Practice Made (More) Perfect is both an impassioned accounts of command in the advisory industry and an innovative “owners-manual” for changing a specialist services practice. The reserve succeeds brilliantly on both fronts. The authors’ premise would be that the independent advisory industry is maturing, and advisory companies are becoming bigger and more technical enterprises. At the same time, most industry leaders lack formal training or experience in handling growing businesses with many moving parts. The revised edition of the book first came to my attention while I had been attending Pershing’s INSITE 2011 Conference.
I’m seeking a small business development specialist role within the independent RIA route, and I applaud both of these practice management thought market leaders for updating the initial 2005 text to navigate the challenges of the slower development environment. Built-in capacity and leverage. The authors give a straightforward and actionable method of even the most abstract of these concepts. In the interest of brevity, the next is a summary of what Personally i think are the perhaps most obviously concepts contained within this book. For most financial advisors, tactical planning is this overwhelming process that it’s frequently disregarded.
- It should overlay squarely on the business enterprise strategy
- An hourly rate
- Become an ELP
- Online self-enrollment
- Business Credit Cards
It’s not necessarily obvious to me what makes a particular firm unique available on the market by studying their Site, regulatory filings or the many “top” consultant or wealth manager lists. The authors suggest that strategy is not about marketing just; rather, it is how you inform your investment in technology, people, processes, positioning, and your client service experience.
Without this construction, it is difficult to define your optimal client, the organizational framework suitable to fulfill clients’ needs, your prices strategy, and your approach to payment. A central theme throughout the written book is that the procedures function is growing in strategic value, the biggest weakness in advisory firms is the lack of leadership and a career track in functions. Among the major issues advisors are wrestling to solve is the task of hiring and keeping the right skill. The single biggest reason for turnover in a financial advisory practice is poor collection of candidates.
The authors provide a formal process for structuring pay that positions payment as an investment in which to get a return rather than a cost to be controlled. The sample settlement philosophy statement on web page 136 offers a powerful decision-making tool for structuring the key components of compensation. The publication provides a clear explanation of the difference between an additional benefit and a motivation. The authors believe the later is more effective at eliciting a desired behavior.
I found this section extremely helpful in interpreting the settlement and staffing data released by InvestmentNews/Moss Adams, FA and Quantuvis Insight. By the end of the day, the authors emphasize that money is never an alternative for active management. The book’s discussion of financial management techniques is based on the assumption that industry income will remain under great pressure as advisors navigate through the challenges of pricing, productivity, service mix, client mix, and rising costs. Accounting and financial management are fundamental to working any enterprise, yet most professionals never have been trained to use their financial data to effectively manage their businesses.
The chapters on financial management techniques are accessible to the layman and serve as a thoughtful, organised, analytical guide to use financial data to effectively control a firm. The authors believe the advisory business is scalable eminently, but building capacity and leverage requires a quantum leap in how advisors structure and deal with their methods.
Critical mass is one of those elusive management ideas that the reserve does an excellent job demystifying. In many cases, a Founders’ ownership stake represents years of heartache and sacrifice. It is also an asset that must ultimately generate a sufficient return on investment. With this context, one of the book’s main themes is particularly compelling: Advisors who create a business to last have created a business to sell. Armed with the lessons used Made (More) Perfect, advisors shall go a long way toward taking their firm to another level. This is a must read for leadership of financial advisory companies regardless of the firm’s size. The road mapping and insights are excellent.