The leader of our firm is not a nice person.

The issue is that John is very involved in politics in our community and his political leanings are the total opposite of the rest of the family and of mine.

We have a terrible time with internal meetings. They don’t happen. They happen but there is no agenda.

I’m finding some questionable accounting as I am going through the financials from the last few years.

I’m having a hard time training one of our newer advisors on how to be a good listener.

Here are a few important ideas for my readers on making cold pitches and trying to gain traction in the market with those you don’t know and who don’t know you.

My staff told me that we have “become totally focused on AUM and fees. It isn’t a nice place to work anymore.”

I’ve done what many people dream of doing in their lives, but I’m ill at ease.

He bullies team members, the other partners and most of our vendors.

Is it odd some newer people would have such negative things to say about me?

The issue is that she doesn’t listen. She interrupts clients.

We have a woman on our team who seems to enjoy stirring things up.

We were planning on an in-person event, but some of our team members were exposed to people who tested negative. How are firms solving for this issue now that we are not really back and still getting sick?

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on strategies to become more time efficient. Since that time, I have been inundated with advisors asking questions such as…

When does researching someone’s background and looking for ways to connect become uncomfortable for a person, wherein they might accuse us of stalking them?

Recently one of our best advisors gave notice. He said we don’t “value youth.”

I’ll share some of the insights into how advisors can get the most value when they pay for training solutions..

Advisors tell me they don’t have time to focus on what they need (and often want) to do.

I’m having an existential crisis with a few of my advisors.

I am interested in any guidelines on paying and compensating my assistants.

My father is about to celebrate a very big birthday. He retired at 60 and has been retired for 40 years. It makes me realize how very narrow minded we are in our profession about the way we speak about retirement.

We have the new program installed, but no one is using it.

I’m not averse to having clients tell their friends and family about me; I’m just averse to making it sound like they need to do it because we need them to do it.

We have team members turning on one another because much of the new client servicing standards we agreed to set in place are not working.

I don’t know if we should downsize and move into a smaller space, give people the option to WFH and then lose the great camaraderie that has always made us so great.

Recently one expert asked whether the letters I receive are authentic or perhaps I make them up. I’d like to use this column to address this and ask financial professionals to consider things we often don’t talk about in this industry.

Our advisors are good at what they do, but a couple of our best performers are terrible communicators.

I find it difficult to act as a social worker. I’ve no background in psychology. I’ve no skills to help warring couples find their bliss and agree on a center point when they have differing opinions.

We spent a small fortune in 2020 and 2021 on training for our advisors. We need them to get better at business building and finding new sales opportunities.

As we close out the year, I’ll provide my top five advisor observations from my work with large and small practices.

We need to do year-end planning but in past years it hasn’t gone well.

Why doesn’t my staff see my appreciation in action and how could they be upset about donations to organizations they care about?

It’s that time of the year where we reassess relationships, segment our client activity and look at where we want to spend our energy in 2022. This year, the topic of centers of influence (COIs) has come up.

Do you believe any advisor can become a strong salesperson?

Here are some things to do to incorporate feedback more consistently into your daily practice with your team members.

Pushing referrals is disrespectful to our clients.

If clients are determined to have a “negative tenor,” we put them on an “exit list” to move out of our firm.

You have reached the end of a road with a team member, and it is time to move on.

This article addresses the best practices when an employee is not making a transition and you are losing faith that the person will be able to do what’s needed in the role.

What do you do with an intractable advisor?

I have heard some team members say they got along better when it was all virtual.

The pressures of this remote environment, far too much work, many new clients to be onboarded, and changes we’ve made to our staffing model and how we do things is creating confusion and infighting.

I understand the need for refreshing marketing, but the quote we received (for $40,000.00) is outrageous.

A client engaged us about three months ago. But based on the time we’ve worked together, I do not enjoy or like him.

Is it common for advisors with employees returning to the office to get requests like, “Can I get gas paid for?

We’ve known about the need transition clients to a new advisor for three years, but suddenly we are running out of time.

As the founder of the firm, I am concerned about our reputation and client satisfaction.

We have a number of legacy clients who are on old fee schedules.

While my advisors complain about things and want them fixed, once we take a step and decide to fix whatever it is and we improve it, we have to listen to complaints about its problems.

I will share the five most important take-aways I’ve learned from advisors during this virtual experience.