You’ve heard this one before: “Find something you love to do and you will never have to work a day in your life.” It’s been attributed to Confucius and Harvey Mackay. Who knows? The important point is as an advisor, you might intend to keep working until you are carried out feet first. Yet this doesn’t address client concerns. Even if you keep working, having a succession plan is important.

Five Succession Strategies For The Advisor Who Wants To Keep Working
Here are a few ways you can put a plan in place informally that should reassure your clients.

1. Bring in the next generation. This has been highly popular for years. Handing the business to the next generation isn’t necessarily great for office morale. Years ago, at my previous firm, I recall they had a rule that the child of an advisor needed to start their career in another office, complete the training program and become successful on their own before they could move to their parent’s office and enter into partnership. Sometimes it’s the spouse, not the child that becomes the partner.
Rationale: Clients “get it.” They patronize plenty of businesses that have been owned by the same family for multiple generations. It’s not exactly the same in your case, but clients get it.

2. Elevate your sales assistant to partner status. This is the most logical approach in my opinion. It’s what I intended to do if I hadn’t gone into management. Your sales assistant knows your clients as well if not better than you! They are the person who “gets things done” from an administrative viewpoint. They are likely licensed.
Rationale: You are promoting from within, which everyone likes. Your clients are comfortable with this arrangement, because it’s actually been in place for years. You can remain as the lead advisor as long as you like. Your new partner is paid well, you are still paid well, too. Prospecting is the only challenge to overcome.

3. Get a junior partner in the office. This strategy addresses the prospecting question. It also helps with increasing share of wallet. You bring on a junior partner. It’s understood you are the senior partner and aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. You chose your junior partner carefully. They are good at prospecting, yet this is only part of their job. You both meet with each client. Your junior partner introduces the firm’s broader product range while you focus on the products that really interest your client. There must be an understanding that the junior partner’s slice of the pie grows over time.
Rationale: As the senior partner, you can determine how involved you will be. Your junior partner and sales support keep the service level up. Your junior partner provides most of the growth in new clients and new assets. You need to do your part too. 

4. Join forces with another experienced advisor. This strategy is talked about a lot. It’s often done wrong. Two experienced advisors share a common loathing of prospecting. For some bizarre reason, they decide to merge their practices. When I was a sales manager, our complex manager explained, “Don’t hire in your own image.” The ideal partnership is between two parties that each do one thing very well. The stock guy and the bond guy are a traditional example.
Rationale: Ideally you want a partner who can keep the business going if something happened to the other. Near term, each partner has the skills to grow the less focused side of the other advisor’s business. The client feels they now have two experts working for them. Assets grow. Referrals follow.

5. Take the firm’s gradual retirement plan. Several firms have put gradual retirement plans in place for experienced advisors. They merge into a team while keeping their office, sales support and status. The advisor still interacts with their client as before, with the understanding their time spent in the office can gradually decline. Their payout also declines over several years as they transition into retirement. The advisor often has the option to stay on the team into the future, provided they are active and pulling their weight.
Rationale: The experienced advisor has an exit strategy. Their clients will continue to receive coverage. They can often stay involved as long as they wish after the transition.

Many advisors love what they do, but no one knows what the future holds. Clients feel better when there is a succession plan in place. In these examples, the experienced advisor largely remains in control.

Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book Captivating the Wealthy Investor is available on Amazon.