The financial services industry is governed by numbers. If you are a producer in a local office, you get respect by the numbers you put on the scoreboard, not your skill at playing office politics. When I started in the business, I was one of 20 advisors. Years later, when our office was merged, I became one out of 180 advisors. How do you get positively noticed by management?
Why do you want to get noticed? Isn’t it enough to keep your head down, not attracting attention? Your compliance officer has systems in the background monitoring your correspondence and trading activity. If you are watched for potential bad actions, you want to be watched for ways you can be rewarded.
How can managers reward advisors? Reassigned accounts are a good example. These turn up when an advisor retires or leaves. The firm might have a process in place for “who gets what,” but there is still a subjective element. There might be a small client who is on the verge of bringing in a big piece of business. That account might not rank highly on the radar, but it has hidden value.
In large offices, managers determine who gets an office and who sits in the bullpen. Some offices have more floor space than others. Office managers also determine how sales support is allocated. The office might have marketing or charitable contribution dollars to allocate. From time to time, the office might have tickets to sporting events for client entertainment.
Your manager has seen many people pass through their office. They can tell who will succeed, who will fail, who talks a good game and who is coasting.
It has been said new managers want to throw lots of support to the lowest performers with the goal of raising their production. This often fails because the advisor is comfortable and doesn’t want to make the effort.
Managers later learn they can direct discretionary resources to the up-and-coming hard workers, turning them into top performers. But how do you get on that list? Here are some ideas.
© Arc, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to TMSalesOperations@arc-network.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.