When you meet with your clients, you talk to them about building their wealth and helping them leave a legacy behind for their families. What about leaving a legacy for your practice? Some, if not most, entrepreneurs start a business with the dream of keeping it in their family for generations to come — leaving behind a lasting legacy. Are you setting up your practice for successful business continuity or a legacy disaster? Below are some tips to keep in mind to ensure your practice is successful long after you’ve stepped away from the business to enjoy your own retirement, footloose and fancy-free like your clients do.
Wear One Hat, Not Many.
Owning your own business can sometimes make your résumé much longer than it should be. You become owner, CEO, CFO, marketing director, and oftentimes, even the janitor, among other things. While it can take a lot of resources to hire someone to help take the load off of you, consider hiring one or two — at minimum — additional staff members to help make your business an asset rather than a liability. Having a staff with defined roles and responsibilities in place will make your business more attractive, and help it run for efficiently.
Who Will Fill Your Shoes?
If you have plans to step away from your business, whether it’s for a vacation, medical leave, or your own retirement, you should have a plan in place for who will take care of your clients when you’re gone. Whether you pass the business on to your child(ren), a downline agent, or a business partner, try your best to have that person involved in annual reviews and any other meetings that may occur with your clients; this will help them feel comfortable dealing with someone new when you’re gone.
Systems and Procedures
Leaving a legacy behind means more than just handing over the keys to your office and a bunch of client files. To ensure that your practice continues to run “business as usual,” make sure that whoever is taking things over understands the systems and procedures that you have in place. This means everything from software that is used to marketing plans and procedures for setting appointments with clients and prospects. Before your departure, have a transition meeting — or two — with the team taking over so that the transition is flawless. A seamless transition will make clients happy and keep the business coming in the door rather than out.
