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The key to a successful move is to improve the service you provide clients in a meaningful way. If you already have solid relationships with mutual respect and value, this will make a move much easier. And while most quality advisors with strong client relationships operate with a fiduciary mindset, they want to make sure they “do no harm” to clients by changing firms.
Once you’re comfortable with how the current business moves over, you must be able to demonstrate what’s in it for your clients. This could be superior technology that gives them access to their accounts online. It could also mean access to investment banking or more robust lending capabilities. In any case, understanding the benefits of a move from the client’s perspective is important to ensure both short-term and long-term value for your business.
A firm distinguishes itself from the pack when it can demonstrate how it will help its advisors grow. Do they provide more robust access to sophisticated products and expertise? With the leverage you have in being recruited, the new firm may help you put on client appreciation events, do creative business development and marketing, and hire additional staff. And you might even be able to use social media more effectively. Even the most successful advisors can benefit from the expertise and insights of coaches about best practices and will value efforts to make these resources available at the firm’s expense.
While management changes routinely happen at the local levels, advisors must have some level of comfort with local and complex management if they are to consider joining the firm. It’s also important to speak with senior leadership about its vision for the firm’s future. Will your clients be a welcome addition to the firm and be treated with the service and respect you have already established? Will this firm be committed to supporting and investing in the niche you serve? Has the firm received positive reviews and publicity? Does the culture “feel right” for you and your business? If it doesn’t “feel” right, it probably isn’t, and no uber-transition package can fix a cultural misalignment.
There’s no doubt that many advisors are considering what may very well be the last move of their careers. The ability to monetize your life’s work through a handsome transition package is quite an enticement. But a retention deal from your current firm—if it has been serving you, your clients and your business well—may be what is best for all parties at this time.
The key to considering a move at any stage is to ensure that it satisfies your own needs and the ability to serve your clients with an appropriate amount of flexibility, freedom and potential for the future. Will this move make you—and your life—happier and more fulfilled? Or are you happy right where you are?
Wirehouses may be more similar to each other than they are different, but even subtle differences can matter to advisors when considering a move. While advisors may be tempted to forgo extensive due diligence, they need to vet every aspect of the business to understand how it will be supported in the new environment.
If you decide to make a move, the new firm should be able to articulate its differentiator(s) as it relates to your business and help you craft a message to clients and team members as to why you made the move.
