This week, we turn the spotlight on Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners with offices in Charlotte, North Carolina.
What has been your strategy for growing your firm and also your market area?
Like many firms across the country, we contracted during that little downward cycle we experienced a few years ago. As activity has become much more robust, we have a goal to increase our staff by five Advisors by the end of 2015. We have found that the demand for sales people has increased significantly lately and we are competing with other industries for good folks. We have enrolled in SVN’s RPO Program which has been very helpful in identifying mid-career candidates. A significant portion of my time and energy is spent in recruiting, which will pay off in market share over the coming three years.
What are some of the unique activities you do to motivate your team?
We have always enjoyed a family atmosphere and that in itself goes a long way toward a positive, motivational office. As Advisors take advantage of technology to work more outside the office now, it has become more important to create opportunities for team-building and motivational activities. Annually, we participate in a large charity volleyball tournament. Monthly, our sales meetings are lunch affairs. We are now in the midst of a listing contest with the grand prize being a weekend at a posh hotel in Charleston, SC.
What’s been the biggest challenge in running your business in the last few years?
Our firm has been in the Charlotte, NC market for over 50 years. We have been blessed with long-serving, top-notch Advisors who have been with our firm for many years. The other side of that blessing is that we need to be attentive to bringing in younger Advisors – those who will become the next generation of performance and leadership. That was not our focus over the past few years because of the state of the economy. Thus, the need to re-focus on recruitment.
How many Advisors/Staff did you have when you joined SVN? How many (in total) do you have now?
For the past few years, we have refrained from growing our firm size. Upon joining SVN in June of this year, we have gone back on the recruiting path to increase from the current level of 7 Advisors. The SVN move has certainly created some interest in the market and I regularly interview 5 – 8 prospects per month. Some of the interviewing activity comes through the RPO program. To date, I have not found the right mix but with the current activity, expect to bring 2 to 3 new Advisors on board in the next few months.
Contact:
N.J. (Joey) Godbold
Managing Director and CEO
Sperry Van Ness/Percival Partners, LLC
Charlotte, NC
*All Sperry Van Ness® offices are independently owned and operated.