Connect with a recruiter near you
Are you too busy with your current clients to consider taking on new ones? Growing your practice can be difficult when your capacity is already stretched thin.
Expanding your team’s capacity by adding one or two associate financial advisors (AFAs) can be a powerful growth strategy. With thoughtful good planning and experienced guidance from Ameriprise, you can choose AFAs with the level of experience that meets your needs and then coach them on how to best support your long-term goals.
AFAs can help grow your practice in three key ways.
Build sustainable growth.
“We’ve found that about 150 clients is the most that one advisor can handle without sacrificing quality of service,” says Brian Mora, Franchise Field Vice President at Ameriprise Financial. “If you grow beyond that without adding staff, you start to see diminishing returns.”
Adding the right team members lets you focus on the practice as a whole — bringing in more clients while maintaining or even enhancing client experience quality levels — without risking burnout of your staff.
Broaden your growth retention strategy.
Multiple studies have shown, for instance, that having more women in leadership positions contributes to better company performance and higher earnings. Adding more women to your practice can also help retain partners of divorced or deceased clients, as 1 in 4 divorced women and widows say they strongly prefer to work with a female financial advisor.* And bringing on younger AFAs can also help attract and keep clients, as they may relate better to the children of current clients, providing insights and tools that resonate with that demographic.
Contribute to continuity planning.
This not only provides continuity for clients in knowing who they’re working with but also establishes a de facto career development path for the AFAs.
To retain and develop staff, you need to set goals, conduct regular performance reviews and demonstrate that there’s a defined career path — including both personal and professional growth — for your AFAs.
“Employees need to feel like they’re growing and progressing,” says Sabrina Tacheny, Franchise Recruiting and Engagement Senior Manager at Ameriprise Financial. “Ameriprise offers extensive resources to help advisors create long-term plans and opportunities for their staff, from onboarding to training and full career path development.”
A strategic hire or two can enable you to create capacity for sustainable growth, maintain and strengthen client relationships through a well-rounded workforce, and position your practice for a bright future and seamless succession. A partner like Ameriprise will give you your independence but also needed support for growing your practice, such as:
To learn more about how Ameriprise can help you grow your practice, call 1.866.806.9984.
*Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, “Making more room for women in the financial planning profession,” CFP Board, 2014.
Ameriprise Associate Financial Advisors are not employed by Ameriprise Financial, but are employees of, or contract with, an independent franchise advisor.