Performance Issues
The number one performance issue (and related to all others) that forces your clients to fire you is the most obvious: an extended period of poor performance meaning you have lost them money. It’s bad enough you are not making them money, but that is a result; If your client communication is excellent, you have a chance to weather by blaming it on the economy or pointing out that your ROI is at least as good as industry indexes.
However, if the loss is significant, your emotional intelligence will not bail you out. Most investors tell me they will bail if you’ve dipped their account over the long run by 10 percent. How could you blame them? On the grounds that your job is to make them money, you’re fired!
Perceives A Lack Of Value. If you're not performing well, it is only a matter of time before your client begins to question your value. After all, if you are not growing their account, what are you doing for them? Once a client starts to question your value, ranging from the services you are providing to your fees, your relationship is often a few months away from ending, especially if your performance continues to be second rate.
Finds Somebody Better. Does this really need to be explained? Naturally, the worse your performance, the easier it is for your client to find somebody who can do the job more effectively. In fact, most educated investors are always on the hunt for those who can perform better than their current advisor, just like top general managers of sports teams are always looking for better players.
A Major Error. It’s OK to boot a play once in a while, but an error that costs a team a championship can cost a player his job. The same is true for you. A major error—not following your client’s instructions, a terrible financial decision, the mishandling of documents—can get you fired.
While the aforementioned reasons for getting fired relate to client communication and advisor performance, there is one other reason that often causes clients to transfer accounts: family matters. Divorce, death, inheritances are all events that can cause a particular client to end your relationship. While this is not the same as being fired, it does have the same effect: you lose accounts.
Coming up: how to avoid being fired so you can stay hired!
Hank Weisinger, Ph.D., is trained in clinical, counseling and organizational psychology. Weisinger is the author of several successful books and has conducted executive development workshops for dozens of Fortune 500 companies. To find out more about his workshops, click here: https://courses.hendrieweisingerphd.com/courses/demo-performing-under-pressure-the-eworkshop-experience/