Yet another variation on the institutional theme is to assign each underling a specific expertise. Explains Gene Balliett who, with his wife Dee, runs Balliett Financial Services Inc. in Winter Park, Fla., "Dee and I are comfortable saying something like this when a client calls: 'Kathy is our in-house expert on IRAs and qualified plans. I'm just a general practitioner. So she can answer your question better than I can. I can transfer this call to her right now, if that is OK with you.' That approach has never failed to get a quick, favorable response from a client. The workload keeps sliding away from Dee and me, freeing up time for us to deal with newer clients."

And then there is the "lead planner" tact, as employed by John Henry McDonald of Austin Asset Management in Austin, Texas. McDonald decides whom a new client's lead planner will be based on information gathered by his receptionist during the client's first call to the firm. "Our initial meeting with the client almost always leads to the question, 'Who will I work with here?' We explain the 'initial lead planner' concept, and how the client is really hiring Austin Asset Management rather than any one financial planner. We've structured our business to create a flow of clients from practitioner to practitioner as time goes on," says McDonald.

Bob Wacker of R.E. Wacker Associates in San Luis Obispo, Calif., says, "For all new clients, I emphasize the team concept and tell them up front that if they insist on working with me, that is a deal-killer and they need to go elsewhere. Most still engage us." It's longtime clients who pose the biggest problem for Wacker, though. He deals with them by sending a carefully crafted letter explaining the need to transition them to one of his associates (see sidebar).

David Lewis, owner of Resource Advisory Services Inc. in Knoxville, Tenn., relies on the letter that accompanies his quarterly reports to clients to begin the process of acquainting them with new associates. Says Lewis, "First I tell clients that 'Bryan' is now with us, and I begin defining the ways he will be used in serving them. In each letter I make clear the work Bryan has done in [assembling their] report. I also let them know they can expect him to be working to impress them and I recruit the clients' assistance in coaching Bryan."

All of this is a preface to reassigning certain clients to Bryan, or to any new employee. "I have reassigned clients to planners before and talked with those clients after the planners were no longer   with us. None said they liked being reassigned. Some said they accepted the reassignment because they trusted me. Others told me they didn't want their relationship reassigned again."

Lewis says this is the biggest problem with the reassignment process: What do you do when a client is unhappy with the reassignment the owner has made, yet the owner knows he can't serve that client himself indefinitely? Lewis discovered what he believes is the solution to this dilemma: "I suggest to the client that the planner must win over his relationship. Clients seem to like that arrangement."

Lewis hit on this idea by studying the workings of his CPA firm. "My connection with my CPA firm is through one of the senior partners, but I often call others in the firm for a variety of tasks. I still feel like the senior partner is my primary contact, and I contact him sometimes on certain subjects. So, I asked him about this process." What Lewis found out from his CPA was that clients learn how to find the services they need within the firm, and the firm's staff works hard to maintain communications among themselves about each client so everyone is in sync on the client's affairs. In discussing this with his CPA, Lewis said, "If a staff person cannot win over the client relationship, you have probably hired the wrong person." His CPA agreed wholeheartedly.

Suffice it to say, reassigning clients doesn't have to be a dreaded event. Many advisors have found lots of ways to do it quite smoothly. Just borrow from their experience and you, too, should be able to devise a system that works for your firm.


David J. Drucker, MBA, CFP and financial advisor since 1981, sold his practice 20 years later to write, speak and consult with other advisors. Please visit www.daviddrucker.com for more information.

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