Should Your Support Staff Meet with Clients?

That said, those employees care about their contribution. It is always nice to hear from the advisor or relationship manager that their contributions were helpful and useful. There is a driving force or “value” I see often called “collaborative.” This means someone who enjoys being part of the team, but doesn’t need to be out in front or have client interaction. Behaviorally, you have people who are lower on the verbal scale, and have their energy depleted when they have too much people interaction. They like being behind the scenes and doing their work solo. Many are very self-competitive and have high standards for their work. They prefer to focus on how to reach higher levels of quality with material presented to clients, but not be the ones to present it themselves!

You are taking the best approach. You are getting to know your team by asking them about what developmental opportunities they most care about. You are providing coaching and feedback on a regular basis, honoring their skills and aligning those skills with the areas of focus. Using a broad brush and saying everyone should do something a certain way misses the individuality of employees. They will thrive and do well when they feel “known” and think you care about their individual success.

Keep doing what you are doing!

Dear Bev,

One of my best advisors continues to color outside of the lines. He often ignores the decisions we’ve made and does something differently for his client base. Most recently we finalized a pitch-book and marketing materials. We hired an outside firm so it wasn’t an internal process and we spent a great deal of money to get this done.

He decided that what we did doesn’t work for his market and his audience. He created his own pitch-book. I don’t have to tell you the issues this creates with my chief compliance officer (COO) who is already all over his case because she continually catches him doing what he shouldn’t be doing.

The problem is that he is our biggest producer. He brings in new accounts like nobody’s business. He will triple the goal we set for everyone this year. And he is belligerent to boot. If I talk to him about the difficulties his approach causes internally, he tells me, “it’s their problem, not mine.” Then he goes along doing what he was doing.

Is there a way to get him to color inside the lines and understand how disruptive he is?

I.P.

Dear I.P.,

Was the process you used to create the pitch-book and materials inclusive and did you gather this advisor’s ideas and suggestions? I understand you used an outside firm, but did they solicit input from advisors on your team who are working with clients and hearing what sorts of things they care about? Is the material geared to his audience or would he have to shoe-horn it in order to make it fit? Does he generally get left out because no one wants to hear his opinion or does he choose not to participate and then have comments or concerns after the fact?

I ask all of these questions because, in my experience, many firms will create a marketing story and approach without talking to client-facing advisors (especially those who are breaking records and bringing in significant new assets). Before you discourage him from having an opinion after the fact, make sure he has an opportunity for input while the process is going on.

There is the note of compliance – if your firm is large enough to have someone acting in the CCO capacity, then that person knows the seriousness of making sure materials are compliant and only what is “approved” can be used. Is it possible, assuming the materials are usable for this advisor, to have your CCO speak with him about the trouble the firm could get into it by having advisors create their own materials and use non-approved information? Could you appeal to his maverick nature by outlining how he could be putting the entire firm at risk and see if there is some way for him to collaborate differently?

Lastly, are you sure he is the problem you make him out to be or could his behavioral style just be very different from others in your firm? If he is a great business developer, he might be wired to think on his feet, go outside the box and be creative in his approach. If the people internally who he conflicts with are more about the rules, and doing things by the book, you have an inherent conflict in style – how they communicate, what they believe to be important and so on. Consider this before you make the problem all about him. I’m not saying he isn’t the problem. But often with a situation like you describe there are other things going on that should be considered.

Beverly Flaxington co-founded The Collaborative, a consulting firm devoted to business building for the financial services industry in 1995. The firm also founded and manages the Advisors Sales Academy. She is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. 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.

Read more articles by Beverly Flaxington