In my last article, 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 out of your practice.
As I noted in the article, because many advisors are hesitant to send any business away, they will put up with unbearable, demanding, self-centered clients, dependent clients, whose behaviors can add exponentially to an advisor's career-related stress. The key question to ask yourself is whether the AUM that such clients represent is worth the inevitable stress and aggravation you must endure from retaining them as clients.
Many advisors have told me that they were so relieved once they transferred these clients to other advisors within their firms or to advisors in other practices that they were actually free to develop new clients, culminating in even more AUM.
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. In the first larticle, I discussed The “Abusive, or Abrasive Alan” and “The Controlling Connie.” Here are the next four toxic personality types:
The “Eddie Haskell” Passive-Aggressive Client
If you are in your late 50's or older, you undoubtedly remember this fictional character from Leave It To Beaver, the popular 1950s TV show. Eddie was a classic example of a passive-aggressive, toxic personality. This type of person tries to curry favor with you by slyly complimenting you, hiding his shallow, sneaky character and hostility behind a veneer of “charm.” His main agenda is manipulation, while trying not to be obvious about it. If he slips and lets his hostility out, he covers himself by exclaiming, “I was just kidding.”
These people are phony, kissing up to anyone whom they believe can do them any good. Their needs always take priority over yours.
You obviously can’t trust such an individual and what he says. How will you ever be able to get an accurate feel for this client’s needs and concerns if he is a phony with you, while maintaining his hidden agenda?
The Gloom-And-Doom Debbie
We all know people who constantly bemoan their bad luck and predict that bad things will continue to happen to them and their money. These pessimistic, negative people always feel like victims. If there are two ways to look at a situation, they always choose the negative way. In their catastrophic thinking patterns, they are filled with “what if’s.”