In my last two articles, I discussed the notion that there are several “toxic” personality types that you should avoid taking into your practice and how, if you discover these types after the fact, you should seriously consider transferring them out of your practice.
As the New Year is upon us, we all make resolutions. Some want to lose weight, exercise more or change a behavior. The best resolution financial advisors can make is to get rid of toxic clients who weigh you down with stress, anger and frustration.
In my book, “The Financial Advisor’s Ultimate Stress Mastery Guide,” I describe 10 toxic personality types you are likely to encounter and whom you should consider avoiding or eliminating from your practice. I have prviously written about the “the Abusive or Abrasive Alan,” the Controlling Connie,” “the Eddie Haskell,” “the Gloom-and-Doom Debbie,” “the High-Maintenance Marty” and "the Histrionic Harriet.”
Here are the final four:
The Narcissistic Ned
This client is an elitist and has a high need to be admired and adored. He is so wrapped up in himself that he believes he is your most important client, insisting on your attention whenever he wants it. Since he feels entitled (perhaps because of the amount of fees he pays you), he may insist that your assistant should interrupt you to take his call.
These people spend most of their time looking for attention and accolades from everyone they meet. Do you have the patience and wherewithal to give this energy-zapping client the time and consistent praise he demands?
The OCD Olivia
These clients are constantly anxious and attempt to moderate that anxiety by controlling every possible detail in their lives. This affects their interpersonal skills as they try to control conversations. Having difficulty giving up control to anyone, they cannot delegate decisions and must be in on every decision that you make on their behalf.
What is really frustrating is that they are so concerned with being perfect and not making mistakes that they ruminate for hours over even little decisions. This client is very difficult to work with. They take a tremendous amount of your time, as you have great difficulty getting her to make timely decisions.You may even have to go into excruciating detail with her because of her underlying fear of making a mistake.