(July 2006)

Your financial advisory practice is doing well, but you are working harder for longer hours, without seeing the rewards. Perhaps it’s time to consider bringing other people into the business. This is the first in a series on the office team — why you might want one, necessary skills, compensation and how to get people to buy into your vision.

If you have too much work and not enough time in which to do it, chances are you have considered bringing an administrative assistant, associate or junior planner into the business to ease your burden. But chances are also good you are holding back.

“Many advisors know they’re ready to add a new team member long before they actually do it,” says Joanne Ferguson, partner at consulting firm Advisor Pathways Inc. in Stratford, Ont. Although building a team generally leads to increased revenue, improved job satisfaction and better-served clients, she says, many planners are still reluctant to make the leap.

That was the case for Scott Plaskett, a certified financial planner and CEO of Ironshield Financial Planning Inc. in Etobicoke, Ont. It took a family crisis for Plaskett and his business partner — and wife — Catherine, to streamline their roles within the firm and seek an assistant to shoulder administrative tasks.

“We had worked together for seven years, and had been thinking about hiring another team member for most of that time,” says Plaskett.

The turning point came when Catherine’s father became ill, requiring her to log long hours outside the firm. “At this time, we decided that I would continue meeting with clients and Catherine would manage the business,” he says. After narrowing their individual roles within the firm, they realized the need for an administrative assistant and eventually filled the position.

The payoff was huge. “Having a third person really freed me up to do more of what I enjoy,” says Plaskett. He has since hired two additional administrative staff members and says his firm is reaping the financial rewards. “Whenever I bring on a new person, my revenue goes up,” Plaskett says. “Hiring is an investment, and my return has been 100%.”

Increasing the bottom line tends to be the top motivation for adding a team member to a financial practice. “The biggest advantage to putting a team in place is the ability to increase capacity,” says Julie Littlechild, president of Toronto-based consulting firm Advisor Impact Inc.

But it is not the only one. Reduced job satisfaction is often the tipping point. “Many planners step back and say, ‘This isn’t that much fun anymore’,” Ferguson says. “They start to realize that they need help in running their businesses.”

And the emotional gains to adding team members — as Plaskett can attest — are huge. “I definitely enjoy my job more now,” he says.

However, advisors are well advised not to run out and place a “help wanted” ad at the first signs of overwork and waning enthusiasm. There are a number of considerations to weigh before you take that first step in team building.

Both Littlechild and Ferguson recommend carefully analysing your current business structure to determine whether there is a true need to add another team member. Advisors should also ask themselves if they’re willing to take on a managerial role within their businesses. “If you’re not someone who enjoys managing people, you are not going to be successful in building a team,” Littlechild says.

Once you’re confident that your existing structure is running at peak efficiency — and that you’re willing and able to manage a new team member — it’s time to determine the type of role you need filled.

“One of the biggest mistakes advisors make when building a team is hiring for the wrong position,” says Littlechild. “If the bottleneck is administrative work, hire an admin person. But if the bottleneck is client contact, you need a junior advisor or associate.”

Determining the duties of the new team member — before embarking on the hiring process — is also crucial. An advisor who is considering hiring an associate needs to think about the role each will take in the business. For example, will both advisor and associate perform the same tasks? Or will one go after new business while the other looks after existing clients?

@page_break@Once the advisor is armed with a clear idea of what role needs to be filled and the duties inherent to it, the hiring process can begin. The Plasketts found their first administrative assistant through a classified ad, but used a recruiting firm for the next two. “You get better candidates that way because they’re prescreened,” says Plaskett.

He also used Kolbe RightFit testing — a pre-employment screening system that helps determine the ideal fit for a job — on shortlisted applicants. “I would never hire anyone without doing this,” he says.

And Plaskett took the time to train the new hires properly. “I set aside a full month to train each one,” he says. “I think that’s the one area in which a lot of firms drop the ball.”

Littlechild concurs: “Many advisors may think it’s faster to do something themselves than to teach someone else to do it,” she says. “In reality, it’s more efficient to take the time, once, to show them how to do it.”

It’s no surprise that delegation is a huge issue for any advisor who hires a new team member. Littlechild says advisors might be interested to learn that clients are more than willing to deal with a new face. “Our research shows that 58% of clients are quite comfortable in discussing their portfolio with someone in the office other than their advisor,” she says.

That was the case at Ironshield. “I’m a real advocate of making sure that the client has more than one point of contact within my company,” says Plaskett, who made clients aware of the firm’s new team members through newsletters and word of mouth.

Clients were very receptive, he says, to dealing with different team members for their insurance, investment and planning needs: “Our clients know they get better service from working with a team. The biggest mistake we made was not building one sooner.” IE