How to Support the Teams You’ve Acquired

Acquiring a firm or recruiting an advisor is only the beginning. Here’s how to set them up to grow beyond the clients they brought with them.

Whether you’ve purchased a firm or recruited an advisor with an existing book of business, you already know how much work goes into the transition itself. But once the accounts are moved and the clients are settled, there’s a question most firms don’t have a great answer for: How is this team going to continue to grow from here? After all, you made a big investment. Wouldn’t you like to see it grow organically beyond just the new clients that came with them?

Most firms handle the operational side of a transition well. But the growth side often gets overlooked entirely. The assumption is that the advisor will figure it out or that what worked before will keep working. Or the new environment means new resources and opportunities that they could be taking advantage of if they just knew how.

So how can you help? Give advisors a clear strategy for their first year with you. Not a vague “go grow your book” but an actual strategy: what channels make sense for them, what messages they should be communicating, who they should be building relationships with, and what marketing assets they need to support those efforts.

Then, break it down for them. Give them 90-day plans with specific activities, realistic goals, and a clear sense of what’s being prioritized this quarter versus next. Translate those quarterly plans into weekly action items so the advisor knows exactly what to focus on each week, rather than going by gut.

And finally, provide support. Give the advisor someone they can reach out to when they’re stuck and a path to execution help. When you set up an advisor with this kind of structure, you can expect them to continue growing after the close.

The takeaway: When you acquire a firm or recruit an advisor, the growth plan matters as much as the transition plan. Build a strategy, break it into manageable steps, and give them the support to actually follow through.

This is exactly the kind of work we do at OnNiche® by Kaleido. We help firms give their advisors a focused strategy, a quarterly plan, and the ongoing support to execute it. If you’re bringing on new advisors and want to set them up to grow, schedule a call and we’ll walk you through how it works.

Kristen Luke

Founder of Kaleido Creative Studio and OnNiche®