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,
Our long-time head of operations quit unexpectedly last month. The absence gives us a chance to consider what this role should be for our firm. Should we automatically hire a new head of ops or bring in a chief operating officer to look at our technology and systems more broadly? The person we lost filled a typical operations role – excellent at getting the work done but not a big thinker about how to improve and become more efficient in general. What do you see firms doing today – is the bigger role the best step we should take or should we stick with what we know? Would a COO rock the boat too much (we are a 26-person firm)? How do we think about this?
A.B.
Dear A.B.,
So many questions, so little space to answer them here! I will give you a framework to think about what’s best for your firm. Without knowing more about your specific situation it is hard to give a definitive answer.
These two roles, and the types of people who would fill them, are very different. As a first step, think about whether this is an “either/or” situation or whether you might need a little bit of both. Consider some of the following questions:
- When you think about a chief operating officer, what current hole would this person fill? What types of duties would they be responsible for? You can’t have a COO doing your back office work or you should just hire a new head of operations, so what else do you want them to do?
- Are you ready for a COO in your firm? What would this hire mean to the rest of the senior team? How would a new COO interact with the people already in leadership roles? Once you consider the duties, consider the internal relationships.
- How will the addition of a COO change the dynamics in the firm? When you say “rock the boat” you must be thinking about some upheaval this hire could potentially cause. Can you identify what, specifically, might shift with the addition of this role?
- What will you do to cover the duties of the operations person you just lost? Do you have others in your firm that can fill this role so you don’t need a new hire? How critical was this person to your daily operations?
- Do you have a chance to look at your operations and processes before bringing in a new hire? Are you utilizing your systems, and technology, to the fullest extent possible or are there opportunities to improve efficiencies before you bring a new hire in (or do you want to hire someone with the capability to look at this for you?)
- What is the competitive market like for good talent where you are located? What is the likelihood of finding the kind of talent you need, for each of these roles, and are you able to offer a compensation package that is appealing and reasonable?
There are so many other considerations. Talk with your decision-making team internally and answer those as a start. Perhaps those questions will stimulate a conversation that helps you think through what you really need, and how to integrate what you need into your firm.
Dear Bev,
We do a very nice job in our firm of serving our clients and our satisfaction level is very high. Over the 12 years I have run the firm we have had a 99% client-retention rate. I recently attended a workshop about client retention, client satisfaction and the like. Honestly, I walked away thinking we aren’t doing enough for our clients but I’m not sure what else we can be doing. Are there important best practices you can suggest so I can make sure we are doing what’s needed?
K.R.
Dear K.R.,
It’s a broad question without knowing what you are doing today. You might want to survey your clients and ask them what they most enjoy about what you provide (and uncover what you do that leads to a 99% retention rate). It’s hard to ask people what they want –we don’t know when we haven’t been exposed to things. Create a list of what you could do and ask clients what they might be interested in.
There are educational opportunities, but those don’t have to be limited to in-person client events you hold in your office or at a venue, such as a restaurant. For example, you could hold webinars/webcasts on a variety of topics, or allow clients to join a conference call for updates. If you are not doing it now, you could give your clients access to other expert providers – long-term care, elder-care, legal, accounting and so on.
You could:
- Provide clients access to personal improvement information and bring in a life coach, physical therapist, dietician or exercise expert;
- Bring in a professional chef to help clients make healthy, or interesting, meals at home;
- Provide access to a travel agent specializing in exotic trips who can help them plan;
Look at your overall firm practices. Are you providing clients access to their accounts online that is user friendly? Are you helping them gather together important information such as insurance policies, beneficiary information and important contact numbers? Are you providing communication outside of quarterly reports and a newsletter so clients are able to become more educated on investments in general?
Your ideas should be driven by the types of clients you have – the interests should match their stage of life circumstances.
Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. In 2008, she co-founded Advisors Trusted Advisor to offer dedicated practice management resources to advisors, planners and wealth managers. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate students Leadership & Social Responsibility. 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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