Writing
Operations, compliance, pricing, and the client conversations that decide everything.
18 pieces
Running the firm
Most firms make good decisions and keep bad records of why. Those are different failures and only one of them is visible in an examination.
Running the firm
It is not squeamishness. Defending a superlative requires a documented survey in the file before publication, kept current, and it buys nothing the specific version does not.
Running the firm
Comprehensive, personalised, client-focused, independent. Four words that appear on nearly every firm's site and distinguish none of them.
Running the firm
Every principal has one. The cost of keeping them is real, spread out, and almost entirely invisible on the revenue line.
Running the firm
It takes an hour, almost nobody does it, and it improves everything downstream of it.
Running the firm
A performance recap, a market outlook, and a rebalancing note. The client already knew the first, does not need the second, and does not care about the third.
Running the firm
Most new firms adopt the schedule they inherited. That number was built for a different cost base and a different service.
Running the firm
They are the best clients you will get and the least controllable input in the business. A firm whose plan is referrals does not have a plan.
Running the firm
It happens once per client, so nobody in the firm sees it often enough to notice how bad it is.
Running the firm
In a firm of five, one hire changes the culture measurably. That is a different problem from filling a role.
Running the firm
The mistake is rarely what damages the relationship. What damages it is the twenty-four hours afterwards.
Running the firm
Everything the firm knows about a client that is not on a statement lives in the meeting record. In most firms that record is inconsistent.
Running the firm
Weekly tasks get done because you notice when they are missed. Annual ones get missed because nothing reminds you until it is late.
Running the firm
Every firm handles this eventually and almost none has thought about it in advance. The family will remember how it went.
Running the firm
Documenting the process you wish you had is worse than documenting the one you have, and it is what most firms do.
Running the firm
The reason you get fewer referrals than you should is almost never reluctance. It is that your client does not know who to look for.
Running the firm
Firms hire because the founder feels at capacity. Frequently the capacity is there and it is pointed at the wrong work.
Running the firm
Every outsourcing decision is a comparison against the value of your time. Most principals have never calculated it.