Enjoy the current installment of "weekend reading for financial planners" – this week's edition kicks off with a hard look at the current state of advisor technology surveys, and the challenging question of which survey(s) advisors can and should even trust as an indicator of industry trends (and which are not sampling enough advisors or in a consistent enough manner to really know).
Also in the advisor technology news this week is a look at how wealth management firms at large held up with their digital tools in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic (finding that most firms are lagging badly, but that in general, independent wealth management firms and the platforms they use actually fared better than most), and a reminder that the coming new CFP Board Standards of Conduct will require them to actually understand the details of their financial planning (and other) software and cannot rely on 'black box' solutions when crafting recommendations to clients anymore.
From there, we have a number of articles around succession planning, including a recent industry study showing the majority of mid-to-large-sized advisory firms still aren't confident they'll be able to transition the firm to the next generation without at least a lot of bumps along the way, a look at how 'sick' many succession plans became through the midst of the pandemic turmoil (from next-generation owners who can no longer afford to make payments on their equity purchases, to both buyers and sellers getting cold feet to do the deal), and some tips for both founders and next-generation advisors on how to start the succession planning conversation (particularly if they're concerned the 'other side' isn't picking up the conversation themselves).
We also have a few marketing-related articles, from tips on how to handle 'Negotiator' clients and develop the confidence to avoid yielding to those asking for fee discounts, advice to new advisors about where to focus first on marketing (hint: local marketing, local SEO, and LinkedIn), and a reminder that, in the end, clients don't hire an advisor for what the advisor does but for what the advisor can do to help clients become who they want to become (which means marketing should be all about the transformations that advisors can create for their clients to achieve that vision for themselves!).
We wrap up with three interesting articles, all around the theme of office culture and team-building in the virtual world: the first explores the dynamics of whether business cultures can survive if they 'stay' virtual and don't go back to being in-person as offices reopen; the second looks at the value of playing games during work hours as a way to build team connections and culture (especially during the remote pandemic environment); and the last explores how to build a strong Virtual Culture (from the authors of the book by that very name!) for those who are thinking that they do want to remain more virtual, but are trying to figure out in practice how to do so while sustaining a strong culture.
Enjoy the 'light' reading!