Advisors Off Script

The Client Mindset at Transition: It’s More Important than the Paperwork with Libby Greiwe

• Shelby Nicholl • Season 3 • Episode 6

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What are your clients really feeling during a transition—and how can advisors reduce stress while strengthening trust?

In this episode of Advisors Off Script, Shelby Nicholl is joined by Libby Greiwe, founder of The Efficient Advisor, to explore the psychology clients experience during onboarding and firm transitions. Libby shares how building systems through the lens of client experience—not just efficiency—can dramatically improve retention, confidence, and long-term loyalty.

You’ll learn why transitions often trigger client anxiety, how expectation-setting and communication lower friction, and how advisors can use re-onboarding, process design, and “remarkable moments” to deepen relationships. Libby also shares insights from Schwab IMPACT, practical ideas like paperwork parties and progress tracking, and how AI tools are helping advisors reclaim time without sacrificing personalization.

This episode is a must-listen for financial advisors looking to scale their practice, improve client experience, and build a business—and life—off script.

Learn more at MurielConsulting.com 

Hosted by Shelby Nicholl. Produced and edited by Aaron Sherman. Operations and Guest Coordination by Shelly Hadel.

/ Shelby Nicholl: Have you ever possible to build a wildly profitable firm without 24/7 obsessive exhaustive work?

Libby Greiwe:

that's when I kind of realized like... I don't actually have a business. I literally just had a really busy Libby that was the 100% bottleneck of the business.

Shelby Nicholl:

Are you navigating a firm transition or thinking about it and wondering how to guide your clients through the change with clarity and confidence?

Libby Greiwe:

the human brain is wired to want to know what to expect next I use the analogy of like the Domino's Pizza tracker the minute you place the order online. This pizza tracker pops up Ramon is putting the toppings on your pizza. The pizza is out for delivery, we like to know what's happening next.

Shelby Nicholl:

If you're looking for the balance of delivering an amazing experience and working efficiently, this episode is for you. Our guest today is Libby Greiwe. She's a systems queen, a client experience architect, and a former advisor who built a seven figure practice all while working fewer hours than most of us probably spend an email each week. She's the creator of the Efficient Advisor Podcast Coaching and Courses, and she's gonna talk with us today about what freedom really looks like, including how do we re onboard clients to our new practice and how do we. Scale our practice with less stress and more joy. Welcome to the podcast. Libby, welcome to Advisors off script. It is so good to have you here.

Libby Greiwe:

Aw, well thanks for having me. I'm excited for this conversation.

Shelby Nicholl:

I am too. You know, I have been fangirling you for like the last several years, so I'm thrilled to have you on the podcast. You built a practice, built it up to seven figures, sold it, exited, and now you coach advisors. What was the moment when you started in your practice and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed. I know I have to do something differently, and you started creating now what you coach advisors to do.

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah, so it was actually a very distinct moment that I can remember very, very specifically. So I had, I started my business in 2004, and I built a exceptional practice. I was working around the clock like a crazy person. Nights, weekends, you know, a client wanted to meet

Friday at 6:

00 PM I was there, I was your girl.

Saturday at 10:

00 AM Sure. And then I found out I was pregnant and it was great because my, my husband at the time, and I really wanted kids, so we were super excited. But I can remember like being in that moment and thinking there is just. shot that I can be the kind of mom that I want to be and still have my dream business. Like I was super successful. I was excited about where my revenue was, I was excited about what I was building and I, I didn't want to give up the vision that I had for that practice. And at the same time, like it was an instantaneous priority shift for me. And that's when I kind of realized like. I don't actually have a business. The kind with like a vision and structure and systems, like I literally just had a really, really busy Libby that was the 100% bottleneck of the business.

Shelby Nicholl:

That is a tough place to be. You know, just this week I had a client leave me a voicemail and they were like, congratulations on not picking up your phone, as I have been putting in some limits. On my own availability as well. And I've just have put in a buffer day in the middle of the week so that I have a day to get caught up. And I'm not running as ragged as I was in the very early days of the business. So I can relate to that so much. you know, in our business here at Muriel Consulting, we are helping advisors make transformation in their businesses. We're seeing them moving firms. Standing up their own RIAs, et cetera. And one of the things we always talk about is the messaging around that.

Libby Greiwe:

Mm-hmm.

Shelby Nicholl:

brought up to me one day around the psychology of the client in that transition. and what you've experienced as, as your business went through transitions.

Libby Greiwe:

when I made that shift, right when I found out I was pregnant, I was like, oh man, I gotta get, I gotta get the back into this business together and start building some systems and processes. the first thing that I started doing, uh, was building all of this through the lens of the business. How do I do it? Better, faster, smarter, cheaper, or easier. And we started building out all of these processes to expedite the the process, right? To have less processing errors, to make things happen faster, to do, transitions faster, to move the money, to take the applications, to have less NIGOs like we were doing everything through the business lens. And what I realized was, while that was super awesome for us, that didn't always lend itself to the best possible. experience. So we, we had to kind of come back and wrapper everything that we were doing through the lens of like, okay, great. How do we actually move the client through this process too? So how do we do it through the business lens? And then how do we actually look at this through how the client is experiencing that process? So for me, when we build out processes in our, like our group coaching cohort or our. Courses, we always start with what is the client feeling coming into this process and what do we want them to be feeling at the end? And then use our process to actually move them across that invisible bridge. Um, so I'll give you kind of a quick example, right? So if we are, let's just think about traditional onboarding, right? If a client, we goes through our whole planning process, right? They, we do the discovery, we do the data gathering. We come up with some great analysis and super cool recommendations. The client says yes. If our process as an advisor is to just be like, okay, director of operations, go ahead and draft up the paperwork and DocuSign that over to the client and you take the rest of the day off 'cause you're like, that was a $2 million rollover. I'm super excited. Like, go me. Right. The advisor is being flooded with serotonin, like, I did a good job. I'm super excited. This client loves us. We're gonna just have this amazing relationship. And the client is excited too. But what we forget is that as soon as we get off that Zoom call, or as soon as they leave our office, while we're being flooded with a go me serotonin, they're actually being flooded with cortisol. Right? They're like I'm super excited to work with her. Oh, oh, but. Did we do enough research? Did we interview, uh, enough advisors? Like,

Shelby Nicholl:

Right.

Libby Greiwe:

break up with Dave. He was a perfectly fine advisor. He didn't really do anything wrong. What are we gonna even say to him and what's that gonna look like and how uncomfortable would that be? And oh my goodness, we have to set up a new portal and get all of our accounts switched over and that's gonna be so much paperwork and what's it gonna look like at text time? And right, they're going through this whole journey. So if our. Process from the business side is like, well, let's just DocuSign them some paperwork and go hit the golf course because we could take the day off early'cause we did so good today. If we neglect this experience that our clients are having, that they're going through, essentially what is buyer's remorse? Our process actually needs to address the psychology of what they're experiencing. And so when we think about. Client experience through a transition, right? sometimes advisors depend too much on the the relationship capital that they've built with their clients.

Shelby Nicholl:

Hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

oh my gosh, they love me. They'll forgive our mess, even if it's a really bumpy process. They love me. Everything's gonna be just fine. we have to think about like, well, actually, what are they really genuinely experiencing? Right? Because the advisor's typically super overwhelmed with the whole process in and of itself, like, right? We've been working with Shelby and her team, and we've got the branding figured out. We've got our messaging, we've got the new custodians set up, we've got a. Pecking order of how we're gonna meet with our clients. We've got our script down and we're doing all of the things right? And we have to really think at it through like, okay, well first and foremost, what do, what do our clients feel when we have start having the conversation and bringing them into the loop that we're making this change? And where do we want them to be at the end? And then

Shelby Nicholl:

Yes.

Libby Greiwe:

actually make sure there are key points in our process that help move them across that invisible bridge.

Shelby Nicholl:

I love that idea of the invisible bridge. I also really appreciate your call out about cortisol flooding them. That is so interesting. And I haven't put that into words in that exact same way. Right? I think about how do you keep clients informed after they've said, yes, I'm gonna move with you. How do you keep them informed into the next steps of the process? But I guess what we're doing by keeping them informed in those next steps of the process is we're keeping that cortisol down,

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah.

Shelby Nicholl:

we're keeping that down so that they can feel good about making the move.

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah. And it's not even just like, Hey, here's what's happening. It's, here's what's happening and why that's good for you, or Here's what's happening what you can expect next. So kind of that extra layer of, of layering in that psychology of like, okay. Instead of just sending an email saying, okay, great, you're gonna get the paperwork, DocuSign over in the next couple of days, Lori is gonna sit down and walk you through that so that you feel really comfortable understanding exactly what you're signing. And then here's what you can expect. Here's the timeline, here's the steps, here's the potential points that could go wrong, and what intervention we might need you to have. Here's how we're gonna keep you informed of everything, and once the money arrives, here's what's gonna happen. That like giving them. All of this information so that they feel confident in the transition, right? Like our goal clients is and I can say this because I've transitioned to business the minute I told clients I'm leaving, right? Even though we listed all of the exciting stuff that, you know, here's what's not gonna change, here's what's going to change. And the minute I said I'm leaving, you could see that moment of. Oh, how is this gonna impact

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah. Yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

in, in our script and our process had to be designed to help them build confidence and the competency of the guy that was buying my practice immediately. And how are we gonna, like, what will that look like? Is Libby just fading into the background? Am I gonna be an active participant? Like all of our process had to be designed through that lens of client psychology.

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah, I think that's so important 'cause it can feel like such a shock to the client, right? The way that they've been doing business with you for in some cases, for decades. For multiple decades is now shifting and that can make the new business feel a little unrecognizable. So, you know, one of the things we talk a lot about is how do you tell them what's going to stay the same, and then how do you also create daylight between the old and the new? One of the things I observe is sometimes an advisor wants to, or a team wants to make everything shiny and new all at the same time.

Libby Greiwe:

Yes.

Shelby Nicholl:

We got new branding, we got a new logo, we got new systems. We've got new, new, new, new, new Everything's new and it's awesome because they're so excited about the, about what they're building and all of these new things that they can do that maybe they were held back from before. But what are maybe some smart ways that advisors can kind of introduce that idea of new and better while still honoring the familiar

Libby Greiwe:

I I. of it kind of like relationships, right? So if all of a sudden your spouse came to you and said, Hey, tomorrow I'm gonna be replaced by Beth. And you know, and you're like, wait, I'm sorry, what now? And it's like, and you're removing and we're switching out the kids, and I'm, you're gonna have a different job. I'm gonna have a different, well, Beth will have a different job. Everything in your world is going to be different, right? That would feel. Very overwhelming.

Shelby Nicholl:

Ooh. Yeah,

Libby Greiwe:

a

Shelby Nicholl:

like mind blowing, overwhelming.

Libby Greiwe:

Right? And I mean, there might be some people who are like, I wouldn't mind it if my spouse made a little switchy switch for a minute there. But like when everything in your world is changing,

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

it's a lot more cortisol, right? A lot

Shelby Nicholl:

Yes.

Libby Greiwe:

And if your clients are having to adjust to a new advisor with a totally new philosophy and a new portal and a new custodian and new account numbers and a new. staff or new team to integrate with a totally new office location that looks and feels and smells completely different. It's a lot of change. And what we underestimate is I, um, I was just doing a, um, speaking engagement with Hartford Funds and they had done some research that showed. in any given year, about 75% of our clients have a moment where inside of that year, they're like, I wonder if I should switch advisors. And not necessarily like actively pursuing it, but they have this moment of, is my advisor doing the right things for me? Should I make a change? Is it too expensive? Am I getting what I want? Are they the right fit for me moving forward? And if we're not as advisors, if we're not. that as part of our process. Like, Hey, there might have been a point in time this year where they thought about potentially switching, and here I am thrusting this massive change on them. This might be a really great catalyst or opportunity for them to go, you know what? Everything is changing anyways. I might as well go seek out and interview some new firms and see if there might be a better fit for me versus like, Hey, everything for the most part is staying the same. We're just gonna be making a slow adjustment, or here's exactly what you can expect, and making people feel really good and comfortable about the transition. you know, having gone through the transition in my own business and walking alongside lots of advisors. Not in the same way that you do, but it through the backend, like the, the, the business, the systems and processes side of, uh, of a transition, and coaching them through that. Right. I've seen it happen a lot where they just are like so excited to make all of the changes and they try to make 'em all upfront right away, overnight, and they want to like almost splash into the world with like this big new, fully revamped business thinking that that's gonna be exciting and attractive to clients and they're forgetting to look at the clients are like, oh no, I'm losing, I'm losing Libby as an advisor. Oh no. Everything that's changing too. And that's changing too. And when there's this unfamiliar familiarity where they're now having to log in somewhere different and all of their account numbers have changed and it's a different custodian and what their accounts were nicknamed before are no longer nicknames, and now they're just account number is at everything changing. That's a lot of stress hormones that our clients are going to be experiencing, and we're completely missing the opportunity because a good process not only does the paperwork part, right, like we, we, every good process, there's kind of three layers, right? There's this, the bottom layer. A good process has a documented. And well thought through kind of what I call the paperwork layer, which is the nuts and bolts, like the moving money from A to B, the setting up the account, getting them logged into the portal, the signing of the paperwork. The second layer, which makes a great process, is this layer of expectations where we actually take the time to lay out. What to expect in this process for our clients and for ourselves and our team. And then an exceptional process has this, what I call the remarkable layer, and that's where we actually use the process to build human to human connection with our clients to actually

Shelby Nicholl:

Yes.

Libby Greiwe:

The relationship. And if we're not thinking about a business transition through the lens of like, how do we actually use this to make the relationship with our clients deeper, and if we're just assuming coming into it like, oh, they love me, they love our company. We have all of this relationship capital. I don't need to worry about that. We're completely neglecting this experience that our clients are having and we're missing this opportunity to use the transition as a way to actually deepen the relationship.

Shelby Nicholl:

I think that's so important and, and this idea of that remarkable layer. that's where hopefully a a, a team will have a really strong process that we're building from, and then now we can layer on that, that. Additional element. Your whole model is really about kind of that systems and the personalization, but still systemed wise, when you think about that transition in that remarkable layer, what are some of the just top line ideas that you would have for how we can make that more remarkable?

Libby Greiwe:

So the human brain is wired to want to know what to expect next. So I use the analogy of like the Domino's Pizza tracker. So if you've ever ordered pizza from Domino's, the minute you place the order online. This pizza tracker pops up, right, and it shows you okay, your order has been placed and now it the bar. It's like a bar graph. And then now your pizza, Ramon is putting the toppings on your pizza. Okay? Now your pizza is in the oven and cooking. Okay? The pizza is out for delivery, and then it shows. Delivered. And I can remember when my boys were little, they would, after we would order on Domino's, they would sit in front of the iPad and they'd be like, Ramon's putting on the toppings. It's on its way. And they were so excited to watch this bar graph it's because we like to know what's happening next. So I would love for every advisor to have some version of the Domino's pizza of Tracker. It doesn't have to be this like digital bar graph that shows up. But some sort of, for us, in my practice, it was a weekly email just letting people know, here's what's been completed, here's what we're still working on, here's what we need you to do. If anything, here's what we're doing next and here's what you can expect. So I think through the lens of a transition, that as we're moving money, especially if there's a repaper involved or a new portal that needs to be set up, kind of here are all of the things that we're tackling, keeping the clients. In the loop and from an advisory standpoint, you're like, okay, that's like a lot of work. Yes. When you, just like a good marriage, everything that is worth having requires a lot of effort. And so layering in some of these expectations of here's what's been completed, here's what's still working on, and having that come to them weekly, biweekly, whatever cadence you choose doesn't matter. But keeping the client informed saying, Hey, you are going to get this email every Tuesday at 8:00 AM and here's what it's gonna have. And clients can kind of track the progress.'cause what we don't wanna have happen is. A couple of accounts move and then your client's picking up the phone and calling and saying, Hey, uh, I see that this one, what's going on with this one? Or, where

Shelby Nicholl:

Yes.

Libby Greiwe:

on the old, you know, IRA, that was my Proctor and Gamble, 401k. Right? Like, we want them to feel like we've got this, we're

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

we're moving it through. And just that weekly email or biweekly email to clients that just exhibits that professionalism that this is not going to be a mess that we've been, we are wanting to think about how you, the client feel, and here's what you can expect next, as soon as all of this money arrives. my area of expertise, right? Is the first 100 days of a client's experience and

Shelby Nicholl:

Yes.

Libby Greiwe:

Onboard in a way that uses that first 100 days to build such a deep, lifelong relationship with your clients, that it actually drives referrals right away. inside of like my onboarding course, we talk about, well, how do I go back and re onboard existing clients? So I kind of look at a business transition through the lens of almost as, as if we're re onboarding

Shelby Nicholl:

A hundred percent It

Libby Greiwe:

to the new

Shelby Nicholl:

is.

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah. And so in our first 100 days for new clients, we do what we call a formal onboarding meeting.

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

all of the money has transitioned and all of the dust has settled, we want to get the clients set up so that they feel super organized and functional in working with us. So instead of just sending them an email saying, Hey, your new portal's set up, uh, go ahead and create your login and go in and check it out. Get in there and click, um, that you want eDelivery instead of paper statements. And go ahead and add your banking, uh, to the, the thread accounts that you want on file there and double check your beneficiaries or add this and add that. What we don't want to do is make our transition a to-do list for our client. That, that is not deepening the relationship. Like, Hey, we're making this change and we know it's to you, and now you have to spend a Saturday morning for a couple of hours trying to get logged into this new account. and setting up all of these things and making sure we have the right authorizations on file. So instead, I would love for advisors and for advisors listening that are like, wow, that sounds like a lot of work. Yeah, it is. It is. But the dividends, the ROI on it is huge relationship capital this is not a, here you go, do it yourself. This is a done with you process so what it looked like in our practice would be my director of operations, and it doesn't have to be done by the advisor. This is scalable by having your team do some of this, but saying, Hey, let's go ahead and get you logged into the new portal and let me show you around, let's go ahead together, whether this is in person or on Zoom. Let's add those nicknames. Let's update the banking and make sure we've got the right banking on file for you. Let me show you around the portal. Let me show you where to find your tax documents. Lo, let's double check X, Y, and Z. Let's go ahead and get the app downloaded on your phone and let's make sure you can get logged

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

can we think through the lens of like a Ritz-Carlton concierge? How can we anticipate our clients' needs before they have'em, and how can we make it. Easy for them. Setting expectations and getting them excited. Like, here's why this is so cool. Remember when we told you the new portal would allow you to look at your money guide pro and run these scenarios? Let me show you how to do that. Let me show you what's in here. So instead of them fumbling around on a Saturday morning, which they're not gonna do, by the way, anytime we give our clients a big giant to-do list, they're gonna go, what's the minimum viable product here? Okay, I got logged in, that's all I'm gonna do for today. And then the rest kind of gets cast aside. Then the worst thing that could happen is they sit down a couple Saturdays 'cause the market has gone crazy and now they can't log in or they don't know

Shelby Nicholl:

Right.

Libby Greiwe:

at. They're not sure which account it is. Right. And then

Shelby Nicholl:

Their eyes have glazed over, and now it's a crisis.

Libby Greiwe:

Right. And now it's Saturday. They're emailing you. You're not gonna respond till Monday because you have good boundaries and you're not checking your email on your weekends. Right?

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

gonna respond till Monday. Well, now they're back in the throes of their work week, and who knows when they're gonna have an opportunity to really sit down and look at this. And we have to think through the lens of client psychology that. From Saturday until Monday when they get their email or until they have time to sit down and get properly logged in, they're kind of pissed,

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

and we want to avoid friction. So thinking through like, well, what are all of the potential friction points that our clients could have in this process? And how do we, our job as advisors is to ease that friction, even if it involves a little extra time and energy.

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah, I, And I think one of the things that, that they can do is having those appointment times to say, Hey, on this Saturday or on these days, we are gonna just take appointments in order to show them how to use the new systems, how to get logged in, make sure that they don't have any challenges, et cetera. And I love the pizza tracker. I talk about a pizza tracker all the time. All the time. Libby. because it is like a pizza tracker and when somebody is moving from one firm to another and there is a repapering, there is a tracker of things that have to happen. And some accounts are gonna be on one track timeline, and some accounts are gonna be honest. Second kind of track timeline and we gotta track it all. We gotta keep track of it for the clients and then we have to be able to inform them of where things are. So I love that. One of the things that I have really appreciated in, in your teaching is, um, this really. Important blend of client experience and systems and that client experience can be such a part of your marketing, right? And that you can create a client journey that is set apart without losing the personal sort of magic, if you will. What are some of the simple kind of wow moments, you know, in addition to Pizza Tracker maybe that advisors can build in and, and sort of to help reinforce those relationships that are now new again?

Libby Greiwe:

So a couple of different things that I would include is I would not, and you could start writing these out well before you even announced the transition, start having those meetings with your clients. But something simple like a handwritten. Thank you card expressing. So there has to be, there's a specific formula to it. Like we are so excited about this transition, so we want to maintain the frame that this is exciting, that this change that we're making is going to be so cool. For the client, not because I, the advisor, I'm getting a, uh, bigger percentage on my a UM, not because it's gonna be easier for me or I'm building a lifestyle practice or whatever. It's, we're so excited about this transition because what it's gonna be able to allow us to do for you client and thanking them right away. For sticking with us and setting the expectation that this might get a little bumpy, but we promise we're going to be watching everything along the way. Thank you for being part of this. We're

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

excited to serve you in this new way, and it's something that is so low tech, something that is so simple and something that goes a long way because Right. The, the buyer's remorse, this cortisol response that we have is. Highest within the first 48 hours, right? That's when immediately when our brain switches from. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited too. Oh, wait a minute. Oh no. What's this gonna look like? How much paperwork is this gonna be? What's it gonna look like? Is it gonna trigger taxes? Um, do we

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

Should we look at other options? Like they're going through this thing and we need to get that, that card out to them within the first 48 hours of us having that conversation with them. And something about taking the time to do a handwritten, and yes, you're using a template, but it, and it seems so silly, but it can go. So, so far in making a client go, oh yeah, we, okay, they've got this

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

they, they wrote a card to us, like, this is relational, not just business. So something, it seems so silly like that. The second thing I would do is I would do what we call a paperwork party. So instead

Shelby Nicholl:

Yes.

Libby Greiwe:

inclination as advisors to do it the fastest and easy is like lowest, uh, like what's the lowest hanging fruit. Because we have a lot going on in a transition. Uh, we just wanna DocuSign all of the paperwork to our clients and say, here's, sign all of this and send it back to us. And again, we're neglecting that the client didn't ask for this change, right? We need to be thinking about, well, what does this feel like for them? So we want to, number one, if you just send a bunch of paperwork to a client, they're going to again be like. When do I have time to sit down and look through this? And we have found that transition times can go move up dramatically. So in my own practice, we were able to increase our processing time. We were able to cut it in half by hosting what we called paperwork parties. So putting time on our clients' schedule and saying, Hey, Thursday at noon 20 minutes, we just wanna hop on Zoom with you and walk you through all of this new paperwork and explain to you what it is. What's changing, what's staying the same, and what you can expect next for each and every single piece of business. So instead of the client feeling like that pressure to be like, okay, I have to sit down on a Saturday and go through all of this paperwork on my own and I'm gonna run into questions or. This doesn't make any sense, right? And they're gonna be having that stress feeling of like, oh, well they, she told me to sign this, but I don't really even know what I'm signing. Right. Instead, just carving out that time for someone in your team to walk them through it, make them feel really good. And again, building excitement is really critically important in this window. And so using the paperwork party to actually build excitement and then send them the follow up email directly after the paperwork party saying, here's what we did, here's what you can expect next. We're super excited for this transition. Again, here's why, and after the dust settles, we're gonna be sitting down and doing this formal onboarding meeting. We're gonna get you all set up in the portal. Don't worry, you won't have to lift a finger. We're going to do this all with you. This is a done with you, not a DIY scenario.

Shelby Nicholl:

there are so many accounts to move and sometimes advisors, one of the things I see in a really good successful transition is that we are usually trimming the book of business at the same time. And that can feel a little bits. Scary because you're like, oh my gosh, what if it, what if these big clients don't come with me? And then I do need these smaller clients, et cetera. And we, we just have to push through that fear. And, and somebody said the other day to me, Everything you want in life is on the other side of fear.

Libby Greiwe:

Yes.

Shelby Nicholl:

of my clients, they have this sign hanging in their home. Everything you want in life is on the other side of fear. And I was like, oh my gosh, I love it.

Libby Greiwe:

Yes.

Shelby Nicholl:

But I think that we get so caught up sometimes in the moment of transition. We get such high anxiety about the transition that we start to rush through these client pieces. And to your point, we're forgetting about the client's cortisol. Levels and we're forgetting about the extra handholding that just can help them feel even more secure in their choice. You made a comment a moment ago about in those 48 hours after that, the cortisol is spiking and they're getting that sort of buyer's remorse. What they're also doing in that time period during a transition is they are going to your website and checking it out, and that website better be good, you know.

Libby Greiwe:

even be receiving phone calls from other agents at that firm who are like, Hey, just stay here. It's gonna be easier.

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah, yeah. And then inertia can set in, but they are going to your site and they need to see you. They need to see your face. You need to have a great video. You need to have a great logo. It needs to tell your story in a really personal way, that that resonates well and gives them confidence. In your ongoing competence, um, through this process, and then those little notes that you just mentioned, Libby, I love that idea of the handwritten note. Now, one question I have for you is, what about swag? Should I be sending them some elaborate, wonderful, amazing mug or cup or shirt or hat or swag?

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah, so I mean, is it a bad thing to send swag? No, it's not. It's not. There's nothing wrong with swag. We just have to think of it through the lens of it's not a gift, it's marketing. So as long as you're thinking about it properly, that's all I care about. So if you're thinking like this would be a fun little gift to give them with the new logo on it and build excitement, I think in this scenario, swag actually makes. A lot of sense now in a normal circumstance when you're just signing a client for the very first time, I personally don't want something that feels like a gift, swag is not a gift to come at the time of the transaction. What we don't want it to feel like is a, you did business with me, I got paid, therefore I feel obligated to give you a thing, right?

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

personally would love in that brand new client experience. To wait a little bit and then do something that's actually personal, something that makes the client feel seen, makes the client feel heard, makes the client feel known, something that's customized to their likings and their preferences. Now, in this case, on a transition, I think it's actually really appropriate to be like, and guess what? Here's a Yeti with our new logo, and we're so excited. Like I think that's part of that excitement. Building piece and that could definitely come with the handwritten thank you card. In this scenario, I like swag.

Shelby Nicholl:

The other place I like to see a logo pull up, by the way, just as an aside, is often when somebody goes independent, they can get, they can have their own app in the app store, which I just think is the coolest.

Libby Greiwe:

yes.

Shelby Nicholl:

brand new practice. And so then that's fully branded with your new name, et cetera as well. So there's these little touches that can sort of just reinforce the confidence and the excitement with the brand. So yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

and it, and, and what it says is I'm not just like winging it. I'm

Shelby Nicholl:

Right.

Libby Greiwe:

going out on my own and flapping in the wind and like figuring out, you know, building the plane as I fly. Even if you're right, like. I have a brand we've thought this through. I know what I want it to look like, what I want it to feel like. And like you said, it's really important to build that confidence and the competency of what we're doing and getting people excited about it. So having that like website that just says like under construction or coming soon makes

Shelby Nicholl:

No, no, no,

Libby Greiwe:

the idea is not

Shelby Nicholl:

no.

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah. And so we want it to be fully baked. And, and, and it's funny because I feel like I have this reputation on LinkedIn for being anti-sway. And don't get me wrong, I was just at the Charles Schwab Impact Conference and I came home with. So much swag. I love swag, but it is marketing and I think in this circumstance, marketing makes sense because you're launching a new brand.

Shelby Nicholl:

Oh my gosh. Well, if you love the swag at the Schwab Impact, you've, have you been to future proof yet? Because, oh my goodness. I mean, the swag is so good because you're on this beach, so a lot of themed things, et cetera. I mean, it's, it's, it's a strong swag game for sure. Yeah. Alright, well let's talk about Schwab impact because you were just there, you had 800 people that attended your session. When you think about your session and what you were, what you were talking about, maybe also what you heard in the hallways, like what themes really stood out for you from, from your conversations at Schwab? Impact.

Libby Greiwe:

one of my favorite parts about speaking is that line afterwards that's lined up to talk to you. And one of the common themes that those folks had was, there's nothing inherently wrong with my business, right? Like, the business isn't necessarily. Broken clients aren't leaving in droves. It's not like I am bleeding money and I can't figure out how to tourniquet the wound. A lot of advisors are in this place where they're like, I know I want to do better on the client experience side, like our clients are happy, our clients are content, they're not leaving. But I know that I am not delivering the level of experience that I came into this business. Wanting to deliver. And that's really one of the themes that I have seen kind of, and obviously for obvious reasons for my sessions, but I've seen a lot of people saying, thank you for like giving us the track to run on, to build out the systems and processes that actually save us time in our business so that we can redeploy that effort and energy. To enhancing the experience and giving us some structure that allows us to level up the way that we're engaging with our clients and making sure that it's impactful for them. And, and this is not a client pull, this is an advisor push. Like just from those, that innate desire to want to serve people at the highest level and make the experience. You know, steel proof, right? We want our

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

not just satisfied with what we're doing, but we want them to be so excited about their relationship, that they're giving us referrals, that they're lifetime clients, that the lifetime value they wanna be all in with all of their business with us. And that really is achieved through using systems and processes to enhance the client experience.

Shelby Nicholl:

Absolutely. I was at a, a conference a few months ago. It was the one, Matthew Jarvis and Steven Jarvis put on their retirement tax summit event, and one of the advisors I was talking with there, she had such conviction that she's a good advisor. And so her whole thing is how do I get to have more impact with more clients, more conversations with more clients, and, and deliver that impact so that I can benefit them. Even more, right? So I can benefit more people in my community, et cetera. So I love the systems approach and the efficiency mindedness that you bring along with that client experience because it allows advisors to really deepen their impact and expand.

Libby Greiwe:

to serve

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Well, this is, this conversation has been so fantastic and so fun. Libby, again, like, I'm such a fan girl over here. So, I always like to end with a few sort of lightning round questions. and I know AI is, is so much of what you talk about these days. What is like a tool or a tech or an AI hack that would make an advisor's life easier?

Libby Greiwe:

Okay, so currently, and I'm, and they are a podcast sponsor, so I wanna be like ultra transparent, but they're a podcast sponsor because. It's a super cool tool, like I'm not gonna let someone sponsor the show that I don't love the tool. So Quinn, QUIN is an AI agent, so not just like a chat GPT, it literally can do things inside of your business. So it doesn't like just take notes and create a follow up email. It actually goes in and looks at the history of the client from your CRM and adds in that color and that client intel. It can schedule tasks, it can schedule reminders, it can do. So many things. So I use it in my own business and it has saved me anywhere from like 15 to 20 hours a week because it can literally log into this software program and do X, Y, and Z and then once that's complete, it can go over here and load that into my CRM and pull their email and that draft an email for me and put it in my inbox like it is mind blowingly. Cool. what I love about it for advisors is it can. Coordinate all of the tech that you have without you having to go get new tech, if that makes sense. So like it can use your existing CRM, it can use your existing email service provider, it can use your existing, um, planning tools. Like it can go in and integrate all of those together. On your behalf and kind of start to think like an assistant, and it's, it, it saves you a ton of time, but what it also does is it saves your team a ton of time. So it's not necessarily about like taking things off of your team, um, or like replacing jobs. It's really more like taking those Monday repetitive tasks out of the hands of your staff and giving them the freedom and time to go do the stuff that deepens the relationship and do the things that actually matters.

Shelby Nicholl:

Oh my goodness, I've been thinking about this so much and I'm glad to hear that you're using it in your business. It makes me think maybe I can use it in my business. So super excited about that and love how it's using existing technology.'cause one of the things that we can all do is just start stacking up all these little kind of subscriptions and tools, et cetera, and, and then now we've got stuff everywhere, right? And so,

Libby Greiwe:

I need to switch CRMs because,

Shelby Nicholl:

yes.

Libby Greiwe:

we all underestimate how much process change like the drag it actually has on your business. Like it takes six months to adjust to a new CRM, get everything over, get it all smoothed out, plus a ton of tears and headaches in the meantime. So instead of having to constantly switch, you can just make it all talk to each other.

Shelby Nicholl:

Oh my gosh. That sounds beautiful. Beautiful. Okay, last question for you. What is one way that you are living an off script life since you know that's the name of our show? I.

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah, well I think the thing I was always kind of quote unquote known for was really bucking convention when I came into this industry as a 23-year-old female in 2004, when everybody around me was white fat, bald in 50. Um, you know, I set out to build a business that. Didn't look like everybody else's. And it, and it took me a while to really figure this out, and it really was when I was pregnant that I was like, I don't wanna work full time. I really want to have a seven figure firm, but I wanna be working three days a week and I wanna make my business serve the life that I want. And, and, and. Work to live, not the other way around. And I have no, no shade at people who love working that 70, 80 hour a week grind like awesome. You do, you boo boo. I'm not worried about it, but for me it's always been about how do I actually build a business that aligns with my values, my,

Shelby Nicholl:

Mm-hmm.

Libby Greiwe:

levels? Um, how do I. Scale it in a way that allows me to still a life that's not drenched in overwhelm and

Shelby Nicholl:

Yeah.

Libby Greiwe:

up on nights and weekends. And so after I sold my financial planning practice, you know, I did, I got divorced and was like, okay, I. I, I need something to, uh, build back up my, my confidence and my net worth, and like I wanna start doing this coaching again. How am I gonna build this in a way that serves my new life, right? And being really open to, okay, I have my kids one week on and then one week off. And how do I actually wrap my business around my life so that I can be the absolute best version of myself? the time. And so currently my schedule is still, I work off of a model week, which people, if they listen to the podcast, they know I talk about this all the time, but now I have two model weeks. I have an a week and a B week. I have an a week where I don't have my kids, and it looks really, really different. And I have a B week where I do have my boys, and I don't wanna say I hardly work, but. It looks a lot different. It is not that nine to five, like I started this time and I stop at this time. It's really built around serving the life that I want. In this current season,

Shelby Nicholl:

I love that and I think about, that to me is such a perfect example of living off script.'cause on script, when it comes to our schedules, et cetera, is same thing every week. It's an eight to five kind of schedule. We've got lunch from noon to one like it is. The cookie cutter experience and what you've done is you've just taken complete agency over your schedule and you said, I'm gonna have an a week and a B week and they're gonna run differently.'cause that's what's gonna work for me and my family. Much better. I love that. So thank you for sharing that. For all of the, the moms and the parents, and really anybody that's listening, I think that's such a powerful lesson is that we do get to choose. We get to choose. We make a choice every day, every week, every year about how we run our lives, and, and that idea is so much about what advisors off script is about, it's about taking agency. So thank you.

Libby Greiwe:

Yeah, my pleasure.

Shelby Nicholl:

Thank you for being here. This was a fabulous conversation.

Libby Greiwe:

Oh, well thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here and I have really enjoyed getting to know you over the last year or so, and thank you for everything that you do for the advisors that I work with and helping them through their transitions, and it is just a fantastic business you've built and in the way in which you serve. I just, you know, love it. Chef's kiss.

Shelby Nicholl:

And just in closing up to our listeners, um, I hope you're building a practice that you love. And if you're feeling stuck in the weeds, make sure you go check out Libby's podcast and her coaching at the Efficient Advisor. Um, if you're chasing Inbox Zero, I know she's got some great tools like Quinn. The BMO automation people, et cetera, of all of these folks who are trying to scale and help you, give you the tools to scale. So go check out her podcast as well. And until next time, we'll see you soon.

Libby Greiwe:

Thanks so.

Shelby Nicholl:

Thank you.

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