The Efficient Practice E-Book

David L. Lawrence

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Wiley Finance Editions
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 290

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

An essential guide to tools and techniques for achieving efficiency, productivity, and profitability in financial advisory firms As a profession, financial advisors have been very well educated on how to be a financial advisor, but the industry does a poor job of preparing financial advisors to be great business owners. This book presents the Profit-Driven Architecture, a visual way of viewing the operational structure of a financial practice. * Provides a concrete way of understanding and improving the interrelationship of different parts of the operations of a financial practice firm * Explains how to increase the efficiency, productivity, and profitability of the firm, recognizing the interrelationships with one another * Reveals how to increase the capacity and value of the practice Given an aging population of financial advisors and increased focus on succession planning, increasing the value of a financial practice is a key deliverable of efficiency and this book showcases the best ways to do so.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Seriespage

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

Part One: Management Efficiency

Chapter 1: The Efficient Management Philosophy

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

THE IRONY OF MICROMANAGING

DELEGATE, DON'T DOMINATE

SUMMARY

Chapter 2: Managing Resources

EFFICIENCY VERSUS EFFICACY

OUTSOURCING

DOWNSIZING

MANAGING CHANGE: A PROCESS OF INCLUSION

SUMMARY

Chapter 3: Managing People and Communications

STEP ONE: PRE-HIRE PREPARATION

STEP TWO: BACKGROUND INFORMATION

STEP THREE: THE INTERVIEW

DEVELOPING A COMPENSATION PLAN

HANDLING CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION

TWO EXAMPLES

THE HOLISTIC APPROACH

THE RIGHT JOB DONE BY THE RIGHT PEOPLE

SUMMARY

Part Two: Technology Efficiency

Chapter 4: Client Relationship Management

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY

SUMMARY

Chapter 5: Other Software Issues

EVERNOTE

DIGITAL NOTE-TAKING TOOLS

TABLETS AND STORAGE SOLUTIONS

REBALANCING SOFTWARE

SUMMARY

Chapter 6: Systems Integration

SOFTWARE INTEGRATION AND COMMUNICATION

PROTECTING CLIENT DATA

SUMMARY

Part Three: Process Efficiency

Chapter 7: Building Procedures

FINANCIAL PLAN PRODUCTION PROCEDURE

FLOWCHARTS

BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANS

SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES

USING TECHNOLOGY TO STANDARDIZE CLIENT SERVICE PROCEDURES

SUMMARY

Chapter 8: Workflow Management Systems

PROJECT MANAGEMENT WORKFLOWS

WORKFLOW SYSTEMS: EFFICIENT METHODS FOR TRACKING TASKS IN THE OFFICE

SUMMARY

Part Four: Design Efficiency

Chapter 9: Office Space Utilization

CREATING A PAPERLESS OFFICE

COMMUNICATIONS IN THE OFFICE

AUDITORY AND VISUAL DISTRACTIONS

OUTSOURCING

IMPROVING FIRST IMPRESSIONS

FENG SHUI TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND OFFICE

SUMMARY

Chapter 10: Efficient Branding

BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY

MARKETING SERVICES

Efficient Websites

SUMMARY

Afterword

IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY, PROFITABILITY, TIME MANAGEMENT, AND FIRM CAPACITY

IMPACT ON BUSINESS VALUATION

FIRST CASE STUDY

SECOND CASE STUDY

About the Companion Website

About the Author

Index

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Cover image: Wiley

Cover design: ©oanav / iStockphoto.com

Copyright © 2014 by David L. Lawrence. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

ISBN 9781118735039 (Hardcover)

ISBN 9781118735145 (ePDF)

ISBN 9781118735152 (ePub)

I would like to dedicate this book to the most inspiring person in my life, my mother, Helen Mattson Lawrence. Helen was an amazing educator for over 60 years, founding her own private school in Florida and pioneering groundbreaking visual teaching techniques for what was referred to then as minimal brain dysfunction children (later called dyslexia). She lived a full life, passing at age 90. But she never lost her love or her enthusiasm for teaching children.

—David L. Lawrence                                                

Introduction

As professionals, financial advisors have been very well educated on how to be a financial advisor, but the profession has done a poor job of preparing financial advisors to be great business owners. This is due in part to the industry's focus on licensing and certification, not to mention compliance-related issues.

Financial practices often grow from a single-person firm to a larger firm with challenges in several key areas of operations. Some firms reach a point that might be termed a revenue ceiling. This is a level of net profit above which the firm cannot seem to grow. Adding more employees, purchasing additional equipment, or even increasing marketing to new prospective clients does not solve the problem as the firm is constrained by its operational construct and management. Firm owners frequently do not recognize the issue because most often they are the problem themselves.

The solution is to take a holistic approach to all areas of financial practice operations and use efficient management techniques to create systems that can greatly extend net profitability, productivity, and efficiency.

I developed a concept many years ago that I call Profit-Driven Architecture, which is a visual way of viewing the operational structure of a financial practice. Regardless of whether it is a small or large firm, the structure provides a concrete way of understanding and improving the interrelationship of different parts of the operations of a financial practice firm. (See Figure I.1.)

FIGURE I.1 Profit-Driven Architecture

Each of the four areas of firm operations should be studied to find ways to increase the efficiency, productivity, and profitability of the firm. However, these areas of operations do not function independently. The greatest impact in efficiency is achieved when these are studied holistically, recognizing the interrelationships with each other. As an example, management efficiency must be studied in the context of how well technology and process relate to the management of the firm, and so on.

The Efficient Practice explores the tools and techniques to bring a firm above the revenue ceiling and achieve the highest possible levels of efficiency, productivity, and profitability. Other impacts to the firm can be increased capacity and a significant rise in practice value. Given an aging population of financial advisors and increased focus on succession planning, increasing the value of a financial practice is a key deliverable of efficiency.

David L. Lawrence

PART One

Management Efficiency

CHAPTER 1

The Efficient Management Philosophy

One of the great challenges of management is adjusting to the growth of a firm. The adjustment is not confined to the owner/manager. Adjustments must be made by all members of the firm. Clearly, though, the first and most fundamental step is for the owner/manager of the firm to recognize that as the firm grows, he or she must change the way in which management of the firm is handled.

For most practitioners who began as a one-person shop, this is a difficult task. When operating a one-person shop, the owner does it all, from clerical to analytical. When the first employee is added, there is still little need for formal management techniques, as there may be time to discuss most everything. But, as more and more employees are added, there is an inefficiency of scale that sets in, interfering with work productivity, increasing time demands on the owner/manager, and potentially limiting profitability. Often referred to as a revenue ceiling, this is the point in growth where the limitations of management so hinder the efficient operations of the practice that continued revenue growth becomes virtually impossible without major changes.