Rainmakers are elite financial advisors who offer customized financial services, which depend on their client description. The article explains teachings offered to veteran and rookie rainmakers on how best to handle their current and prospective clients (Boswell and Nichols).
They mainly target rich baby boomers whose major concern lies in individual health, family health, financial health and spiritual health. These prosperous clients need personal contact, full disclosure, regular subjective revelations based on an understanding of their family or particular condition.
Moreover, they value expert guidance, timely and compressive financial advice, as well as careful asset allocation. Thus, rainmakers must ensure their words match their action and fulfill the expectations of the wealthy clients, by acting more and speaking less (Boswell and Nichols).
The article echoes well with the course content because it focuses on the issue of management choices. It explains how the firm spreads the knowledge of its partners to ensure that they remain well poised to handle any changes in market expectations.
It handles aspects of strategic management by offering a discussion on how a financial advice firm targets a client niche and remains competitive. It explains how the firm passes competition-sensitive knowledge within its different ranks of employees or shareholders, to ensure the long-term sustainability, and why this is critical.
I chose this article because of its relevancy today; it explains a scene affecting baby boomers. Moreover, it captures a growing position of providing personal financial advice at a personal level. Most baby boomers have reached their retirement ages and are seeking to cushion their earnings (Rodgers).
Although they have the wealth, they are concerned about associated financial risks and notably shy away from big firms whose management they do not understand.
In a way, they are choosing to rely on ethics, which is more visible in smaller firms than big ones (Rodgers). This article explains how the management of a small firm, whose veteran and rookie partners readily mingle, would enhance their product offering by concentrating more on the fulfillment of their customer wants in a made-to-order way.
The article was good. The writing captures the task of management to ensure that the firm’s knowledge increases and perpetuates all staff levels to increase their overall competitiveness. It also offers a background, which informs the reader and allows better comprehension of its recommendations.
The article is succinct because it offers key issues in form of lists. I agree with the action taken by the manager of the firm profiled.
Mixing veterans and rookies in the rainmakers retreat offers a good avenue for knowledge transfer without intimidation. It provides a variety of channels for learning such as direct inquiry and demonstrations. Role switching reduces the time taken to see results for specific changes advocated for by management.
The action by management to cultivate personal stature of its employees would go well in a variety of companies, aligned to the service sector. However, for manufacturing type businesses, the quality of the physical product and its functionality have prominence over the staffs’ stature, in the customer’s perspective.
On the other hand, even for service firms, staff retreats do not necessarily remove office hierarchy to allow open participation of rookies at the presence of veterans. Perhaps it would be more productive for management to host different events for the sake of observing staffs’ attitudes and behavior. There might be intricate relationship matters that promote or hinder effective knowledge transfer within the firm.
Works Cited
Boswell, Stevens and Kevin Nichols. “Fast Track: Les Verbiage – Better Results.” Registered Rep. 2012. Web.
Rodgers, Cecil. “Financial Planning: Baby Boomers Need Money Advice. And They Don’t Want It From Wall Street.” 2010. Web.