A decision that many advisors face when they hit a plateau in their practice is whether or not to hire a coach to help them grow their business or to hire additional staff/team members to help them get there.
Even for top producers who have already overcome the proverbial plateau in their business, deciding to hire or not to hire additional staff or a coach to help systematize their business is a very important crossroads.
Helping clients with investing and planning for retirement and their financial goals are truly second nature for most financial advisors, or they wouldn’t have become advisors in the first place. However, when it comes to actually running a dynamic practice and all the day-to-day demands of a business, many advisors can find themselves way outside of their comfort zones and in over their heads. If you feel this way, you are certainly not alone.
Advisors may have a difficult time managing their time efficiently and effectively. They may at times sabotage their own success without even knowing it. Financial advisors may spend weeks, months and even years struggling to prioritize which tasks and activities drive the biggest results in their business. So, for many advisors, hiring a business coach is possibly the best investment they can make.
Should I Hire a Coach?
While hiring additional staff to delegate tasks may seem like a better solution at first blush, hiring new team members may potentially be a better option further down the road. It may be in your best interest to start by hiring a business coach to help identify and prioritize your most impactful tasks and activities before investing in the cost of hiring actual employees.
There are certainly pros and cons to both. Be sure to consider each of them carefully.
Let’s take a look at some potential pros of hiring a business coach:
- A coach can hold you accountable.
- A coach can challenge you to try new things.
- A coach can increase your creativity and productivity.
- A coach can provide you with the necessary support and encouragement.
- A coach can help you establish and prioritize your goals.
So, you might now be wondering what the potential cons of hiring a business coach are? Most importantly, you have to commit to being coachable in order to obtain your desired results. If you aren’t putting the work in and committed to improving both yourself and your practice, you will not see the results, so, in that case, you most definitely should not hire a coach. The bottom line is that you need to have the desire to be coached and also to commit to putting the work into your business, or you will be wasting both your time and money.
Should I Hire Staff?
The biggest pro of hiring employees is, of course, having someone in whom to delegate tasks. This frees up your time to focus on what you do best – turning prospects into clients and managing your existing client relationships.
Before choosing the path of hiring, however, be sure you have analyzed exactly how you spend your time and what tasks you don’t have time to do (or simply shouldn’t be doing at all). Start by keeping a running list of everything you do every single day. Be sure to record your activities for at least one month, so you have a thorough picture of exactly where you are spending your time. While this may seem like a daunting undertaking, this exercise alone will be an eye-opening and extremely valuable experience.
Once you have tracked all of your activities for a month, create a separate list of tasks you believe should be taken off your plate. Don’t overthink this, and don’t keep unnecessary and unimportant tasks on your list simply because you feel like you need to have control over them. As a litmus test, ask yourself if this task is important to turning prospects into clients and managing your existing client relationships. If the answer is “no,” then there’s your answer. Remove it from your task list.
Next, determine if you have enough tasks on the list to hire additional staff. Are there enough duties to hire a full-time position or only a part-time position? Depending on the tasks on your list, do you think you could hire an intern to do them?
If you believe that hiring additional staff would free you up to focus more on your client relationships, how much more do you think you could make? If you believe the answer is more than the cost of hiring an employee, you have your answer – it’s time for you to hire!
On the flip side, be sure to also weigh the cons of hiring employees. Keep in mind that hiring new personnel does take a considerable amount of time, as well as money to recruit and hire the right person. You also have to invest the time and money to train them properly to do the job right. Research shows that it can take up to six months for a new hire to reach their full productivity level, so you need to have patience to see the results you are seeking.
Here’s a closing thought that may be a bit counterintuitive. Consider hiring an employee for the tasks that you don’t enjoy and that aren’t your strengths. On the flip side, consider hiring a coach to help you with the tasks you are good at. Why? Because chances are if you’re good at something, all you need is the accountability and inspiration, which a good coach can help you with. If you aren’t good at something, you will likely never want to do it, even with the best business coach holding you accountable. Resentment may set in and, ultimately, failure.
It is critical to take the proper time to assess where you’re at in your business. Are you at a crossroads where you think you may need to hire a coach or add staff to your practice? If you still don’t feel like you have clarity on which path to choose, start by hiring a coach. A good business coach will help you put a plan together, prioritize your most productive tasks and give you clarity on whether or not to hire staff.
The Bottom Line
Here’s a closing thought that may be a bit counterintuitive. Consider hiring an employee for the tasks that you don’t enjoy and that aren’t your strengths. On the flip side, consider hiring a coach to help you with the tasks you are good at. Why? Because chances are if you’re good at something, all you need is the accountability and inspiration, which a good coach can help you with. If you aren’t good at something, you will likely never want to do it, even with the best business coach holding you accountable. Resentment may set in and, ultimately, failure.
It is critical to take the proper time to assess where you’re at in your business. Are you at a crossroads where you think you may need to hire a coach or add staff to your practice? If you still don’t feel like you have clarity on which path to choose, start by hiring a coach. A good business coach will help you put a plan together, prioritize your most productive tasks and give you clarity on whether or not to hire staff.
