30+ Ways RIAs Sabotage Their Firms’ Growth

Could you be sabotaging your business growth? I see it happen all the time: the good intentions of financial advisors gone awry.  Advisors envision operating a profitable business, serving great clients the “right way” and living an exceptional life doing what they love.

Many advisors expect, rightfully, that as they gain new clients, business growth will make it possible to hire help, build a wonderful website, create a great team, and do the things they enjoy in an office they’re proud to have clients walk into.  However, they find that as they grow their firm, frustration and overwhelm set in.

Some advisors prefer running a solo practice, learning everything they need to do for business growth, doing everything themselves, and never hiring anyone.  These financial professionals often find that they can’t run a profitable business and have a life, too!

These are some of the things new clients have told me they’ve done wrong over the years; they are mindsets and habits that prevented them from realizing the firm of their dreams and that stunted business growth.  These are ways NOT to run a business.

How to Sabotage Business Growth

1. Don’t create a business and marketing plan, and if you do, never follow it or update it.
2. Don’t monitor the actions that you’ve determined will help you reach your business goals.
3. Don’t market consistently; instead, practice spaghetti marketing–trying every type of marketing imaginable to grow your firm.
4. Don’t niche, create an ideal client profile, or segment your clientele and the different services you’ll provide.
5. Set up your firm so that the business model is 100% dependent on the financial advisor.
6. Create your firm’s name with your name in it, making it harder on an associate you hire or making it difficult to sell later on.
7. Take on any client who breathes and receives a paycheck.
8. Don’t ever pay someone to do anything you can learn to do yourself.
9. Don’t ever pay someone to do anything you can already do yourself.
10. Don’t take time off.
11. Work nights and weekends to catch up on paperwork.
12. When you rent or buy an office, you decorate it for yourself (with no thought as to what may appeal to your best clients).
13. Always look for ways/reasons to “not” do something that could attract new business.
14. Don’t ever seek strategic alliance partners with whom to conduct marketing efforts or randomly choose alliance partners who don’t have the same clientele.
15. Don’t do any social marketing, or if you do, do it inconsistently.
16. Don’t update your website every 3 years.
17. Don’t create sample portfolios (easier to do when you have a niche).
18. Don’t use technology to automate (like CRM, Portfolio Management, etc.) because you use Excel for everything.
19. Don’t hire an assistant or firm to take care of your back-office work.
20. Don’t hire a recruiter to test and interview personnel for you, even though you know you suck at hiring.
21. Believe that the reason you aren’t getting hired is because you don’t know “everything” or have enough credentials.
22. Think that only you can do the best job at “x” (marketing, networking, administration, etc.) so no one you hire will ever be good enough.
23. Don’t be a good mentor (i.e., you want to get paid for services that you don’t do yourself or your family consistently does for you).
24. You don’t want to be boss (hiring someone to run the office for you so that you can do what you do enjoy doing).
25. Never hire a coach or consulting company to help you grow your firm or do some of the work you should be doing, but don’t have the time for.
26. Don’t meet with your assistant every day for at least 5 minutes.
27. Don’t meet with your team weekly for at least 30 minutes.
28. Don’t set yearly goals with each staff member or consultant.
29. Don’t share your business vision with your staff and anyone else you hire, including vendors.
30. Don’t create job descriptions for each person you’re planning to hire.
31. Don’t let your staff and clients know that you’re looking for “x” type of clients and that you’re looking to grow your business.

The good news is that there is a way to change or turn every one of the “don’ts” into positive results for your firm.

What are you waiting for?

Business growth starts with your vision. The best way to create yours is to let Maria walk you through the process free. Learn when the next 35-45 minute virtual presentation is scheduled here.

 
(c) 2014, Updated 2015 Elevating Your Business