GROW BY DESIGN, NOT BY DEFAULT
Article provided by Brian Frederick, CFP®, CIMA®
Mainspring Wealth Advisors was honored to be asked to address more than 3,000 industry professionals at Raymond James' national professional-development conference held in April. A presentation by Jeremy Taylor (CFP®, ChFC®, President, Mainspring Wealth Advisors), Kevin Skogen CFP®, ChFC®, CEO, Mainspring Wealth Advisors) and Brian Frederick (CFP®, CIMA® , Partner, Mainspring Wealth Advisors) focused on the strategies Mainspring employs to generate growth in a purposeful way – by building a company with an identity.
Foster relationships: Relationships are the key, and that includes relationships with clients, Raymond James support team members, local professionals such as CPAs and attorneys, as well as internal relationships. It means being engaged with the people who are important in your life, having a genuine interest in them and understanding when life is happening to them.
Work “on” your business, not just in it: Many advisors are constantly working “in” the business, working their tails off and growing almost by default. Mainspring is growing by design. Once a quarter, Mainspring’s leaders devote two days to our business plan. Where are we relative to where we said we would be and want to be? What do we need to work on or sharpen? Lately, these sessions are more collaborative: What is the mission of the firm and how are we growing?
Hire ahead of need and delegate effectively: This is not new advice, nor is it easy to do. But Mainspring considers hiring ahead of need essential to facilitating growth. We hired an operations manager very early in our growth process, and we hired a professional who executes Goal Planning & Monitoring plans for our clients. We are anticipating hiring another person to build out that unit. You cannot wait until you need somebody and expect to get the same result.
However, I feel the most important strategy is to Build the Right Team:
The importance of having clearly–defined values became evident right away in our first acquisition. We merged two practices that had some similarities and some differences.
We brought in a consultant, closed the offices and brought our entire company together to help identify our key values. Those early decisions helped us build a team with shared values and motivations, and one that helps us hold one another accountable in a positive way.
• Personal commitment, growth and responsibility are highlighted in our quarterly business planning meetings and having a coach help us all on a one-on-one basis. We bring in professionals as needed. We believe trees grow taller in the forest so we all push each other to grow.
• We believe team, fun and compassion are critical. We have regular team events, and we are involved in the community – not just by donating money but our time and effort as well.
• All these things wouldn’t mean much if we didn’t live up to our most important value: Integrity.
I’m very proud of what we are building, the people who are next to me and the culture it is developing. Things are always changing and our Values, Vision and Culture will help us overcome the challenges.