vision to make sure it keeps you on track.  If it doesn’t, either defer for now or drop it all together.

Please call me if I can help you chart your vision for your firm and for the quality of life you deserve!

Thanks!

In an April 2008 blog, I talked a little about remembering why you’re doing all of this (”this” being working your backside off to build your firm).  In that blog, I talked about the importance of working with the right clients, the ones that fit your vision for the firm and that you will want to work with for years and years.

Today I’d like talk about what I call “statistical pornography” and how this can cause you to forget why you’re doing this.

Many of you talk to your clients about avoiding “financial pornography”, you know, those “end of the world” predictions that cause your clients to consider shunning their long term investing view?  Well, advisors are subject to what I call statistical pornography and one of the worst statistics are the numbers that talk about what other advisors are doing each year as far as growth. 

Frankly, this to me is only important if you are building your firm to compete with the size of other advisors (I know, I know, you say, these numbers help you understand what is possible but again, I say, who cares?).  Your reasons for building your advisory firm are personal and are yours alone.  What possible difference could it make what others are doing as long as you are happy with the firm you are building.

As you read this, do me a favor.  Write down the reasons you started this business and look at them closely.  Do they have anything to do with being the biggest?  Do they have anything to do with serving huge amounts of clients?  If they do, then I would say you are doing it for the wrong reason and you will never get fulfillment from what you are doing.

My guess is they have to do with family and quality of life.  If you are making a decent living and growing your firm in a managed, defined manner, you will be successful.  Stay on that path, don’t forget why you’re doing it and be proud of what you’ve done.  Let the others take care of themselves.

Thanks for reading and as always, I appreciate your thoughts.

In the June 2008 edition of Financial Advisor Magazine, Nick Murray writes his “Forty-One Epiphanies - One for Every Year of My Career”.

While I do not subscribe to all of Nick’s methodologies and ideas, I do believe he has beautifully articulated so many simple but CRUCIAL ideas and edicts if you will in this article and I wanted to share a couple of them with you (I have tried to find a web address for this article and cannot.  It does not appear to be on the FA Magazine’s website with the current issue.  If you have the website, please forward it to me).

The first one - “If you are still prospecting, no matter what else is wrong with your business, you will yet succeed.  If you stop prospecting, in the absence of a steady flow of referrals/introductions, then no matter what else appears to be right with your business at the moment, you are ultimately going to fail”.

I see two very strong points in this…you have to do the work and there is no magic bullet.  You must get out there and get your name in front of others.  Position yourself as the expert at what you do because you are.  You have knowledge and expertise that is very valuable to folks like me and the right clients (they’re not all the “right client”) will pay good money to have you take this off their plate.

And one more in this time of volatile markets - #29 - “the advance is permanent. The declines are temporary.  There have been twelve bear markets with a mean decline of 25% since the end of World War II.  The first one started on May 29, 1946.  That day, the S&P Index closed at 19.5.  As I write, twelve ends-of-the world later, it is 1400.  Stocks are up seventy times over these six decades because earnings are up seventy times”.

It’s time to remind your clients (if need be) they are long term investors and there are going to be blips in the market.  It’s the wise investor who tempers his behavior, grits his or her teeth and remembers that the sun will come up tomorrow.

Thanks for your time and take care…

Wikipedia describes analysis paralysis as “when the opportunity cost of decision analysis exceeds the benefits”. Hmmmm…now let’s think about that a minute.

No one is going to argue we all want to get the best technology solutions at the lowest cost. But how much are you really saving when you repeatedly spend your time going over and over the same information, constantly looking for the next great thing and worrying constantly about making the right decision.

I would say there are few service industries right now where this problem is more prevalent than the financial advisory industry. The influx of new and many times greatly improved technology has all of our heads spinning around. You keep thinking, there must be a silver bullet that will take care of everything (some would argue there is but I would say we’re not there yet). Surely they can’t really want that much money for the product right? Many times you can “try before you buy” but again, what is the opportunity cost of this approach.

My best advice is to make sure you have a budget and deadline in mind. Be honest, what is the most you can spend right now and then put a plan in place. If you can’t purchase it all right now, prioritize what is causing you the most pain at this point and then go from there.

But the most important advice I can give you is to trust your gut. If you like a product, it addresses the issues at hand and it’s being endorsed by your friends and industry experts just do it! There is some great help available out there…Joel Bruckenstein will sell you time to pick his brain and http://yoursilverbullet.com will tell you exactly what plays well together. If you’re just starting out, I would suggest you plan on attending the technology conference in February in Addison, TX (http://virtualofficenews.com). This is the perfect place to talk to the folks who developed the technology and really kick the tires. I have a client that spent 18 months trying to find the next best thing and after they attended the conference this past February, they were able to make a decision quickly.

The bottom line is, be thorough but don’t take any more time than is absolutely necessary. After all, you’re the real “product” here. The rest of this can be window dressing at times and you don’t have to “keep up with the Jones’” to be competitive.

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!

Over and over again, clients and prospects alike will ask me “so, what new ideas do you have to help me get a large pipeline of referrals?” and my answer is always the same…I’ve only seen one approach work and it’s the one we all know…asking for referrals and building on the client base you already have by educating your current clients as to what you do so they become your marketing army.   That’s not new right?  You can’t pick up a financial advisory periodical and not see something to this effect.

However, I think where the periodicals fall down is that they fail to drive home the most important part.  There are many different ways to drive this process…writing, newsletters, interviewing your clients, advisory boards, etc. but the MOST IMPORTANT PART IS TO JUST DO IT AND DO IT CONSISTENTLY. 

Here’s the bad news.  There is no magic formula that if you bath in it or drink it or eat it will bring you a pipeline of prospects.  You simply have to do the work.  That’s it, that’s the big secret.  BUT, if you do the work and DO IT CONSISTENTLY, you will see results.  I’ve seen it over and over again…it DOES work but only if you make a commitment to do it.  You must be willing to formulate a consistent marketing strategy that establishes you as the “go to” person and then hold yourself accountable to it (or better yet, hire someone to help you formulate it and hold you accountable).

Give me a call if you want to discuss how do to this for your firm.  Thanks!

How many of you saw the piece on 60 Minutes last night about the millenials? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/08/60minutes/main3475200.shtml? 

There was a wonderful story on this generation of workers coming on board our companies right now.  They are known as the Millenials and they were born between 1980 and 1995.   They have parents who doted on them and they received trophies for just showing up.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is they are smart, tech saavy and have priorities that include family and friends.  They are hardworking and persistent and have the tools to get the job done.  And once they find their “perfect job”, they will be loyal to you.

However, your business-as-usual attitudes about employees are going to land you in trouble with this generation.  They’re not going to put up with it.  They want coaching and mentoring, not bossing.  They want and expect flexibility to pursue their priorities and other interests and the old starched white shirt, time card attitude is not going to cut it.

So, you say, they can either work my way or it’s the highway right?  Not so fast.  The boomers are quickly approaching 60 and succession strategies are more important than ever.  You are going to have to adapt to this new generation if you’re going to stay competitive and fresh.

But it’s okay…as I stated before, they’re hardworking and loyal.  Just check your time card attitude at the door, give them some freedom and let them run.

It’s envitable…don’t fight, just get on board and hang on for the ride.

Take care and have a great week, Ginny

I recently returned from the NAPFA National conference in Long Beach, CA.  What a great success!

One of my favorite speakers (I’ve always been a big fan of her work) is Rebecca Pomering of Moss Adams.  Among other things, Rebecca is energetic and very bright.  She always provides me with great insight and reminders as to why doing things a certain way is right.

Rebecca talked about several ways to compensate and incentivize your folks and the fact that there is no “one right way”.  However, she also stated when asked does she believe there should always be incentive pay, she said “yes”.  She feels very strongly about it.

She went on to make several good observations about how to set up your incentive plan (what are you tyring to accomplish as a business, what kind of client service experience are you trying to deliver, what kind of culture are you trying to build, etc.?). She also stated in her presentation that ALL staff should participate (although at varying levels) in the incentive plan, not just producers.

Again, Rebecca gave a great presentation and further cemented what I strongly believe.  But I think there is one point about all of this that I feel most strongly about…when you set up an incentive plan based on employee performance and the performance of the firm, you are “vesting” your employees in their jobs.  As a matter of fact, at that point, I think they no longer see it as a “job” but as a quest, a vision, almost a challenge.  They are motivated to see the firm succeed and I believe you’ll see an improvement in work habits, motivation and culture almost instantly.  My client’s that have put incentive plans in place tell me almost immediately that they see differences in the way their employees behave.

As always, I appreciate any thoughts you have.  Thanks for your time.