How to Build the Ideal Financial Advisor Team

Have you reached your capacity for juggling prospecting, administration, marketing, and every aspect of the business? Then it’s time to begin establishing a superstar financial advisor team.

But, how do you start? Do you hire another advisor to handle the clients or get help with the day-to-day operations instead? You’ll have to decide what type of practice you want to run. Also, what key players can help establish that in the long term. It’s not just about filling a job role but about finding the right person who fits your vision.

Do you want a work/life balance with a lifestyle practice? Or build an enterprise practice that has a variety of advisors and niches? Your answer will likely shift over time as your priorities change. You should start by thinking about which hats you enjoy wearing in the business.

Here are some signs it’s the right time to start building the ideal financial advisor team.

 

When is the Right Time to Start Building a Financial Advisor Team?

There is a slew of issues and worries for any advisor who recognizes the need to expand their practice after reaching capacity. To determine whether to start hiring, some advisors may look at a revenue level (for example, $120-300k). Others may look at the total number of clients they’re serving (i.e. 50-150).

It’s important to look at your practice’s current needs and long-term goals while considering whether or not you can hire someone. In order to analyze the current needs of your practice, you should evaluate how you spend your time and which areas of running your business you like the most.

It’s impossible to be fully involved in every aspect of your company’s growth. From lead generation to client onboarding to financial strategy and everything in between. You’ll be able to define the job of your first recruit by determining where you’re spending your time now and where you’d be better off if you had extra support.

Now the tricky part – how are you going to find the right people? How will you get them up to speed with your clients, and how your firm runs? Take a deep breath. It doesn’t all just happen at once. First, you’ll need to understand how to find the right fit that fulfills the job duties and is also aligned with your vision.

 

How do I build a Financial Advisor Team?

The first step in finding the right financial advisor team is understanding the person you’re hiring beyond their resume. Filling out a DISC assessment (DISC stands for dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness), you’ll get an idea of their directness, social characteristics, and style in which they not only work but also communicate.

If you haven’t read our previous blog post, we dive deep into how to find your next superstar. 

Remember that your onboarding process is just as important as the hiring process to ensure success. Otherwise, you could lose a stellar staff member quickly, or they won’t realize their full potential within your firm, always playing catch-up.

 

How to Document Your Processes for Your Financial Advisor Team

While it may seem tedious at first, you should be documenting everything you’re currently doing in your business. Whether it’s the way you write an email, the process for sending out a monthly newsletter, or your day-to-day operations. That way, you can review your manual at the end of the month to decide which aspects you’d like to focus on and where your time is better spent. Tasks that must be done but don’t require your oversight should be delegated.

There are several online tools that can help you establish the foundation that can train the right fit to integrate into your financial advisor team smoothly. Here are some typical processes you may want to hand over and how you can show them your way of doing it. Keep in mind you should still be open to improvement if your new hire has ideas for making that task more efficient.

 

Email Templates

For prospecting emails you typically send out, you can document these by using Google Docs. Instead of using Microsoft Word, you can edit and share in real time this living document in the cloud with your new hire.

 

How-To Processes

Any process that you may need to show a new hire more than once should be documented with a video. You can use two great tools, so you won’t have to repeat the instructions and focus on more critical aspects of the business.

Loom allows you to record your screen while also creating a “presentation”. Here, you’ll be in a bubble in the corner of the screen, explaining the step-by-step instructions. This may be useful when showing your new hire how to use the database or set up a new client account.

A free hack to this would be using Zoom, recording a meeting by yourself, and sharing a screen. The big downside is you’ll have to remember to download the video and store it somewhere, whereas Loom will store it for you with easy sharing options.

 

Checklists

For any tasks that are recurring, you should have an online checklist that can be duplicated and completed. This may not necessarily be something that lives in your CRM that is client-related, but other tasks that must be done in your business. This could be posting on social media, marketing initiatives, or general office morning and evening duties such as emptying the garbages.

Online tools like Asana or Monday are great for this, or you can create a checklist in Google Sheets that can be printed off each week.

Are you overwhelmed with the busy work in your business and need help reaching the next level of growth? We help advisors get on the right trajectory to find their next superstar. Contact us to learn more.