We have struggled to find young talent to hire and groom for our firm. It seems everyone under 30 works somewhere for three years and then moves on to the next thing. One guy we hired had four serious jobs on his resume and hadnt turned 30 yet. If we cant get someone young to stay with us longer term, I am not going to introduce them to all of my clients.

We have a client who wants us to work with his youngest son. This boy will sometimes tell me when I call him, "You could have just texted me!" How do we help him become more interested in the family’s wealth and planning?

In honor of the New Year, this week’s column is devoted to addressing a question I get asked often: How do I manage my time most effectively? Most financial advisors are busier than ever but feeling as though they get less and less done. Before you set those New Year’s resolutions for your practice, review this list of what to do - and not do - for success in 2014.

How do I deal with the people on my staff who are disorganized? I have a couple of people who get three days’ worth of work done in one day, but most of the team gets little accomplished each day and keeps screaming for resources.

My partner is always anxious and upset about something and everything is urgent. He is a good friend and I respect his intelligence, but he gives me heartburn. Are there strategies I could employ to get him to calm down?

I have sat in on meetings with my staff while they talk to prospects and clients and they say things I would never say. Everyone has their own style but it is important that we say the same things. Is there a way to accomplish this through training?

I want to hold a teambuilding session. I don’t like to take everyone away from client calls for the day. Should we have this on a weekend? Or stay late one night? Do I include everyone, from our receptionist to senior advisors?

My staff is angling for strong bonuses this year. But I would like to invest some of the money into the firm. I dont think I owe my staff an explanation about what I am doing with the money, but I know they think I am taking it for myself and being unfair to them. Is there a proper way to communicate bonuses and profit for an advisory firm?

We hired an outside contractor to do some marketing work for us. It has been a nightmare. She is difficult to deal with and criticizes every idea we have. Is there something we can do differently to avoid this situation in the future?

Holidays are coming. What can we do to stand out from our competition in terms of gifts or events?

We just hired the fourth person to fill a junior role. The previous employee gave us notice after eight weeks! It is expensive, frustrating and moreover, we lose inertia every time we have to stop and train someone new. One of my senior advisors is convinced it is the newer generation; they just dont care. I dont believe thats true. Are we doing something wrong or is there really a dearth of good talent?

I deal with a number of clients who are very wealthy but are miserable around the holidays. Some are older and don’t have family members who see them, others are miserly and don’t feel they should use their money for gifts for people they don’t like. The conversation actually comes up with many of them every year, and I want to be prepared this year. Any ideas or tips?

As an industry, we lack communication and people skills. Here are six tips to complement your technical and financial abilities with communication skills.

One of our top advisors is still putting client notes into paper-based folders. Hes a senior guy who has an old-school work style. How can I make him understand he cant be singled out and treated differently?

We are upgrading our website, which is used mostly for clients now. We want to attract more prospects. Ive been told that video is important, but the cost of adding this could be several thousand dollars per video. Will adding video give me an increased ROI? I dont believe in this busy world that anyone watches this stuff.

I hired a young guy in three years ago with the expectation I would give him ownership and have him eventually take over the business. I want to wind down and have been giving him a large percentage of my clients to manage. Lately he has been talking about moving back to where his wifes parents live. He said he isnt sure if this business is right for him. How do I get him to make a decision?

We have two employees who do not like one another. I have talked with them to let them know how disruptive their behavior is. Should I fire one? Should I take sides? I’m a mother at home, but don’t feel like I need to be one in the office.

What do you do with unmotivated advisors? Most of the senior partners in my firm are wealthy and set for life. They are not inclined to go out of their comfort zone to find new business. How do I light a fire underneath them and get them motivated?

Our advisory firm has not grown much over the last five years. Except for death and divorces, we haven’t lost clients. But we haven’t obtained new assets. We have been to conferences and heard other advisors speak about their explosive growth, but I am dubious. Are advisory firms really growing so significantly or are we experiencing what most advisors have been over the last few years?

I am a relatively new financial advisor, coming to this profession as a second career. I’m finding I spend so much time on sales ? my firm is so focused on selling that even when I have a new client, I don’t have the chance to work with them the way I would like. How can I tactfully tell my employer that I came to this profession for the investment side, not for the sales side?

What are your tips for managing stress? Financial advisory work has become increasingly stressful and neither I nor my staff do a good job of managing it.

How much communication is too much? We meet with clients once per quarter and were surprised when one told us they didn’t need to see us so often. I think we need to stay in front of them.

My firm is very focused on client referrals right now. We are supposed to ask for them at client meetings. Our investment performance has not been great ? we are behind our benchmarks. I think it is wrong to tell clients we have underperformed and then ask who they know that they could refer. Do you agree we should wait until our performance improves?

We are embarking on a series of workshops targeted to different markets. We are focusing on a few dedicated areas. We use a certain investment philosophy. It really doesnt matter whether the client is ? for example ? a retired doctor or a young career woman. We follow market movements and allocate based on client concerns and needs. In these workshops, how can we say that we change things for different market segments?

Are we, as advisors, doing a disservice to our clients if we simply focus on answering financially related questions?

We have a client who has always been difficult, but lately is becoming impossible. She is one of our largest clients, but her belligerent and belittling attitude has some of my best people threatening to quit. Some clients think that just because they have a lot of money they can get away with anything. I need to protect my staff but I also dont want to lose the income from this client. Is there a way to do both?

We have too many clients who are needy and require a lot of personalized service. I know we can expect to spend 80% of our time servicing 20% of our clients, but the 80% seem to demand more and more and more from us.

I have received so many questions related to sales skills and business building that I will offer some basic tips for readers who want to energize their sales process and grow their firms. It’s no surprise that most advisors don’t sell naturally and in most cases think of selling as unpleasant. ’I want to clients to refer on their own ? I don’t want to sell them on doing so,’ is a refrain I hear over and over again.

We have a situation where our founder’s daughter is now involved in the business. She is aggressive, nasty and condescending to the people who work here. She likes me so I haven’t had a problem. But I see how she treats others. It’s a small advisory firm and she is creating a toxic climate. The worst part is that the clients, for the most part, don’t like her either. I tried to broach this with our founder in a nice way but he thinks she walks on water. I am afraid we are going to lose staff and clients if we don’t address this issue.

Our practice has grown by word-of-mouth. A couple of my advisors want me to advertise and spend on expensive marketing programs. No one can show me the ROI for this. Is aggressive marketing a predictable way for advisors to get new clients? I just don’t see someone answering an ad who has $2 million (our minimum) to invest.

We recently rebranded our firm and made a large investment in how we communicate our value proposition ? “our story.” We want to teach our staff how to tell the story in a similar fashion, but allow each person the chance to tell it their own way. How do we accomplish this?

We recently hired a salesperson to find new opportunities for our advisory firm. Its not working out very well. My advisors dont want to work with him because the commission I have proposed would take away from their pocketbook. How should we successfully integrate a salesperson?

I have to fire an investment advisor working for me. There have been some complaints from clients and employees that I cant ignore any longer. But there are clients who really like this guy. They wont be happy about this change. What do I do to ensure I dont lose these clients?

I work in a large financial organization. I’m frustrated that many of my coworkers don’t pull their weight. I work hard and am very committed, but those around me run out the door at 5 p.m. I want to talk to those in charge, but I am not sure how to go about doing it.

I run a 15-person firm. A consultant come and prepared a growth plan for our future. The number-one recommendation was that I create a role for a chief operating officer and hire this person. But I dont see how a COO helps a firm that is as small as mine. This seems the solution for a firm of 50 or above, and I cant afford a high-paid individual repeating what I already do.

Last week, I was training a group of very successful Florida-based advisors who brought up what is a common issue with regard to client referrals. Even the best advisors, with the most satisfied clients, offering the highest levels of service often struggle with obtaining referrals.

Many advisors with whom I work want their employees to work with them more effectively ? what I call “managing up.” Advisors are often at a loss as to how to motivate staff and get them to jump on board with new initiatives ? and those problems can be addressed by helping your charges improve their working relationship with you.

Based on your experience, what are the best practices for following up with prospects after an event that my firm sponsors?

Is it too much to ask of my staff members to be dressed well when clients come into our office? I may be old school but the disregard for professionalism is annoying to me.

We have a wholesaler who calls on our office. He is completely and utterly obnoxious. I understand they are supposed to sell but he is over the top. I don’t like to be pushed into things. Is there a right way to tell a salesperson like this to back off?

Several weeks ago I responded to an advisors question about increasing center-of-influence (COI) referrals. The advisor was frustrated that seemingly good relationships with COIs were not translating into more referrals. I received a response to that column from Scott Johnson, director of sales and marketing for My Perfect Client, a provider of training programs for financial advisors. Scott shared some interesting insights about his approach to COI referrals and I thought readers could benefit from these ideas.

I have a thriving practice and am very proud of the way it has grown. I have reached a point where everything has to come through me. Every decision, new idea and project needs my attention or response. I have a competent staff, but I don’t have someone to whom I can delegate.

One of my employees has become overly friendly with one of our larger clients. This concerns me because I know when people are friendly they can share too much information, or if the relationship turns sour we might lose the client ? or the employee. I value this employee but if I let her go, the client could pull their $5 million account. What advice do you have?

One of our portfolio managers is embarrassing in meetings with clients. He insists on using complicated terms, doesnt listen to what the client is saying and barges through with frightening concepts even though the client isnt interested.

You have written about the importance of communicating with clients in a variety of ways. What are some examples of things that work best, other than the standard newsletter?

I'm frustrated by the lack of success my advisors are having with centers-of-influence (COIs). I know all of the supposed tips but nothing works in practice. I was led to believe that if we follow the right process we will get referrals from them. It doesn't work this way. Do you have any ideas for increasing COI referrals?

Is our industry struggling under the weight of too many advisors?

My financial advisors have the worst presentation skills. Any advice?

I just hired a successful sales guy. He has been in the industry for 15 years and knows what to do. Our advisors will not allow him access to their clients; they prevent him from attending meetings and are generally usurping his role. How do I get him integrated into our practice?

Many factors underlie this issue, and here are the four most important of them.