Financial accountability is the single most important factor affecting your business’s ability to grow. Without out, you are simply relying on luck to get by. Some firms however, find their luck has run out a little too late. Read a true story of a firm whose lack of financial accountability led to a series of unfortunate and possibly devastating events.
This month’s true story examines onboarding gone terribly wrong. This $600 million AUM, fee-only planning and investment firm of 14 employees sacrificed a full year of productivity and profitability and lost 1 senior advisor due to lack of a systematized onboarding process. The haunting part? I see this happen all the time. Don’t let this be you.
Find out what happens when advisors rush to hire and don’t follow a robust screening process. Spoiler alert: it’s costly.
Here are the problems we solved: business growth was stagnant, profit margins were in single digits, lacked clarity on client segments, low productivity, and culture stuck in negative mode with business improvements stalled. What was done?
Letting clients go can be a difficult decision and continually hiring new employees wasn’t the best solution to growth. Here is the story of how one firm used Facet Wealth to thrive!
This $2.1b AUA firm suffered from single digit profit margins, no growth, super low productivity and culture, and the lack of a budget and authority from retiring owners to truly improve and boost the business. What could we do on a tight budget? You might be surprised…
This $337m RIA firm was at a major crossroad. They had 4 owners retiring and 4 younger staff becoming owners. Their lease was renewing and they had no document management system, older server-based CRM and Portfolio Management software, and no defined workflows and process.
A $280 million discretionary AUM Florida firm came to us with 5 support staff and 2 advisor owners. They had hit a wall on business development due to lack of capacity, tech and operational setbacks. What to do?
This firm had 3 locations, 44 staff, $1.9 billion AUM, and they had just lost their largest client. The firm struggled with clarity on being an investment or planning-centric firm, reduced profitability, and lack of communication among staff and executives. They had also committed to implementing complex systems and processes without having project, process, and vendor management experience, an industry-bred COO, a culture open to change and accountability, and expertise in cloud-based technology.
Here are the problems to solve: no online client portal, new remote clients with no process to service effectively, frequent technology setbacks, staff overloaded, marketing non-existent, no effective processes in place, stagnant AUM and client growth, and ineffective IT, Admin staff and bookkeeper.
Here are the problems to solve: stunted revenue growth, undocumented processes not followed as specified, and failed to address the fact that two different types of clients existed and each should be serviced differently to provide appropriate quality service while maintaining profitability.
Here are the problems to solve: unable to expand the client base, u nable to attract hires at all levels, frequent technology setbacks, staff overloaded, and no ability to scale the business and ensure quality service due to lack of processes.
Here are the problems to solve: unable to attract advisors with books of business to join the firm, unable to attract operations staff to join the firm, unable to accommodate more advisors due to lack of space, difficulty increasing the wealth management business without increasing the size of the staff, no monitoring of projects and current staff workload, unable to market to new leads due to lack of time and website, and overwhelmed and disorganized.
Here are the problems to solve: no time to network for more business, unable to attract an advisor to join firm due to lack of processes and technology, and staff overloaded with work.
Here are the problems to solve: staff not working at the highest skill level and overloaded with work, lack of time to attract and onboard new clients, unable to attract new advisors and open new locations, dilution of 3 office, regional brand due to lack of standard operating processes, and unable to monitor quality of client servicing.