Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
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Dear Bev,
I have been in the banking business for a long time. My relationships are built on trust – they take years to cultivate and a screw-up by my organization can mean another few months or years of building back lost trust. I have been very successful establishing high-value relationships and keeping clients happy.
Lately our management has been focused on new sales. It’s all about “net-new” numbers and not client retention. I don’t think they understand that if we don’t watch our clients, they’ll leave out the back door while we put our focus on bringing net new in the front door. I’ve tried to have this conversation with our CEO but he keeps telling me “it’s all about the numbers.” I get that – we get paid because clients pay us but the existing clients also pay us.
Is there a better way to make the point that numbers are numbers no matter who contributes to them? I don’t believe he is hearing what I am saying and I don’t want to be perceived as a naysayer or someone who isn’t on board.
D.W.
Dear D.W.,
You pose an issue that I frequently encounter in our industry. It appears as if there are only two options – focus on existing clients and take care of them or on new business and finding new opportunities and let the existing clients languish and fend for themselves! It does not have to be so black and white, but it is common to have the conversation end there.
You have heard the adage “actions speak louder than words.” This is my recommendation. You aren’t going to win this argument (or even friendly discussion) with your CEO and leadership. Very likely, if you put yourself in their shoes, they are reviewing numbers that don’t look so great. The bottom line might be thin. They might be watching expenses exceed new income. Costs are probably going up due to a number of factors. The quest becomes finding new revenue. It’s not that the existing clients don’t matter – of course they do. It’s just that staying in status quo isn’t going to benefit the organization long term – and your leaders might be facing some tough decisions.
When I say “actions speak louder,” focus some of your time on doing what’s being asked – finding net new opportunities. It isn’t an either-or scenario. You could devote 70% of your time to continuing to deepen relationships with existing clients, and 30% on finding new opportunities. Or 80/20, 60/40 etc. Carve out some time to put energy into the initiative your leaders are asking about. A great deal of net new revenue comes from existing clients referring their colleagues or family members. You don’t say what aspect of banking you work in but whether it is consumer-oriented or B2B there must be ways to leverage existing relationships to meet new people that could become clients of yours.
You are only going to continue to be frustrated trying to win an argument that probably stems from a business need to increase overall revenue for the bank. Instead of figuring out how to get them to see the light, put some time and attention on what they are asking you to do. If you aren’t sure how to go about this, ask them to offer you support in the form of coaching or training so you can be as successful as possible.
Dear Bev,
Our owner is the type of person who believes people should compete with one another in order to be their best. He rewards those who one-up and show themselves to be successful. Many of us find this distasteful but we have to play the game. It leads to infighting. Even people who work well together backstab or try and embarrass a colleague in order to show they are better. We don’t trust one another and it is hard to want to do a favor for someone.
I am getting concerned this will impact our clients. We had a pretty large client call looking for information and because the person they called for was out for the day, no one took the time to respond because they were focusing on their own concerns.
Is this normal in advisory firms? I’m new at this career so not sure what to expect.
R.K.
Dear R.K.,
I’m happy to say that no, it’s not normal. That said, it’s not unheard of either. Unfortunately a culture like this breeds distrust and dissension and people do start to turn on one another. When the head of a company, of any type, behaves in a dysfunctional way, it’s only natural that the people down below are going to try and cope – and engage in some dysfunction in order to do so.
You don’t have to all go along with this structure, however. You do have some power to shift a culture like this and make it more collaborative and trust-oriented. Depending on the size of the firm, you could pull your team members together and talk about other options for success. My guess is, similar to our other writer today, the leader of your firm needs to see increased numbers and believes that by pushing all of you in this way, you’ll achieve this. It’s certainly one way to manage – and it can show results. It’s just that over the long term, the damage usually starts to impact the business negatively (as you outlined with the client situation you included). Eventually the negativity catches up with everyone and it doesn’t usually lead to better outcomes.
Conversely, since you are new in your career, you might want to take a step back and consider whether this culture is the right one for you. Some people thrive in cultures like this. They enjoy the competitiveness and the recognition that comes from being the best. Others get eaten up by the backstabbing and lack of trust. You have to determine whether this is right for you.
So while you might be able to get team members to work with you to shift things, if they choose not to do so, then you have a culture that isn’t going to change and you will ultimately have to make the decision whether it’s the right one for you.
Beverly Flaxington, The Human Behavior Coach® co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. She recently launched the Advisors Sales Academy to provide business building tools for advisors www.advisorssalesacademy.com. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Leadership & Social Responsibility and Entrepreneurship 101. Beverly is a Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst (CPBA) and Certified Professional Values Analyst (CPVA).
She has spent over 25 years in the investment industry and has been featured in Selling Power Magazine and quoted in hundreds of media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC.com, Investment News and Solutions Magazine for the FPA. She speaks frequently at investment industry conferences and is a speaker for the CFA Institute.
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Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here. 
