Successful financial planning businesses have one thing in common: they all have great people working together as a team. Brett Davidson of FP Advance provides practical tips on how you can take control of the recruitment process and also reminds us why it should be a number one priority
The more I reflect on what allows my clients to really fly, the more I come back to just one thing: people. If you want to build a great business then you have to have the right team in place.
Your version of success might be to work 9 to 5, four days per week and earn a reasonable income, or you might have a much larger commercial ambition. In either case, if any one of your team members can’t perform their role to the standards you require, there will be follow-on effects around the company. It will mean that issues will eventually end up back at your desk to be resolved. Hiring right really does matter.
Mastering recruitment
Most adviser-owners I know don’t exactly love the task of recruiting staff. Simply acknowledging that this is not your cup of tea can help you get your first key support person on board; an HR consultant.
If assembling a great team is vital, and it is, but you don’t have a passion for recruitment, then get someone on your team who does. The good news is that HR consultants are relatively inexpensive and the good ones are usually quite practical in the advice and support they provide.
Where can we learn from other businesses that also face this hiring challenge?
In modern business, hyper-growth tech companies provide a good starting point. They are looking for talent, and lots of it, quickly. How do they do it?
Jeff Holden, currently Chief Product Officer at Uber, has held roles with three fast-growing companies; Amazon, Groupon and Uber. In a conversation with Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize), he described four key lessons for hiring the best people:
- A-players hire A-players and B-players hire C-players
The key point here is that you have to be ruthless in hiring the best people you can possibly find. Don’t lower your standards.
As Peter Diamandis commented, “If you lower the bar on the quality of people you let in, they will have a lower bar for the quality of people they hire. The spiral will continue to cascade downward until you’re left with, well… a mediocre company.”
“Measure twice, cut once” is a good mantra to hold when recruiting. I understand the pressure sometimes to just get someone on board. However, taking that approach just means you’ll have to go and do your recruiting right in about 6-12 months’ time when the person you’ve just hired doesn’t work out. In that scenario you’ll have just wasted another year of your life. Don’t do it.
- Always gauge the passion and interest of a candidate
Clearly, it’s important that team members are enthused about working in your organisation.
There is a simple way to do this, Jeff explains, simply ask them “Why do you want to work for this company?”
“It’s unbelievable how many people have a terrible answer to that question,” Jeff said,
“The generic answer is, ‘Well, you guys are doing really well…’.”
The aim is to find people and answers that fit with your core values. Financial Planning done right is a life changing profession. You want people who can see and understand that working on your team.
- Be an owner, not a renter – hire patriots, not mercenaries
Jeff has a quote that he referenced: “Wars are won by patriots, not mercenaries.”
You’re looking for people that buy into what you are doing for clients and what you are trying to build as a business, not people who were secured based on the highest offer.
People who are just in it for the money can be tempted to leave for a better offer, or they just don’t put it all-in when the going gets tough. Stay away from them.
That doesn’t mean you should hire cheap. The best people expect to be paid more than their average contemporaries; as they should. However, they also need to show passion for the company and the role as well.
- Make sure you’re working with people who ‘make you feel dumb’
Peter says, “Make sure you are working with bright, intelligent people who are constantly pushing you to learn.”
Not only can smart people fulfil the role you need them to do, but they can help you to be better. This is the type of inspiring challenge that can see you re-discover your enthusiasm for your own role, your business and your life. Don’t underestimate it.
I know a lot of firms that have had success in hiring young graduates. They keep sharing with me how scary smart these folks are, and you can hear the excitement in the owner’s voice as they do so.
Some pitfalls to avoid when hiring your team
There are a few mistakes I see firms making when it comes to good hiring practises. Do any of these apply to you?
a.) They are not clear on the specific role they are trying to fill.
Often this is because they are not thinking narrowly enough. If you need an administrator, get specific about what type of admin tasks they are going to perform. Is it complex pension work, investment work (with which wrap platforms?), trust work, wills, life insurance work etc.
What specific job do you need doing? Don’t think “I’ll get an administrator who can do some paraplanning work and maybe handle reception as well, whilst making coffee and occasionally vacuuming the office.”
If the role is not full time, then hire someone part time. Ask for what you want when you recruit. Don’t flex to match the needs of whoever might be presenting. Once you’ve got the right person, by all means flex to make your mutual working lives enjoyable and productive. But in the first instance hold firm on what you require.
b.) They don’t write a great job description.
They don’t do this because they haven’t done the think work in the point above. If you don’t know exactly what you are after it’s impossible to write a concise and specific job spec, which makes it almost impossible to end up with the right A-player on your team.
Don’t skip this step. Get help from your HR consultant if you need it.
c.) They don’t hire with their core values at the forefront of their mind.
Someone with the wrong values just won’t work, no matter how skilled they are. What are your core values? Usually they’ve been captured in your business plan. Make sure you are interviewing with these in mind.
d.) They shortcut their own (often limited) recruitment process in a rush to fill a role.
As I mentioned earlier, “measure twice, cut once.”
Create a robust process and then follow it to the letter. If you need to wait six or nine months to get the right person, my advice is to wait.
The right person in the right role is worth 400% more to you than an ok person in the role.
Wait to get the right team member and watch your productivity and your quality of life go through the roof when you do. Anyone who has hired poorly in the past will attest to the wisdom of this approach.
e.) They think they can’t find the quality of people they need in their area.
I know that in some parts of the country recruitment can feel challenging. However, I hear this complaint from people across the UK. If they are outside of a big city they tell me there’s no one who is any good locally, and if they are in a big city they say that other bigger firms take all the talent.
My advice is to get better at finding the people you need. This is a skill just like anything else. Look wider or non-traditionally if you need to. Hire a virtual team member if that allows you access to someone with the skills you need. There are amazing people lurking in the online world that you can often rent by the hour.
At FP Advance our whole team is virtual. We spend time on helping our team understand our mission and our business (just like you do with in-house employees), and we believe this helps make them patriots. Right now we have the best team in place that we’ve ever had.
Take a look at the lessons above and see if you can apply them to your business. I know it will make a massive difference.
Assembling the right team is the number one issue for all businesses, large or small.
About Brett Davidson
Brett is the Founder of FP Advance, the boutique consulting firm that helps financial planning professionals to advise better and live better.
He is recognised as one of the leading consultants to financial advisers in the UK. You can follow Brett online and via social media:
Website: www.fpadvance.com
Twitter: @brettdavidson
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsonbrett
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FPAdvanceLtd
