Advice for Advisors: Lessons Learned From Turbulent Markets

#2: Find opportunities to offer feedback in real-time

The second lesson from my experience was how skilled they were at live training and how well it prepared me to bridge from administrative-focused responsibilities to advisor-focused. I had frequent, constructive feedback to shape my approach in almost real time. We held a debrief session after every client call where we evaluated the conversation from start to finish. Although my bosses couldn’t hear the clients’ half of the conversation, they listened intently to everything I did and made notes along the way. Every comment tied back to a higher educational theme and married elegantly with the firm’s desired voice. They even demonstrated incredible restraint when I made exceptionally poor word choices and failed to provide comfort to clients. Sometimes during the calls, they might drop a helpful note on my desk or encourage me with a thumbs up. And they constantly reminded me that the ‘hold’ button on the phone was always there as a lifeline.

Getting live experience on the phone gave me the room to find my way, make occasional mistakes, and ultimately develop the confidence needed. Now, it’s important to point out that—as my college experience with my parents' shows—I was not at all naturally skilled at working through intense, personal, emotionally-charged conversations on the phone. I hadn’t done anything remotely close to this before in my prior work experiences. It demanded every bit of effort. Seek, when possible, to encourage this kind of engagement from those hiring and training you. Not everyone you work for will have experience managing young team members, so don’t be afraid to make requests regarding the frequency and openness of their feedback process. #3: Be receptive to all feedback 

The third great lesson from those times was for me to keep an open mind to what felt like constant and rigorous criticism. I hadn’t been prepared by anything else in my life to have every word of mine dissected. I’m not sure how I survived it initially, but the intent must have always been clear to me: “the more attention we pay to you in your early development, the faster you’ll find your way to long-term success in your career.”

If I were to start over again back at the beginning, I’d ask for even more and, if possible, from multiple sources. I was nearly always blind to my own biases and the humbling that comes by way of honest feedback is priceless. I remind myself often that my development would have been slowed dramatically if I hadn’t been given that gift.

#4: Remember that your clients are human too

The last great lesson from sharing so much time on the phone with our clients was that they were incredibly forgiving and gracious even despite the things weighing on their minds. Though I always felt inadequate in my attempts, I never received a single belittling comment or even a suggestion that I wasn’t doing my job well enough. The clients did certainly ask to speak to one of the senior co-founders—frequently—and that was certainly okay. The true test, and the reason I look back on those times fondly, was in my ability to engage the clients and provide enough support for their concerns. If we concluded the call without a request to transfer to someone else on the team, I had hopefully provided what they needed. Note that everyone had been told about me joining the team and had been given background on my studies in college, so there was no hiding the fact that I was brand new to the industry. Nevermind the fact that I surely sounded like a child on the phone. The only part that came naturally to me was being genuine. I had no natural tendency to overpromise or oversell anything, so that might be why the clients treated me with such kindness.

People often said to me things like, “What a time to join the investment industry!” And I knew what they meant. It was incredibly challenging. But, a more acute observation would have been, “What a time to trust a young kid with so much responsibility.” When markets get volatile now, I think about those early days and smile because I learned so much while tending to those phones.

About the Author

Jeff Snodgrass is the Managing Director of XYPN Invest, which provides turn-key investment management solutions for time-savvy advisors ready to streamline their investment process. Jeff's favorite part about his job is connecting with the advisors XYPN Invest serves and hearing stories of the success and achievements of their clients.

When he's not optimizing the XYPN Invest client experience or sharing his vast wealth of Orion knowledge, Jeff steeps himself in music—he's played the piano for 25 years and enjoys listening to live music. He also stays busy being the "best dad ever" to his four young kids.