We try to match client personalities to personalities within our team, and also make sure each team has people with different skill sets. This takes a certain amount of “matrix management”—where staff members report to more than one person. Teams are not silos.
Before client meetings, we set an agenda and hold a strategic meeting. (We track the framework of my book The Wealth Management Index, which establishes goals for clients in the different planning areas.)
When we receive a contract from a new client, before meeting with them we set up a pre-meeting among our operations and investment managers to discuss how the paperwork will be handled for transfers, what the investment policy statement should say, what the pressing wealth management areas are, and what information we still need. This allows the first client meeting to run smoothly and reduces confusion about transfers, etc.
There is no way I could do this well on my own. While there are some things I am pretty good at, there are a host of areas where I am sorely lacking. With the team approach, I don’t have to be good at everything. In fact, I spend most of my time on the things that I am good at and very little on those that I am not.
Our approach is also about our firm’s succession planning. If the whole team is important, you don’t have to worry as much about replacing a firm’s founder. You have only to figure out which parts of the founder you want to replace. This means that a team can step into the founder role rather than trying to find one person to do it.
The strategy also helps people advance within the organization, because you can have people spend more time on the things they do well rather than try to force them into doing things they aren’t skilled at and probably don’t like. Some of our best planners do not enjoy the face-to-face client meetings; they prefer planning work with more limited client contact. Others really enjoy the client relationships but may not be as comfortable going into deep technical detail on different subjects. While you need deep knowledge at your firm, not every person needs to be an expert at every subject.
When staff turnover or staff advancement inevitably happens, a team approach such as this one makes things more seamless for the clients, who will have relationships with different team members, not just one who might leave. They might have had a close relationship with a departing or advancing staff member, but at least they will enjoy continuity in the relationship with the firm.
Even with a team approach, however, some things don’t change:
• People who are strong at relationships will still hold a lot of sway over the clients at your firm. While some relationship building skills can be taught, those whose skills come naturally will have some advantages.
• You will still need strong operations and compliance teams. We make these people part of our weekly executive committee meetings because it is very difficult to translate ideas into action without them. You must fill those roles strategically, and it can be difficult to find people for them.
• Matrix management has a host of problems. Different leaders often emphasize different things, so this can cause confusion when somebody reports to two different people. This makes the agenda and strategic meetings more important. No siloes may mean more internal meetings because you can’t combine coverage on all your clients.
• It can be difficult to scale a business with this strategy. You need to have a minimum size client relationship for the team approach to be more effective. I have mentioned before that we want the fast work (tax projections, rebalancing, etc.) to be scalable and the slow work around client engagement to not be.
• You are still going to depend on people outside your organization. At our firm, for example, even though we have an insurance specialist who works with our clients and insurance companies on existing policies, we are fee-only, and we use outside insurance people to analyze, recommend and implement other insurance business. It is critical that these outside advisors be vetted and that they share your approach (it doesn’t always work out that way).
While it would be great if we could each be everything to everyone, it is unrealistic to be that way to anyone. With that in mind, think of how you can use the Moneyball tactics to build your organization and serve your clients.
Ross Levin is the chief executive officer and founder of Accredited Investors Wealth Management in Edina, Minn.