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Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.
Dear Bev,
We are planners who do deep dives with our clients. We created our own software, so we’re not using any of the known brands. Our software encourages the advisors to ask deeply personal questions which have led to our ability to solve complex problems. We are able to get spouses to talk, families to unite and entrepreneurs to consider what is next.
However, we have brought on a couple of newer advisors (40s and 50s in age — experienced people) who are unwilling to have these deep discussions with clients. They believe our questions are “invasive,” and they have never engaged with their clients the way our firm typically does. I can’t share our questions here because they are our secret sauce and we don’t want others to know what we are doing. Suffice to say we are going places with our clients that most advisors likely would never touch. The dilemma, as we grow and acquire more advisors to work with us, is whether we allow them to manage their clients differently to stay in their comfort zones. I’m a fan of training and practice but my partners think it is pushing advisors to do something they really don’t want to do and therefore it will backfire. Thoughts?
A.V.
Dear A.V.,
It sounds like you didn’t have a deep enough discussion with the advisors who recently joined you during the M&A process. You are talking about something that is deeply important to your culture and it sounds as if you have put a lot of time and effort into creating something that differentiates your firm and is meaningful to all of you. It seems a bit strange to me this wasn’t a strong focus during the discussion about joining your team. The questions I would ask you:
- Does everyone on your team use and know how to use the software? Or are there some people (like you) who are passionate about it, but others who are not so engaged? This is important, because if you have set a precedent about choice, you need to honor that with newcomers. In addition, if others are not using the process, they may not have talked about the importance of it during the interview and onboarding process. Make sure you are clear about expectations for this.
- Be sure everyone is trained on how to ask the right questions, how to be patient and listen, and how to engage differently with their clients. It isn’t enough to have the software and have the process if your new advisors are fundamentally uncomfortable with how to approach their clients in this new way. Giving them learning opportunities is imperative. I’ve found over the years that anyone can be helped to shift their behavior. That said, they need time, patience and a willingness to understand what needs to shift in their own style, not yours. If you simply give them the roadmap and tell them to go with it, they will absolutely stay in their comfort zones. This is human nature.
- Lastly, yes, you need to have alignment with your partners on whether this is a key attribute for your firm or not. You and your partners are in disagreement about what “pushing” looks like. Asking someone to comply with your standards and your way of doing business is not “pushing.” Asking new advisors to provide a client experience that is consistent with what all other clients are getting is not “pushing.” I don’t know enough about your style — and perhaps, your approach to telling these new advisors has indeed come off as pushing — but holding the line on standards so your firm culture is upheld is actually very important. Just make sure you are all in agreement about what truly matters in your culture first.
Dear Bev,
We have cajoled, trained, begged, and set forth goals and metrics. However, we are still not getting organic growth from our advisors. As a firm, we are growing thanks to great market movement and our lead advisors, who are rainmakers and bring in business every time they speak to someone.
But we can’t have everything rest with them. There has to be more engagement by our advisors, but as director of business development, I am at my wit’s end about what to do. These are advisors in their 40s and 50s — not old and not too young. They should be able to do what’s needed to help grow a firm they are all going to likely have ownership in one day.
D.L.
Dear D.L.,
Truth be told, I receive notes, calls and inquiries like this a couple of times a week at a minimum: “Is it possible to help advisors learn how to sell?” That’s the underlying question, although the way it is framed differs all of the time. You say you have “cajoled, trained and begged.” This honestly does not sound like a professional way to communicate expectations and goals with your advisors. You go on to say you have put in goals and metrics, but I can’t help but think I am missing something here.
The main reasons advisors resist or shy away from finding organic growth are:
- They simply don’t know what to do. They haven’t had the learning opportunities to help them see how to do it, and especially how to find growth in their own styles and without feeling like a sleazy salesperson taking advantage of their clients. Have you given them the tools they need to see clearly how to shift their behavior?
- They haven’t been shown how to incorporate growth into their day-to-day activities. Setting goals and metrics without taking stock of where they are now spending their time is an exercise in futility. Incorporating a new set of goals into what they are already doing takes a lot of planning and effort. Have you taken things off their plate or given them adequate support so they have time to focus on this?
- They don’t have a clear plan of action. I start every engagement with asking advisors to take stock of where they are and where they want to go. I ask them to pick a focus and stay with that focus for a period of time. They should hone what they are doing in one area, then move on to the next. Are you throwing out ideas without any clarity around how to get where they need to go? Have you helped them take goals and turn them into step-by-step plans?
I will say what I have been saying for many, many years now. Advisors can learn to grow organically, but not by just being told they need to do it and being given goals to get there. They need support and help, and once they get it, they often enjoy the process and are self-motivated to keep going.
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. The firm has won the Wealthbriefing WealthTech award for Best Training Solution for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Beverly is currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk University teaching undergraduate and graduate students Entrepreneurship and Leading Teams. She 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.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
