PLANADVISER - May/June 2020 - 22

winners' circle
proposals. We never plan to hire another employee; we still
have extra capacity. Renee and I are each very content with
our work/life balance.
To me, the biggest change during my career has been
the development of FI360 types of computer programs:
having all of the funds' analysis in front of me for my 70
plans by pushing a few buttons. Before that, it could take
months to get one report for a client. I can see exactly
where we stand with a particular client. I can customize,
based on how much detail it wants.
McLaughlin: The saying that your people are your most valuable
asset is true, so we focus on hiring high-quality, creative
people who show they'd be passionate
for client service and will gel within our
team. And we also look for diversity in
gender, race and age. We have three
women and six guys, two interns who
are younger and four members who
are 30 or younger. We want to get more
diverse as positions open up.
PA: How do you make plans
for
growth while keeping existing clients
happy?
Worrell: I just made a big presentation
to a big committee, and it pretty much
consumed me for
three days while
have fewer clients and service them very well. So when we
grow, we try to bring on two or three new relationships per
year. Those are good years.
Our priority investment has always leaned toward
setting the standards for servicing existing clients, and
that has consistently produced our referrals. But we've also
invested in developing staff and training so we can expand
our service model to more organizations. We've done that
through appointing dedicated people, but also coordinating
the sales effort among the team leaders and leveraging
technology such as Salesforce and LinkedIn.
That's probably one of the team's biggest challenges: to
" I need to
grow, because
if I don't, I'll
contract. But my
clients come
first, and my
prospects come
second until
preparing. That said, your clients are
the ones who are with you, and you
have to take care of them first. But you
can find pockets of time to balance and
manage both. You can put things aside briefly that are more
about operating the business. Many advisory firms are set
up so that roles are distinct: You're either client service or
new business. With some firms, people's only job is to bring
in new clients and then someone else manages them. That's
not how we do it. Striking a balance is a constant challenge.
Barry: I need to grow, because if I don't, I'll contract. But
my clients come first, and my prospects come second until
they're clients. Prospecting is not the most important thing
to me. But we do want to grow-no question about that.
I've never marketed. It's always been referrals. I bought
some leads early on, but my networking is what got me
going. If I can put on four or five clients a year that are
B-plus, A clients in terms of their size-north of 7 million
to 8 million-then I never have to do anything else. Being
in the small-plan market, I'm going to lose clients. Usually
that's when they get acquired by a bigger company we
don't have a relationship with. I can count on one hand the
clients I've lost that either I didn't know why we lost them or
because we didn't do something they wanted.
McLaughlin: We have about 40 institutional clients that we
service. We're not a team that has a volume strategy. We
they're clients. "
be able to service, and to spend time cultivating new relationships.
We've done that by investing
in new people and bringing them on
board with specifically that as their
primary role. They are in charge of
executing the business and the new
development business plan, bringing
the senior team members in whenever
that makes sense. There's a lot of coordination
and communication. You have
to be very active to make it all work.
PA: What does a sustainable practice
look like?
Worrell: Good, loyal, healthy clients
and a happy professional team that is
growth-minded, excellent at
relationship
management and is known for
excellent service and expertise. You
have to have good clients who are doing
well and not in a dying industry where they're producing the
proverbial buggy whip. The other things are having a team
that can manage and cultivate those relationships and also
help you grow. [Our sales representatives] do well in a sales
situation, but we bring in the relationship managers as part
of that sales presentation.
Barry: For me, it's making a more-than-average living and
doing what I enjoy-but it's different for everyone.
McLaughlin: Every strong team needs great leadership. And
I've been fortunate to have two outstanding partners for
over 15 years. And just as every corporate client needs to
step back from its business plan for the future, every retirement
advisory practice needs to do the same. The opportunities
and challenges are constantly in flux for advisory
teams, so assessing the landscape and adjusting the plan
is a key step toward that sustainability. I work with Al and
Pete each year to come up with an annual plan, and then we
work with the entire team to execute it. It's amazing what
you can accomplish when you follow this simple process
and have everyone working together. A lot of teams get by
without doing this step, but the top teams do the essence of
the process I just described. -Judy Faust Hartnett
22 | planadviser.com May-June 2020
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - May/June 2020

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