Bill Good ran what were likely the first systematic time studies in the financial advice industry. The finding held up for decades: an advisor is worth roughly $1,500 an hour in front of an interested, qualified client, and closer to $2,800 for those who specialize in high-net-worth investors. The math points to one conclusion. The advisors who create the most of those high-value hours are the ones with a team handling everything else.
Jenny Good Widmaier runs talent management at Bill Good Marketing. She hires and retains the firm’s people, and she poaches talent from other firms for a living. In this webinar she walks through the three parts of a financial advisor team that drives growth rather than just keeping the office running: retaining the people you have, attracting the ones you need, and getting more out of both.
Why your team is your growth:
Jenny opens with a client who joined BGM in 2021 doing $650,000 in production. He was stuck. He couldn’t find a client service associate, and without one he couldn’t delegate the work blocking his growth plan. Jenny found the right candidate in five days. Five years later that hire is his COO, and his production is $2.4 million. One chair changed the trajectory of the whole practice.
Retaining the people you already have
Jenny covers the four mistakes that push good employees out. Advisors underestimate institutional knowledge. When Bill Good stepped back, it took six people to cover what he did alone. Advisors also let salary websites like Indeed and Glassdoor set pay, even though those sites inflate reported numbers by around 10% and quietly manufacture dissatisfaction in the people who read them. The third mistake is paying for hours instead of loyalty, with no share in the growth the team helps create. The fourth is overlooking the small things, like saying thank you when someone stays late to finish a presentation.
Attracting top talent
Because Jenny recruits for a living, she knows what makes someone leave one firm for another. She shares how to write a job ad that gets responses, how to build an offer that competes without matching a bigger firm dollar for dollar, and which deal breakers cost advisors good candidates before the first interview. She also lists the red flags that tell you an employee is already halfway out the door, starting with a shift in their schedule.
Maximizing the team you have
A retained, well-hired team still isn’t automatically a growth engine. Jenny gives concrete ways to change that: short daily huddles of ten to fifteen minutes, clear metrics for every role, training clients so they know exactly who on the team to call, and building a script book so every team member speaks in the advisor’s voice. Her favorite example is a computer operator who was handed one mailing campaign, grew its engagement, and eventually became the team’s marketing director.
Free tools from this session
Jenny built three tools she uses in her own recruiting work and gave them away with this webinar: the Loyalty Gap Calculator, the Team Red Flag Rubric, and the Going Rate Tool.
They’re free at bgmtips.com/advantage.
Want help building or maximizing your own team? Talk to Stephanie Peterson at Bill Good Marketing about finding the right candidate or getting more from the people you already have.
Matthew Bailey
Director of Client Content
Bill Good Marketing
Jenny Widmaier
Sr. VP of Administration
Bill Good Marketing
