How 'gut feelings' are derailing advisory firms

Too many RIAs are running practices, not businesses—and it’s stalling their growth, derailing succession plans, and sinking long-term value. Libby Greiwe argues that advisory firms built around founder intuition instead of documented systems are destined to plateau.

Without scalable infrastructure, even profitable firms become unsellable. While many advisors focus on portfolios and retention, Greiwe warns the real threat is internal: undocumented workflows, underused tech, and gut-driven decisions. That invisible drag inevitably adds up.

Greiwe, founder of The Efficient Advisor LLC and a former advisor herself, now helps firms around the world shift from founder-led practices to systemized, sellable businesses. Her message is blunt: if you want to grow or exit, start running your firm like a business—not a passion project.

“One of the first things is really understanding what processes even exist in the business,” Greiwe explains.

She believes every firm has at least eight core processes—but most have never been deliberately designed, let alone documented. That lack of structure creates friction. Advisors often build systems for internal ease, not for enhancing the client journey.

“If we're not actually building a clear process for the client's experience and then using our process to move them along through the journey, we're completely missing a huge opportunity,” she says.

And it’s not just about documentation—it’s about intent. Too many firms operate on siloed knowledge instead of institutional systems. Without clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and replicable workflows, firms stall. Succession becomes a guessing game.

“The practice management that advisors have in place is too advisor-oriented. It’s not scalable. It’s too dependent on one or two people,” says Greiwe.

That fragility stems from a deeper issue: advisors staying too comfortable in the advisor seat and failing to embrace the role of CEO. Strategic planning, process design, and operational oversight get sidelined in the daily grind.

“The biggest thing I see is advisors being so into the advisor role that they forget to step into the role of CEO,” she says.

Tech is not the strategy

Technology alone can’t fix bad systems—and in many cases, it masks the problem. Greiwe points to firms that invest heavily in CRM tools only to use them as glorified contact lists.

“Most advisors are using a very glorified Rolodex instead of using it to be the operational hub of the business,” she explains.

This underuse leads to fragmented workflows that depend on individual preferences—one team member prints a checklist, another uses a spreadsheet, and someone else keeps it all in their head. The result is chaos disguised as routine.

“They end up recreating it, which takes even more time, or they drop the task and have to come back to it later,” she says.

Even worse, many firms build systems for the business they have now—rather than the one they want to grow into. Processes become barriers instead of bridges.

“They're building it for the business that they have right now… as opposed to thinking more proactively about how to build processes that are flexible for the next level,” she explains.

From intuition to intentionality

One of Greiwe’s most practical recommendations is deceptively simple: take a “CEO Day” once a quarter. It’s a day off the calendar, fully dedicated to system design, back-end cleanups, and process optimization.

“It’s fully taking time out of the practice… to focus specifically on process and client experience,” she says.

This includes eliminating tribal knowledge, organizing templates, and making the client journey repeatable across the firm—not just for one superstar. According to Greiwe, the average advisor loses 38 minutes a day simply trying to find something in the moment they need it.

These time leaks aren’t minor—they’re existential threats to scale. And they’re often reinforced by another blind spot: overreliance on gut feelings.

“Too much intuition of 'I know my clients would like this’ instead of actually looking for the data to support all of their decisions,” she says.

Today, she doesn’t greenlight new initiatives until her team can back them up with evidence. “Show me the data that says that” she now asks.

Build to sell—even if you’re not selling

For Greiwe, the mindset shift that transformed her own business was treating the firm like an asset—one that could be sold, scaled, or stepped away from.

“Shifting that as a Built to Sell completely shifts the way that you think,” she says.

Waiting until retirement to get organized is a mistake she compares to homeowners investing in a massive remodel just before selling—too little, too late.

“It’s kind of like people doing that $100,000 remodel right before they list it… we should have done this six years ago,” she says.

Greiwe’s message to advisors is direct: stop improvising. Stop building for now. Build for where you want to be—with scalable systems, intentional design, and the client journey at the center. Because what got you here won’t get you there.