For most of the 17 years since co-founding The Financial Network Group Ltd., Nathan Bachrach has been focused on what most leaders of small businesses typically are: everything.
Whether it was strategic planning, investment policy, marketing, hiring or technology, he and partner Ed Finke were in the middle of it.
“I used to micromanage everything,” Mr. Bachrach said.
He doesn't anymore. In fact, over the last three years, Mr. Bachrach increasingly has focused his time on media and marketing efforts for the firm, and it has paid dividends.
“We've done a lot to get how we feel about investing and the markets in the public eye, and it's worked,” he said.
HIGHER PROFILE
His firm has made Barron's list of top registered investment adviser firms for the last four years running, and assets under management, now at $1.5 billion, have grown over 35% over the past three years.
With growth, however, come challenges. “When you're running a fast-growing organization, you're always about six months from people being frustrated,” Mr. Bachrach said. The firm has 40 employees, including 15 advisers.
COO COUP
The most important thing the firm has done in the past few years, he said, was to hire a chief operating officer to help “run the business like a business.”
Two years ago, Mr. Bachrach hired Martin Murray, a periodic consultant for the firm, to help improve efficiency and profitability.
A manager at Procter & Gamble for three decades, Mr. Murray brings a down- to-earth approach to the investment management business that has helped the firm adjust to the growth it has experienced over the last few years, according to Mr. Bachrach.
“This business is no different from selling shampoo,” Mr. Murray said. “You need to get a consistent work flow and to focus on delivering benefits to your customers.”
Among the improvements Mr. Murray has made are the installation of a new telephone system, new customer relationship management software and a new compliance platform to deal with the changing regulatory environment.
“We've given away a few points [on profit margin], but we'll get the benefits back multifold,” he said.
More broadly, Mr. Murray has analyzed the firm's business processes and procedures, with the aim of making the business and its employees more efficient.
“Eighty percent of what we do is the same thing we do every day. You have to standardize what can be standardized and focus people's creativity on what they do best,” he said.
For example, Mr. Murray broke down the customer acquisition process to improve the way the firm deals with new clients. Where formerly several people might have been involved in the initial stages of a customer relationship, now peoples' roles are more clearly defined.
STREAMLINED PROCESS
“When a prospect reaches the first phone call, it goes to the same person who knows what they need, and they then set up an appointment to meet with Nathan or Ed within the next 7 to 14 days,” Mr. Murray explained. “There's no decision making to be done. It's like a playbook. We have our standardized plays, and if we need to call an audible, the other 11 players know what it means.”
Mr. Murray said this standardization of processes has helped create flexibility in the organization and enabled employees to follow where the clients want to go.
“He's looked at our business processes like an engineer would,” Mr. Bachrach said.
And the result has been a far better use of people's talents. For Mr. Bachrach, that means marketing and a sharper focus on bringing in new business to the firm. He no longer worries about all the daily routines and operations.
“I brought in smart people and I get out of the way,” he said.
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