For almost all producers, the threat of leaving is their ultimate “go nuclear” option. Actually, leaving is the nuclear option and the threat of leaving is the scud missile. The idea of leaving a firm is terrifying to most producers or should be. When you go there are a pack of ravenous dogs just waiting to tear into your book, question your client relationships, doubt your skill as a product selector, under cut you on price, and do everything possible to yank clients away that you so carefully built up over the years.
The former fear of being put out of business by restraining order is now largely gone as long as you play by the rules, but in the paranoid mind of the conspiratorial soon to depart producer, there is the risk that your biggest and best clients won’t follow you. And sometimes they don’t. Therefore, in the mind of the producer, leaving is a last resort or possibly an opportunity to cash a big check or both.
But then there is the unusual type of dude or dudette who actually flaunts the recruiting process just to get some leverage from the boss. This usually comes in the form of comments to the manager like, “Boy that manager from (fill in the blank with a competitor) is really a great guy.” Or, “I can’t believe the deals they are offering out there right now.” Or, and perhaps most obnoxiously, “Had a great meal today with (fill in the blank with a competitor.)”
Then there is the producer who likes to get his name in traffic. S/he will usually have a confidante that they can count on to blab to the manager or to someone who will blab to the manager (see Gossip Guy) that s/he is talking to the competition.
What this producer is looking for is attention. Why do they want attention? Their ego demands it. They are personally insecure and simply crave it like chocolate to the sweetaholic. They are looking to leverage you for some sort of special treatment or resource. In other words, they want something tangible. Or all the above.
Guido was a producer in Mel’s office who trafficked in this stuff all the time. He never did leave (until after Mel moved on and Guido needed money) but he had the type of book that was super portable: lots of assets held away at fund companies and a huge portion of his book concentrated in a relatively small number of accounts. He never used proprietary products. He was a low cost (to clients) provider.
As a rookie manager, Mel was initially intimidated by this kind of talk. Regularly, someone would pop into Mel’s office with the comment about Guido being ready to go. Indeed Mel went so far as to go the fund companies Guido was using to get extra copies of statements and making sure the office had good contact information for all the reasonably sized accounts. Yep: paranoid.
Here’s the thing. Guido never left. Well, not exactly true. He left after he went through a divorce (smart timing by Guido) and Mel was already gone but you get the point. Mel never did anything special for him either.
But there is a much more dangerous step in this dance: when this type of producer graduates from talker to Blackmailer. The spiel goes something like this. “Look Mel, I’ve got this offer on the table from (competitor de jour). In addition to the big check that you can’t give me, he’s going to give me….” And that’s when the blackmail begins. It might be more sales support. It might be some money for client seminars or lunches. It might be something stupid like a better office or a new piece of furniture.
Regardless of the offer, the answer has to be no. Blackmail never stops. It turns the roles of employer/employee upside down. It makes you look weak. And it will get around the office. Yes it will. Even if you pinkie swear. Nothing you can do about it. So your answer has to be no.
But there is an exception. There always is.
That exception is when you can leverage (motivate) the Blackmailer to do something you want/need. Your pitch goes something like, “Guido, I’ll give you that corner office if you get your production up 20% in the next year. That way, you don’t have to risk getting your book shredded by these hungry advisors in this office and you get primo real estate.” Of course, you better do as promised if he does his side of the deal.
Now, lets make up a hypothetical case for a change. You are Hilbert and desperate to get a recruit. So you lie. You make up stuff. You make wild promises of wine, women or men, and song. The sun is theirs. Moon? No problem. Stars? All day long. The producer comes and then you don’t come through.
There are plenty of cases of “bait and switch” in the industry. Some of your colleagues are outright liars unlike you. And there are arbitrations with rewards to producers who can prove it. If you’ve done this sort of bait and switch thing with your recruits and your existing producers you are setting yourself up. Your reputation will suffer as the advisor grapevine will get the word out. Everyone knows someone at the competition. And now your Guido will finally cash that chip. The Blackmailer’s pitch will go something like ” You promised Mr. New Recruit her own assistant and now I want mine own assistant too. Gimme or I’ll leave.”
The smart manager won’t make promises she can’t keep and this is why. Even if the Evil Regional is the reason you can’t deliver, you can’t get away with that as an excuse. The producer will pounce on that excuse like Roseanne Barr pouncing on a double quarter pounder with cheese.
So here is your list of choices if you’ve been the master baiter and switcher in the recruiting process and none of them are all that good.
> Admit you screwed up and ask for forgiveness.
> Relent and give them what they are asking for. (Then you will have to go out and buy yourself a big old diaper and a pacifier and walk around the office chanting “I am a total baby and deserve to be spanked as I am a dirty, dirty boy.)
> Offer them something else they value just as much.
> Look to the firm to make an exception for you just for this guy. Yea and have the Tooth Fairy deliver it for you. (This option is only viable if the producer is a monster sized revenue machine and is the franchise. Even then, if the firm does something special, it will only be a matter of time before a new demand comes in.)
> Tell the producer to suck it up and dare them to go elsewhere. And almost certainly, at the end of their contract, they will – but only after they have trashed you to anyone and everyone who will listen. They will not forgive and forget. And this rosy scenario assumes they don’t sue you.
So two cases with unappealing outcomes. One is a bald faced blackmailing attempt that can really only end with a No. The other is something you would never do. So don’t start now. In any event, just do the right thing – you wouldn’t look all that good in a diaper regardless.
Is the editor preaching too much here? Have a different point of view? All names are changed to protect the innocent and the guilty: manageia2@gmail.com
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