Transition Steps
Welcome and congratulations! You have selected a dealership that meets your particular needs, is perfect for your practice, and are ready to make the move.
The new dealership should have a game plan laid out for you to take care of the routine chores of transferring your licenses, getting new marketing materials approved by compliance, and setting up the new technology. The firm should let you know everything that is required, describe who is responsible for what, and give you regular updates on the status of each step.
There are some important steps to take that will help ensure a smooth transition:
- Build in plenty of lead time - Allow at least 2 weeks from the time you select a new dealer and initiate the move until your target date for switching. If you have a large office and an extensive client base, plan on more time.
- Be honest and forthright - Professional financial planners and advisors should be upfront with their old dealership about why they are leaving and strive to maintain a good relationship throughout their transition and beyond. Dealerships with integrity will handle your resignation and transfer professionally in return.
- Get your team involved - Make the process flow more smoothly and quickly on your end by dedicating one of your staff to coordinate and facilitate the transfer. As a planner or advisor, you excel at sales, not the detailed, nitty-gritty service work your transition will require. Get your team involved so that you can keep selling to keep the cash flowing throughout the process.
- Bridge the gap between dealerships - Realize that there is a licensing gap - from a day or so up to a couple of weeks - when you are no longer the advisor on some or all client accounts. This will be a given and unavoidable. Structure your transition to narrow the gap as much as can be, and if possible, to still be able to take care of clients during this period.
- Get legal advice if you need it. If you're a single independent planner or advisor going from one dealership to another, the transition should be relatively straight-forward, you may not need to touch base with an attorney. However, if there are any complicating factors, especially if you anticipate any problems from your old firm or if you have any partnership issues, consider consulting an attorney to negotiate the finer points of the transition.