Moving to a new firm can be a perilous undertaking without the proper preparation and execution. Employee advisors have to be especially mindful of branch managers and advisors at their old firm who will try and thwart their move.
Here are seven blunders that could make your move extremely dicey.
1. Discussing Your Upcoming Move With Other Advisors
The famous World War II admonition "Loose lips sink ships" applies here. The consequences of loose, unguarded talk can be calamitous.
Most advisors in your branch are competitors and not friends. You'll want to be sure that your branch manager and other advisors do not have any advance knowledge about your move. They should be astonished when you resign. Otherwise, you're giving them pretext to fire you or a head start in planning how to prospect your book.
2. Failing to Play by the Rules
You'll need to have in-depth conversations with the prospective firm's legal department. Talking to clients in advance about your move or taking confidential non-public information like Social Security numbers or account holdings are big no-nos.
Those missteps can trigger temporary restraining orders, even in an exit from one of the firms that's part of the Protocol for Broker Recruiting. If you're leaving a non-protocol firm, you'll need to be especially diligent in following instructions from the prospective firm. Firms differ in what they want you to do to avoid soliciting accounts. It may also be advisable to hire your own attorney.
3. Being Clueless About the Transfer Process
Multiple calls or meetings with the transition team are a must before your resignation. You'll need to familiarize yourself with the transfer process and understand how each stage of the process works.
Carefully study the prospective firm's account opening forms. Do you know exactly what information you'll need to open an account? Can you monitor what stage of the process the new account is in and do you know what needs to happen next?
4. Taking Your Eye Off the Ball
I once worked with an independent advisor who was strangely unfocused throughout the transition process. He was erratic and lackadaisical about calling clients due to a sense of overconfidence in the strength of his relationships.
