In order to attract and retain A+ clients, you need not only to establish relationships with your clients but you must also be able to sustain those relationships by providing superior client service.  Although most advisors start as solo advisors, over time it becomes more difficult (and probably impossible) to grow the practice without a talented team.

Think big, act small

In building their practice, advisors must think in "orders of magnitude" while acting incrementally.  First, form a vision of where you want to be in one, five, 10, or 15 years.  Your team should be built around this plan, and every member of your team should have a distinct role in that plan and be aware of that role.  Don't wait until you "get there" to build your team; having a team in place will not only help you to grow faster but it will keep you from having to slow down to hire and train your team when you do begin to grow.

I am constantly building my team in anticipation of my growth targets, and I have never had an issue in growing the firm enough to keep the newest hire busy. Indeed, we grew our assets by 40% last year, and despite our best efforts, we were still short-staffed last year, as we never anticipated that extraordinary level of growth.

Have a vision, develop a plan, and dream big

When looking to hire a candidate, you must have a thorough business plan and be in growth mode.

Quality candidates are looking to work for an advisor who is ambitious and has a plan of how he or she wants to grow. If a high-performing job candidate is asking you questions that you have not asked yourself (or you cannot answer), chances are that person is not going to be very eager to accept a position.

Advisors without a one-year, three-year, and five-year plan will likely attract the candidates who are looking to coast through the day-to-day.  Be able to clearly and concisely articulate where you want to be, how you want to get there, what the candidate's role will be in helping to get you there, and how the candidate will benefit.  Both Horsemouth and Natixis have business planners available on their websites for help in developing your growth goals and planning how to get there.

Hiring and keeping high-performing candidates

I now have a team of six.  Having a wonderful team has been crucial in propelling my business forward, and I am confident that I have the right team to help us reach our goals.  However, once you have built your ideal team, the question remains: How do I retain and reward my quality team?

Provide client contact

The dedicated advisor must take his mentoring role seriously if he wants to retain his employees.  There are a number of things you can do, starting with including your team in client meetings.  It's a move that benefits both you and your team.

I do not attend any client meetings without at least one team member present.  Do this and your team will feel empowered while they experience the opportunity to learn the most essential part of your business:  cultivating and sustaining the client-advisor relationship.  In the eyes of your clients, you will be surrounded and supported by a quality and competent team.  This will give them a renewed trust and faith in your process, and they will become less reliant on you in particular, and more willing to rely on the rest of team.

Let me share a recent example of how empowering my team has helped our firm value-add service to our clients.  We held a meeting with the client's CPA firm.  I did not attend the meeting but sent two of my junior team members in my place.

The accounting professionals were so impressed with my staff members' professionalism that the accounting firm invited these two team members to make a one-hour presentation to their junior accountants on investments and financial planning.  If I had not empowered my team to handle this assignment, we may not have been presented with this opportunity to forge a new business relationship with a firm of approximately 200 accounting professionals.

Embrace the educational process in the classroom

Embrace the educational process and give your team the opportunity to gain advanced credentials. Remember, by investing in your team and supporting their growth, you are adding to the potential for your firm.

Members of my team are not only free to attend professional conferences; I actively encourage them to do so.  I also sponsor my team for professional designations and have provided bonuses when people pass series exams.

It is ironic that at a recent broker-dealer national conference, we sat in a session where many of my colleagues were complaining about their employees.  Not me!  My team members were sitting right there with me.  Which financial advisor are you?  Are you the one who is constantly complaining about your team, or the one that sponsors and supports your team?

Design incentive pay to reward specific actions

Make sure you provide incentives that are tied to the attainment of specific goals.  By providing quarterly incentive pay of 10%-20% of salary that is tied to the completion of specific tasks, you can directly link rewards to actions.  By setting targets in the beginning of the quarter and rewarding those who meet those expectations, you will encourage high performers to continually improve.

I have tied bonuses to both team goals and individual goals, creating a tiered bonus structure.  The first tier of bonuses is paid for team goals being met; if the team does not meet its goals, no one receives this bonus.  The second tier of bonuses is paid for individual goals and is evaluated on an employee-specific basis.

Examples of team goals include meeting the firm's growth goals of adding $4.5 million in assets per quarter or receiving a certain score on our client survey.  An individual goal may include the successful execution of a client event, or completing three new financial plans this quarter.

Remember, when setting goals, to follow the SMART acronym: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-framed.  Note that of all the items to be reviewed for determination of quarterly bonuses, only 30% of team bonuses are contingent on an increase in revenue.

Our quarterly bonus plan (adapted from Peak Productions) looks like this:

Source: Taylor Financial Group, LLC

Conclusion

Most financial advisors that we speak with cite staff issues as one of their biggest obstacles.  I am no exception, as my biggest challenge lies in hiring and developing an A+ Team.  We all know that this is a critical component to our business, particularly for those of us with ambitious growth goals.  With lots of effort and sustained focus, we can all make progress in this very important area.