Is Joining A Team Right For My Career As A Financial Advisor?

Do you ever envision yourself working in an industry that’s entirely new to you? Ok, sure, we all have outlandish thoughts at times but working in a new industry doesn’t have to be outlandish.

Becoming a financial advisor is arguably one of the toughest industries to join but conversely, maybe the most rewarding.

Here at Consolidated Planning, we understand the risk of uncertainty when making a career change, because all of our advisors have been there. Having been there ourselves, we know what it takes for you to start building a successful financial advising practice.

Joining a team is one of the ways you can kickstart your successful practice. Knowing if this is the right career move for you, is ultimately up to you to decide. 

Gaining a clear understanding of what joining a team could look like for you and how it will play a part in your day-to-day life is your first step. You’ll have a better understanding of what “teaming” is, and how it can work for the outlook of your practice and your personal growth. Ultimately you should be armed with all the information you need to decide what is best for your career moving forward.

What Is Teaming In The Financial Planning Industry?

Teaming, according to Oxford Languages, is simply defined as coming together as a team to achieve a common goal.

With this definition in mind, teaming can be applicable across countless industries. What makes it unique to the financial planning industry is the capability of performing joint work and cultivating joint relationships while still building your practice.

It’s often perceived that becoming a financial advisor means you work in a silo. That is not the case. Portfolio’s in the financial industry can be vast from client-to-client and no one person is expected to know it all or do it all.

Financial advisors at Consolidated Planning, undoubtedly, have common goals. Teaming brings these common goals together, to form a team of advisors with different unique abilities, an alignment of values, and like-mindedness. 

What Does Teaming Look Like As A New Financial Advisor?

It can be overwhelming to know where to start as a new financial advisor. If you have marketing and sales skills, teaming can be a great career path to help you translate these skills into a career as a financial advisor.

You may have heard that a career in financial advising takes a lot of time and effort. And it does. The good news is, teaming can help with that in a few ways.

#1 The Steep Learning Curve: to learn products, regulations, financial concepts and varying market trends and shifts, to name a few.

Without Teaming: You spend a lot of time doing research from behind your desk, and very little time putting pen to paper.

With Teaming: You are learning by doing. With the guidance of a team, you will learn how to navigate the ins, outs and not so obvious matters in building a successful practice.

#2 Finding Clients: learning who your natural and target markets are and translating conversations into clients.

Without Teaming: You may feel burnt out trying to find, qualify and secure quality clients.

With Teaming: You begin working with existing clients on the team while learning ways to find the best clients for you by establishing credibility and expertise.

#3 High Fail Rate: 80-90% of new financial advisors fail within their first three years, according to Advisor Perspectives.

Without Teaming: You may find it more challenging to make it in the industry, either from burnout, being too passive, or not making the best use of your time.

With Teaming: You quickly gain the necessary confidence in your knowledge and skills, and learn how to be direct and upfront in your prospecting.

Joining a team, or not, does not mean it’s all or nothing for your career. Most firms will have varying degrees of resources for their financial advisors regardless of their affiliation with a team at the firm.

How To Get Started With Teaming As A Financial Advisor at Consolidated Planning

As an advisor on a team at Consolidated Planning you have a mentorship with a more senior advisor. As an advisor, you will follow the $250,000 in 5 Years Playbook, attend Takeoff training, and operate as a Planning Advisor. While a member of a team, you become a Financial Advisor with Consolidated Planning, and may ultimately either stay on the team or branch out.

As an advisor, there are three components to ensure that we create the best-case scenario for you as an advisor as well as the team you will be joining.

Step 1: Exploring

The exploring phase of the teaming process is where we are getting to know each other better to best provide a good teaming match for you and the existing team.

• Completing a Natural Market Inventory
• Identifying Target Market Opportunities
• Completing either CTS or SPQ Gold​
• Interviewing with several experienced advisors to find the best relationship
• Completing a 90-day plan with expectations for an experienced advisor and beginning advisor​
• Attending Consolidated Planning University (CPU)
• Participating in our formal Take Off Training​
• Meeting weekly with a mentor that is not your experienced advisor counterpart

Step 2: Emerging

Once a teaming match has been identified, the emerging phase is a chance to get into the details of what the short-term and long-term goals are as a whole. Here we will also take a look into how you will function as a team on a day-to-day basis.

• Core values, mission, and vision align​
• A sales process is written and followed for every client​
• Annual business plan
• Begin clarifying roles & responsibilities by skill set and/or product knowledge​
• Ideal Client established
• Weekly meeting with set agenda
• Monthly meeting with Teaming Director​
• 3-5 Target Markets Identified​
• Joint work primarily with subject matter experts in the firm team members
• Using same CRM
• Sharing all cases in The Living Balance SheetⓇ

Step 3: Established

The established part of the teaming process is where you and your newly found team can agree, or not, on whether this partnership is flourishing and benefiting both yourself and the team as a whole. With attention to detail in this process, it’s likely this will prove to be a good match but there are cases when both parties decide not to move forward.

• Working together 6 months+
• Team Operating Plan completed​
• Roles and Responsibilities completed and reviewed annually
• Book of Business Segmented
• Ideal client established and written​
• Sales process written and followed​
• Client service model written and implemented​
• Weekly team meetings held consistently​
• Quarterly meeting with Teaming Director​
• Compensation model established and followed fairly​
• Marketing account established/shared expenses​
• The good of the team as a whole must come before the good of one producer
• Succession/Continuity is in writing when the timing is appropriate

To succeed in this role as an advisor on a team, you must be motivated by a strong desire to help others and eager to learn. You must be coachable and adhere to the practice-building playbook.

You will find no better way of learning the industry than jumping right into the deep end, with a life raft, or team, already in the water with you.

However, it’s important to note that being coachable is a must in this career path. As a new advisor, it’s possible that you will be joining a practice that is 20+ years in the making. That’s up to 20 years of servicing their client’s financial wellness.

This practice is someone’s legacy and it will be entrusted to you to honor that by accepting constructive criticism and feedback and having the desire and passion to learn how they do business.

Will Being Part Of A Team Help Me Be A More Successful Financial Advisor?

Becoming a financial advisor has a lot of moving parts, from obtaining your licenses, to choosing the right firm for you, and then there’s the day to day work of building your practice.

While teaming isn’t the right fit for everyone, when done right, it can be a seamless and rewarding path to becoming a financial advisor.

When you find yourself on the right team, you will discover that it’s actually easier to learn the industry, the vast product offerings, how to best find clients, and sharpen your skill sets all while gaining the necessary confidence to branch out and build your own practice if you desire.

If teaming sounds like an exciting opportunity for your financial advising career, contact a recruiter at Consolidated Planning to learn more about the teaming process.

2023-150346 Exp. 2/2025