7. You have to be a great business operator, not just a great advisor. “You need a ruthless focus on operating your business as an advisor,” said Larry. Too often, advisors are great at advising but not so great at running a business. Larry’s team has, “multiple digital dashboards, giant TVs around the office that are displaying key metrics from number of clients we have and revenue, to more tactical day-to-day things like how many people have opened and clicked on our most recent email, how many subscribers we have to our various distribution lists. We found that measuring our business is massively important,” he said. And how do they measure the business? They use lots of ratios to help them determine when it’s time to hire new people. Business ratios have been helpful in keeping track of growth and being able to anticipate when they need new human resources. “We know that as we get more revenue and we get more assets, we'll need not only more advisors but more great teammates in reporting, technology, marketing and operations,” he said.
Implementing these ideas in your practice will go a long way toward helping you add that next $1 billion in AUM.
Steve Sanduski, CFP, is the co-creator of ROL Advisor, a discovery process technology system, a New York Times bestselling author, podcast host, international speaker and blogger at BelayAdvisor.com. To access more than 100 interviews with industry leaders, subscribe for free to Steve’s podcast, Between Now and Success, by clicking here.