So you have decided to explore a professional move or change of affiliation. You’ve done your due diligence and looked at several firms you believe will help support the growth of your business and help take your practice to the next level. You’ve trimmed your list down to four or five firms and have initial discussions with each firm’s representatives.

Now it’s time for you to meet with a recruiter face-to-face. Do you know the appropriate questions to ask to make sure you are capitalizing on this meeting and determining the right fit for your practice?

Here are 11 important questions to ask a recruiter:

• Who Owns the Firm? – This is one of the first questions you should be asking because it’s important to get an understanding of where the firm’s revenue comes from. Are there propriety requirements? Will I be required to sell certain in-house products? If so, what are these products and what are the fees for my clients? Once I determine how the firm makes money and its overall objectivity, I will have a much better idea of what that will mean for myself and my clients.

• Who Owns the Book of Business? – This one is fairly obvious, but critical nonetheless. What will happen to my clients and assets if there is a separation 10 years from now? What does succession look like at the firm? This is something I recommend getting down in writing.

• Who Does the Firm Use as a Custodian? – For advisors who are going independent or changing firms within the independent channel, you want to determine if you prefer staying on the same clearing platform or switching to a different one. If moving clearing firms is a deal-breaker then make sure you get this question answered early on. Let’s face it, if you don’t need to change your clearing firm, your transition will be much easier.

• How Portable Are My Assets? – It’s important to know the kind of support the firm can provide in the specific areas where you do business. You want to ask about the portability of your assets in relation to the companies you work with. This is relevant for alternative investments and separately managed accounts (SMAs), in particular. In many cases, firms won’t use the same fund managers as you do, so you’ll want to ask about this early on.

• What Does the Transition Package Look Like? – What does a typical transition package look like for an advisor of your size? It’s important to dig into what money is available on a forgivable and non-forgivable basis. What is the term of the note? Does it vest over five years? If something changes, what is my obligation to repay the note? You also want to find out what the financial transition looks like. For instance, if I get sued by my former firm, who will cover that cost and what is my financial obligation? Caution: I generally recommend discussing this later in the discussion – bringing it up early on is a turnoff.

• What Kind of Legal Backing Will I Have? – Does the firm have legal services available or leverage external attorneys advisors can be referred to? What is the firm’s experience in dealing with my current legal department? Do you know how they are going to respond when I leave?

• What Kind of Transition Support Will I Have? – Most broker-dealers have dedicated transition teams in place to support advisors during a transition. The transition team is there to help walk you through the process and allow you to focus on your clients, but you want to ask about the specifics. How much support will they provide in terms of all of the required paperwork? Will they help locate office space and set up necessities such as phone and internet? Will a representative of the transition team visit your office to assist with the transition, if needed?

• Does the Firm Have Service Measures? – You also want to get into the areas of support the broker-dealer provides once you are on board. Does the firm have a specific service team or a number I can call with questions? What are the firm’s average response times? What percent of my questions will be resolved on the first point of contact? Make sure you are comfortable with the level of service the firm offers on a day-to-day basis.

• What do the Payout Structures Look Like? – You clearly want to ask about payouts for commissionable products versus the advisory side of the business. For the advisory side, you’ll want to ask about the manager fees, the administrative fees the firm charges and how it all prices out. What are the rep fees? You should also request a copy of expenses, payouts and operational charges for client accounts.

• What is the Average Production of the Firm’s Advisors? – This is definitely something you want to touch on to get a sense of what percentage of the firm’s business is coming from advisory assets versus commissions. I would get a breakdown of this in order to see how well the firm aligns with where you’re at today as well as where you want to grow in the future.

• What Are My Options from a Modeling Standpoint? – If you have a lot of advisory assets and envision that area as a growing part of your business, you’ll want to know what models and types of offices the firm’s organization structure supports. Will you be required to use the broker-dealer’s corporate RIA? Will they allow you to create your own hybrid RIA or tuck in with another outside RIA? Will you need to operate as an OSJ or will the firm provide OSJ support.

There are likely many more questions you’ll want to ask throughout the due diligence process –especially once you narrow your list down further and begin home office visits. These are areas to focus on when meeting with a recruiter in order to determine the right fit. Remember to ask questions about the future as well as the here and now, as you are trying to find the partner who is setup to support the growth of your practice long-term.

Tom Daley is the founder and CEO of The Advisor Center, the industry’s largest online resource for financial advisors. For more information on the firm’s web-based community, visit www.theadvisorcenter.com.