MODELED FOR GROWTH MODELED FOR GROWTH. Practice Management. Practice Management

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1 Practice Management Practice Management MODELED FOR GROWTH MODELED FOR GROWTH Adding financial services to an already successful CPA or tax practice enables you to serve a broader range of clients and their financial needs. But how do you sustain service levels and maintain momentum once you ve incorporated an additional service offering? At HD Vest, we know a thing or two about moving forward. For more than 30 years, we have helped tax professionals and financial advisors take the important steps required to achieve and sustain growth. We provide innovative resources, tools and solutions developed with a single objective in mind: to help you put the most effective and efficient practice in place to take your business to the next level. It s not about telling you what to do, or how to run your business. It s about working collaboratively with you to help realize your goals for your business and ensure your ongoing success. Discover how HD VEST can help take your practice a step further than the rest. Table of Contents Education, Training, Mentoring and Coaching Business Support Services Technology Resources Building Successful Teams Why HD VEST?

2 EDUCATION, TRAINING, MENTORING AND COACHING As a tax professional, you place a high value on professional education and training. As a financial advisor and business owner, you place an equally high value on your time. Education and training programs must be relevant to your needs and those of your staff, support specific business goals, and prove worthy of the time you ve invested. TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH HD VEST As an HD Vest Advisor, you have access to all the financial advisor training you need to be successful, whether you prefer instructor-led classes, online self-study or peer-to-peer training events. And all of our courses have been developed by leading industry education specialists to meet the specific needs of tax professionals seeking to grow their financial services practices. CONNECT TM NATIONAL CONFERENCE Annual Conference HD Vest sponsors an annual conference, which we call CONNECT. You can meet with homeoffice staff, network with peers and experienced Advisors, and attend a number of breakout sessions to expand your knowledge base. Each three-day conference boasts more than 100 courses designed specifically to address a range of issues across our broad advisor base. TAILORED TRAINING PROGRAMS The programs outlined below are one-of-a-kind and tailored based on our years of experience in defining the best practices model for growth by connecting experienced Advisors with those just starting out. These programs are delivered at no cost to our Advisors: Mentor Program Our Mentor program is for new Advisors who want to work one-on-one with a successful HD Vest Advisor someone who has already added financial services alongside their tax practice. We arrange meetings for you to meet your mentor, and help with your specific needs. VestSuccess TM Coaching Program The VestSuccess Coaching program assists Advisors who have several years of experience and feel they have hit a plateau or need specialized financial services training on a key component of their practice. Chapter Meetings HD Vest hosts CPE-qualified half-day, peer-led meetings outside of tax season in more than 120 cities. These workshops are a great opportunity for you to network and share ideas. They also provide training relative to current economic events, specific investment services, wealth management solutions, technical information, practice management and marketing ideas, as well as news on the latest corporate developments. 2

3 Strategic Partnership Program A Referral Growth Model - The Secret Advantage While many broker/dealers have attempted to build referral models, we ve been the only firm to actually get it right. The reason: our open partnering culture between tax professionals and financial advisors. We know first hand that today s tax professional is facing growing demands from their clients for financial services. If they choose not to provide the service themselves, they are left with only one option refer their treasured clients to a stranger. By partnering a tax professional with you, another HD Vest Advisor, they have someone they can trust giving them every incentive to refer their clients. With expert tax knowledge a phone call away, your clients benefit too. Depending on their involvement, your tax partner can work with you to ensure the investments recommended will reap tax advantages the following year, rather than penalties. It s a win-win situation for everyone involved especially the clients being served. EDUCATION VestStart TM The VestStart workshop jump-starts the transition of your tax practice into a growing tax and financial services practice. When setting out on a new path, you re likely to have questions. VestStart gives you a unique opportunity to receive invaluable advice and coaching from experienced, top producing Advisors. Having been exactly where you are now, these Advisors will share their best practices so you can benefit from the many lessons they ve learned along the way. A unique learning experience, VestStart will teach you how to identify areas where your clients may be financially vulnerable and present suitable solutions to address these areas. With ample opportunity to practice proven techniques and receive immediate coaching from expert Advisors, VestStart is a critical step in honing your skills as a financial service professional. When your time at VestStart concludes, you ll be confident about how to address your clients needs and navigate your way to a successful practice. VestU TM VestU is an online training experience designed to provide you with full access to customized, informative and relevant training and educational content. Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, VestU lets you study anytime you want, at your own pace, on the specific topics you want to learn. We have recently enhanced VestU to include easier navigation, more informative content, and specific elements tailored to your needs. Within VestU, you have access to: Learning Activities includes individual elearning courses, streaming videos, and downloadable audio files about HD Vest specific technology, products and business practices. Learning Paths groups of Learning Activities that have been sequenced to progressively develop your competency in a specific area. 3

4 Localized Support & Networking Opportunities Pairing local support with HD Vest home office support will help you build a roadmap for a successful financial services practice. Our Chapter Program provides Advisors with an opportunity to share best practices and network with successful HD Vest Advisors in more than 120 cities. Our Mentor Program is available to Advisors looking for the opportunity to work more closely with a successful HD Vest Advisor to help them learn the ropes. Both of these programs are offered at no additional cost to you. BUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICES Managing day-to-day business concerns is one of the most challenging aspects of establishing and growing an independent practice. In addition to serving client needs, you serve as the CEO, chief marketing officer, HR director, technology specialist, office manager and more. That can result in a significant amount of time and attention diverted from activities that drive new revenue and growth. TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH HD VEST HD Vest helps ease the burden of managing your independent practice, providing you with more time to serve existing clients and attract new business. Our comprehensive array of business services and strategic support enable you to leverage our extensive resources, knowledge and experience while lowering overhead costs. OPERATIONAL SUPPORT We provide the assistance and operational support you and your staff members seek in the delivery of financial services from placing trades to maintaining record-keeping requirements, assisting with client questions regarding their statements, and more. We provide specialized teams, including General Support, Compliance, Sales Supervision and Help Desk to ensure your questions are directed to the most appropriate and knowledgeable specialists to facilitate timely and accurate responses to your inquiries. WEALTH MANAGEMENT SUPPORT Wealth Management Support (WMS) is your primary contact for financial services support within HD Vest. Our experienced consultants are dedicated to providing you with business-building strategies, technical support, case analysis and product recommendations. Each Wealth Management Support Consultant is insurance licensed and a general securities representative. In addition, most consultants have completed or are pursuing the Certified Financial Planner (CFP ) certification. PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Having the right people on your team is critical to your success as a business owner. Our Practice Management consultants are an invaluable resource to guide you as you manage your team. Providing online resources and tools and personal consultations, we can help you become a more effective leader. 4

5 SKILLED SPECIALISTS No matter how much or how little experience you may have today, one thing is certain the economy, financial markets and regulatory environment will continue to change. Without the support of knowledgeable specialists in key areas of expertise, it can be difficult to keep up. At HD Vest, our technical experts focus exclusively on specific disciplines to support you in the 8 Wealth Management Issues technical areas. HD Vest provides you with access to advanced specialists in: Retirement Planning. Our Retirement Planning specialists will assist you with technical support and training for retirement plan best practices and issue resolution. The department s goal is to help you better service your clients retirement-related needs and increase your revenue by implementing these and other retirement programs: IRA, SEP-IRA, SIMPLE IRA, Individual 401(k) and Qualified Plans. Legacy Planning. Our Estate Planning team provides support in a broad range of areas impacting your clients legacy and estate planning goals, including beneficiary planning, philanthropic planning and charitable remainder trusts, irrevocable life insurance trusts, basic family trusts, and bypass-trust planning. BUSINESS CONTINUATION AND SUCCESSION PLANNING Business continuation planning which includes contingency planning and succession planning is critical to the short and long-term success of your practice. HD Vest provides insight and coaching in the areas of career pathing, preparing key employees for leadership roles, identifying and training your successor and preparing your business for unexpected or emergency situations. BUSINESS ACQUISITION AND SALE Your practice represents more than just sweat equity it s a significant portion of your personal net worth. We ll help you discover ways to protect and build business equity, and help you find a buyer when you re ready to retire or exit the business. If you re looking to grow your practice through acquiring another practice, book of business, or add Advisors seeking to affiliate with your successful practice, our experienced Practice Management consultants can help you pursue each of these goals. 5

6 When the Weekend is Not the End When deadlines or your schedule necessitate working well into the night or through the weekend to accommodate client needs or tax deadlines, you can rely on HD Vest to be there for you. Our technology, information and marketing resources are available online 24/7 and General Support and Wealth Management Support are available 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday, and Saturday 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. During the final month of tax season, we offer extended hours until 9 p.m. CST Monday through Friday, and 5 p.m. CST on Saturdays. TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES You ve spent years building a loyal client base. You ve earned your clients trust and a reputation for timely, accurate and caring service. Your independent practice and your future growth rely on your ability to continue to deliver tailored services and communications in a timely, personal, and consistent manner without driving up overhead costs. Access to the right technology solutions and marketing support, customized to your unique business model, is critical to maintaining your high standards. TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH HD VEST HD Vest places the technology, marketing and information tools you need at your fingertips when you need it. Our secure Advisor website HDVLink provides a full spectrum of industry-leading technology resources to help you quickly access the information you seek and communicate with you clients in a timely, productive and highly cost-effective manner. INVESTMENT AND TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT HDVLink is our Advisors main connection to HD Vest. It offers a customized, state-of-the-art online platform providing all of the tools you need to run your business efficiently, communicate with the home office and other Advisors, and get the information you need to market yourself, promote more services and grow your book of business. Through HDVLink, you can access these and other proprietary tools: Best-in-Class Planning Tool Identify your clients highest-priority financial goals and track results relative to specific goals through our proprietary retirement and investment planning tool. The process provides an ongoing answer to the key client question: How am I doing? and automatically updates the plan daily based on brokerage account balances. VestWizard TM easily set up brokerage or advisory accounts online. Integrated Broker Workstation enables quick access for trading within brokerage accounts. 6

7 Trade Management Tool streamlines portfolio trading. Report Center Tool creates customized portfolio analyses, as well as performance, asset allocation, cost basis and projected income and transaction reports all presented in a consolidated client presentation. Paperless Solutions provides the ability to scan brokerage and mutual fund paperwork to the home office for processing through remote capture technology, bringing your office another step closer to becoming paperless. Celebrating Independent Business Models No two advisor offices or practices are alike and we have developed turn key solutions, tools and interactive formats to meet the various demands across a diverse market. Our technology is not focused on forcing you into a solution but rather giving you recommendations and choice to run your practice the best way possible. BUILDING SUCCESSFUL TEAMS Offering a career track for employees and associates in your firm is critical to not only attracting, but retaining the quality staff you require to support practice growth. Setting reasonable expectations for how quickly staff members can progress and establishing standards for advancement can help motivate staff members to stretch further to reach the clear and attainable goals you have set. TAKE THE NEXT STEP WITH HD VEST A highly productive team allows you to spend more time growing your business and less time running it. Yet, finding, hiring, developing and retaining top-industry talent while critical to your ongoing success can be time consuming. That s where HD Vest can help. Through access to a Kolbe Certified consultant, compensation benchmarking, hiring best practices and retention strategies, you are provided the tools you need to select the best candidates, establish goals for your team, reduce turnover and create a rewarding environment. KOLBE CERTIFIED CONSULTANT Our Kolbe Certified Consultant can assist you in interpreting Kolbe A Index, Kolbe B Index and Kolbe C Index results to maximize individual talent within your firm and help you build a more productive team. By working through this process with our consultant, you are provided the knowledge and skills to hire the right people, reduce turnover and absenteeism, increase productivity and create successful project teams. 7

8 HIRING Our Hire the Best guide provides a step-by-step process to help you determine when to hire additional employees, where to find qualified candidates, how to screen applicants, and more. It leads you every step of the way through the hiring process from recruiting to onboarding new employees. COMPENSATION We offer market pricing information to provide a benchmark for your current pay structure, as well as help you design an incentive plan that works for your organization. COACHING, MANAGING AND TEAM BUILDING We have tools available to help you proactively coach and manage your team to ensure effective performance. RECOGNITION AND RETENTION We can help you identify practices and strategies to create a positive and rewarding work environment which can lead to increased retention, reduced stress and lower turnover. For Advisors Just Starting Out: Focused Practice Management Workshops VestStart offers a series of two-and-a-half-day workshops held at the HD Vest corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas. Workshops provide practical and direct applications of the knowledge you seek in areas including best practices for building successful teams, how to approach your clients about financial services, identifying and overcoming hurdles to success, how to use the tools HD Vest offers and more. Through your work at VestStart, you ll gain increased competence and confidence as you grow your successful financial services practice. For Experienced Advisors: Focused Practice Management Workshops and Retreats HD Vest offers advanced networking and ongoing educational opportunities suited for more experienced Advisors who have a focus on growing an existing practice. For example, The Elite Retreat is a prestigious conference designed for our highest-producing Advisors, allowing them a chance to interact with senior home-office staff and their peers in the industry. 8

9 WHY HD VEST? EMPOWERING TRUSTED TAX PROFESSIONALS AND INDEPENDENT ADVISORS TO DELIVER FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS Since its inception in 1983, HD Vest Financial Services has supported an independent network of tax and non-tax professionals who provide comprehensive financial services including securities, insurance, money management services, and banking solutions. We have over 4,400 independent contractors, who manage over $39 billion in assets for individuals, families and small businesses in all 50 states. 1 Ranked as one of the top 15 independent broker-dealer firms, 2 we know what it takes to make your practice flourish. MAKE HD VEST YOUR NEXT STEP: The comprehensive support we offer to all Advisors is just one reason it makes sense to expand your practice by providing financial services at HD Vest. Contact us today at (800) to speak with an HD Vest Business Development Consultant to learn more or visit us at 1 As of January 1, Think Advisor 2016 Broker-Dealer Reference Guide, which measured/ranked the top 25 independent broker-dealers by annual revenue. HD Vest Financial Services is the holding company for the group of companies providing financial services under the HD Vest name. Securities offered through HD Vest Investment Services SM, Member SIPC, Advisory Services offered through HD Vest Advisory Services SM 6333 N. State Highway 161, Fourth Floor, Irving, TX 75038, (972)