Heupel previously worked at Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank and has been in the financial industry for 23 years. "I thought I knew about organizational structures and how to put organizational charts together," he says. "With Jim, I'm on Version 9.0. When you think you can do it yourself, it's amazing how often you're off base.
"It's a healthy, challenging environment," he says, "and it gets you to think a lot more about putting a structure together that accomplishes some of the goals you're looking for. In our case, it's succession planning."
Top Grading
Accredited Investors is working to create a compensation structure that takes into account its employees' job and life balance. "We want to retain our staff, and we want them to be a top-graded staff," Heupel says.
Recently, the firm let go of three staffers. "It's a testimony to Jim, who showed us how to communicate and work on interests-based discussions with our staff," Heupel says. "At least two of the three felt it was good parting of the ways."
Heupel says another area the firm is working on is developing the "emotional quotient" for its next level of people. "It's the ability to connect not just to the analysis, but to know how to communicate and ask open-ended questions and getting at possible issues and feelings," he says. "They're good at analysis, but are they good at really connecting with clients and uncovering the issues?"
Dan Inveen from FA Insights says one of the issues faced by some large, successful firms run by owner/advisors is the need to find a dedicated full-time business manager to help take the lead in strategic planning. Another issue at some firms is the need to build out the "middle area" of their personnel between the owner/advisors and the less-experienced, entry-level employees. "People are talking about growth again and how to put in place the proper capacity to meet those growth plans," he says.
And on the client side, part of that growth can be helped by culling the turkeys from one's customer base. "We've had a rule for the past decade not to have difficult clients," says Steve Lockshin from Convergent Wealth Advisors. "We call it the no ***hole rule. You want clients who value what you do and don't beat you up on fees, and who have the kind of relationship where you want to call them."
Heupel says part of his firm's strategic rethink entails taking a closer look at its client base. "On the client level, it's about evaluating the working relationship and values," he says. "Do we share the client's values? If they're just focused on rates of return, they're not going to be a good long-term relationship. We've parted ways with some clients because it's hard on the staff if those relationships aren't healthy."
Heupel says the firm's approach to evaluating clients is more about a team discussion than it is a formula. With potential new clients, two of the principals sit in on the initial meeting so they both can evaluate the prospect. In a recent situation, both Heupel and Levin sat in on the meeting and had differing views about the prospect. "We didn't take on the client because we weren't in complete agreement," Heupel says.
Inflation-Adjusted Outlook
Lou Stanasolovich, CEO and president of Legend Financial Advisors Inc. in Pittsburgh, sees the post-meltdown landscape riddled with inflation. And that is shaping how his firm is doing business.