I could play this excuse from a tape recorder…

As you know if you’ve read any of my recent blogs, I am in the midst of strategic planning for 2009 with all of my clients.

Inevitably, we get to the discussion of everyone’s responsibilities.  This leads to me asking the advisor’s staff, “so, do you feel like you’re getting the right amount of training from Bob (fill in advisor’s name here) and the answer is usually the same.  “Well, I’d really like to get more if I could so I can take on more responsibility”. 

So, I turn to the advisor and I say, what about it, do you think you should be doing more training? and they say “well, yes but I can do it so much faster myself sometimes” and there it is…the same excuse I hear all the time.  It’s not new, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last.

But when they say it out loud, the absurdity usually rings in their ears.  Seriously, do you hear what you’re saying?  You’re not offering continuing training to your staff because you can do it faster yourself  Okay, just in case I need to say it for some of you…one time, teach them one time and they can do it forever!  Doesn’t that make much more sense? 

Your staff, your fellow visionaries, are your MOST valuable resource for so many reasons.  One of the best reasons is they offer the leverage you so desparately need to grow your business and live the life you so desire.  Isn’t that one of the reasons you become an entrepreneur?

Please call me if I can help you manage your time more efficiently or help you become a better delegator!

Strategic Planning – keeping your eye on the long term view of your firm…

I just returned from a two day strategic planning session with one of my clients and man, what a rush.  The ideas from the staff members were flying fast and furious and most of them are home runs!

Now, let me first say, this advisor has deliberately and with great fore thought, hired a top-notch, A player team for his firm.  He then incentivized each of them based on the growth of the firm so they are fellow visionaries, not employees.  After we did this together, we gave it a couple of months to gel and then had this planning session.

When you take the time to do this, you get results, great results.  You get ideas, great ideas.  You get rejuvenated about what you do and how you’re going to do it.

Call me if this path to success is one you’re interested in.

Thanks!

No explanation necessary…

From Bob Veres – e-column, entitled Perspective

Good afternoon.

My fiancee has told me many times that gratitude is the key to happiness (she has actual research to back this up), and lately I’ve been feeling more than my share of gratitude for the Inside Information community, and the thoughts and feelings and ideas and ground-level experiences that you’ve been sharing with me during this financial crisis.

I am not naturally inclined to worry about these market meltdowns, because human ingenuity and resilience always seem to win out in the end, and I have learned that it is never as bad, in retrospect, as it seemed at the time. But I AM looking, hard, for ways to make the whole ordeal more bearable for you and your clients. And to that end, I’ve received some great messages which I think help put some things back in perspective.

One, from Sacramento advisor Carol Van Bruggen, describes how she reluctantly left her office during a big one-day downturn and dragged her business partner to the studio of a local TV station. The news director had asked for volunteers to man the phones and take calls from individual investors who might have noticed the headlines and be nervous about their portfolios.

The event gave her some remarkable perspective about herself and the value of her services. “From 4:30 to 7:00 PM, eight of us spoke to over 100 frightened individuals who had no financial advisor they trusted to help them make any decisions about their financial situation,” says Van Bruggen.  ”It was an emotional eye opener for me, since in my experience, my clients have ME to talk them through these scary times; someone who knows their needs, resources and goals intimately.”  

One woman on the phone told her: ”Thank God I got you tonight; I was so scared I didn’t know if I should sell everything and hide it under a mattress.  I now feel I can sleep tonight.”  Another man asked if the station could have this group of advisors available every day to talk to people about their finances and help them make decisions.  ”He felt the whole market would be much calmer if everyone had a financial planner,” says Van Bruggen.  

The key insight of the experience is that while most of you, reading this, are beating yourselves up for not having gotten your clients out of the markets before the drop (which you know, in the rational part of your minds, would not have been possible), the consuming public is craving something more basic: a friendly hand to hold, a calm voice to hear, and good advice that encompasses a decade or more of wisdom and experience.

“I, for one, have been guilty of taking what I do for my clients for granted,” says Van Bruggen.  ”But now I have a renewed appreciation for what my firm does, and the fact that we do not take on the management of a client’s money until we have done a comprehensive financial plan, so we know how to help them get where they want to go calmly despite the turmoil in the markets.”

There is absolultely nothing to add to this…pat yourself on the back, you deserve it!

No more Mr. Nice Guy

It’s true, financial advisors are sweethearts.  You got into this business because you sincerely want to help folks succeed financially, meet their goals and live their dreams.  This is a great quality in a financial advisor!

However, it’s not always such a great quality in a human resources manager.  Time after time, advisors call me because they have someone in a position they know is just not quite right, they can’t see a future for them with the firm or they just generally irritate the advisor.  We talk and talk about the employee and then, after listening to a litany of excuses as to why the employee is still there, I say “Sounds like it might be time for a change”.  The shock in their voice is palpable.  How could I suggest such a thing…what a mercenary I am.

Maybe I am a little bit of a mercenary when it comes to this but my clients pay me to look out for what is best for them.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  Those of you who have read any of my postings relating to hiring, training, etc. know I am a huge advocate for taking great care of the RIGHT employees.  However, if you have someone who you are just keeping because you’re either too nice or loyal to make a change or because you’re too big a wimp, you are not doing anyone any favors.

Hanging on to someone like this is actually very selfish.  If you know you have someone who you do not see in the long term picture of the firm, you have an obligation to let them know.  They need to be either searching for a new position or a new career.

If you find yourself in this position, have a plan for transitioning this person out and bringing in a new, better fit.  Don’t just throw them out…talk to them about it.  Be honest.  The majority of the time you will find that while their feelings are going to hurt (it’s only natural), they will appreciate your honest approach to helping them move on.

Call me if you’d like to discuss this further.