I recently led a workshop for 40 wealth management leaders on how to build a 2024 plan that drives results.
2024 planning toolkit
Fill out the form on the left side of this page to download these free resources – and start planning. These resources include:
→ Management offsite agenda
→ RIA SWOT analysis
→ Key constituents framework
→ Business benchmarking
→ Metrics scorecard
Here is what we covered – and how it can help your organization.
You do an excellent job planning for your clients’ financial futures. But are you doing the same with your own business? Many advisory firms are not.
The impact is major. Even the most highly motivated and talented teams fall short of their potential when they neglect to invest sufficient time in thinking ahead and building an actionable plan. I have been there myself, and it is painful.
Here is the good news: you do not need a perfect plan. You just need to get started. At the highest level, there are three steps to delivering a plan that drives results.
TAKE STOCK. Find time to reflect on where you are today.
BUILD A PLAN. Document where you want to go and how you will get there.
EXECUTE. Stay committed to tracking your results so you can learn and adjust along the way.
As you begin taking stock, I recommend conducting a basic internal survey of your management team. Ask people 10 to 20 questions about the current state of your business. Keep it as simple as possible. (For example: Where are we performing well? Where can we execute better? What do we need to start doing / stop doing / do more of / do less of / do differently? If we cut resources in half, what would you cut? If we doubled resources, what would you spend the budget on?)
In my experience, this exercise always surfaces some interesting areas to explore together. As you analyze the results, consider: where is my team fully 55 aligned, versus where might we have some distance between leaders? Take the important findings and use them to inform your agenda for a management planning offsite.
Some people use the phrase ‘offsite’ loosely – and conduct planning meetings at their office. My strong preference is to truly get away from the office and use a no-device policy, as it frees up people’s minds to pursue the rigorous reflection needed for an effective planning session.
Another key step in taking stock is reviewing your data to understand the current trajectory of your business. If you are already using a tool like AdvisorEngine dashboards, this process will be relatively easy. But if not, no worries. Pull it manually. It will take work, but the ultimate payoff of business clarity is a big one. If you don’t know where you stand, it is difficult to lay out a credible path forward for your organization.
I want to share some inspiration on why you should plan, common issues that derail wealth management teams in their planning process and then – most importantly – downloadable editable templates that you can use to kickstart a 2024 plan of your own.
In my experience leading strategic planning exercises, I have seen ten common challenges that derail teams. By leading your team in a deliberate manner, you can mitigate these issues.
CHALLENGE 1: TIME CRUNCH
“We didn’t dedicate enough time to do the planning up front.”
CHALLENGE 2: BAD DATA
“It's not easy to get the info I want... and once I find it, I don’t know if I can trust it.”
CHALLENGE 3: UNNECESSARY COMPLEXITY
“Our team is smart. Sometimes we overcomplicate things!”
CHALLENGE 4: UNPRODUCTIVE ENGAGEMENT
“Our offsite was a waste of time. We did not align on key action items.”
CHALLENGE 5: CONSENSUS-BUILDING GAPS
“I didn’t spend enough time getting buy-in from my management team.”
CHALLENGE 6: UNREALISTIC GOALS
“Midway through the year, our team checked out. Our revenue goal seemed so far away.”
CHALLENGE 7: LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY
“We didn’t give specific clarity on who is ultimately responsible for what.”
CHALLENGE 8: LOW ACTIONABILITY
“Our high-level objectives were great. But we didn’t outline ‘how’ we would get there.”
CHALLENGE 9: INCOMPLETE COMMUNICATIONS
“Our goals didn’t take root. We didn’t share our plan broadly or frequently enough.”
CHALLENGE 10: INCONSISTENT FOLLOW-THROUGH
“We get busy running the business... so we don’t check in to see how we’re doing.”
How to use the editable templates, available for download on the left side of this page:
✓ SIMPLIFY
Use as few pages as possible to get your points across.
✓ PERSONALIZE
The concepts in the slides are placeholders - it’s important that you make them your own.
✓ SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK
These templates are now a ‘living resource’ for Action! magazine readers. If you have any difficulty getting started – or if there is a new page you’d like to see – simply reach out to Suleman Din at suleman.din@advisorengine.com.
