Ross Levin, of Accredited Investors in Edina, Minn., is one of very few advisors who has consciously thought out the message he wants his office space to send to clients. “We’re competing most often with banks and trust companies for our clients,” he says. “So we decided to make our office look more like an ad agency than a traditional money management or law firm.”

When Accredited doubled its three-year-old space this past January—the staff of 33 now occupies 16,000 square feet—Levin had the public areas decorated with what he describes as “fun” colors (mostly bright yellows and blues) and “quirky” contemporary art, and installed big flat-panel television screens in each of six staff conference rooms and eight client meeting rooms. This, he says, emphasizes his company’s creativity and uniqueness, which are its strengths, and de-emphasizes what could be considered a weakness—not being part of a multinational financial services conglomerate that takes out Super Bowl advertisements.

Curt Weil, of Lasecke Weil Wealth Advisory Group in Palo Alto, decided to make his office space special by moving his staff into a 1940s-era house a few blocks down the street from Stanford University. Clients can park in a preferred spot—which Weil describes as “pure gold” in downtown Palo Alto—in the first half of the driveway; the staff parks in the paved back yard. The lobby area is a living room environment with a custom-designed front desk for the office manager/receptionist (green, to harmonize with the carpet), fireplace, three comfortable armchairs and flowers set on a credenza. “We get consistently positive feedback about our space,” Weil says, adding that clients describe it as “elegant but not formal,” “warm and welcoming,” “professional and yet home-like.”

Kathleen Rehl, of Rehl Financial Advisors in Land O’Lakes, Fla., prefers to take differentiation with large financial services institutions to another level and works out of her home. “I love my 10-second commute,” she admits.

Her office, however, is a bit different from the normal converted bedroom or space over the garage. When she moved from Ohio to Florida and built her current residence, she integrated the office structure she wanted. “I now have a house in my office, rather than an office in my house,” she says.

Half of the building is dedicated to her planning firm, including her own office, which is connected to a room where her two assistants work. Rehl also has an overflow office that’s used for special projects, such as assembling seminar workbooks and preparing mailings, as well as storing office supplies. The kitchen has become shared home office space, and the great room, with its large conference table, doubles as a waiting area. “I guess you could say that my clients are treated as guests in my home,” says Rehl. “Some of my out-of-state clients have stayed in my house overnight.” Turns out that the table in the overflow office folds into a comfortable queen-size bed, making an extra guest bedroom.

With the real estate decline well into its second year and the (thus far) unconfirmed recession working its way through the economy, financial advisors are facing an unusual opportunity to renegotiate their leases or move into new quarters at reduced rates. This offers a chance to redesign their office setup; however, very little has been written about what an ideal planning office should look like, or what to consider beforehand when setting up the work environment.

As Levin, Weil and Rehl demonstrate, there is a lot of variation in what advisors consider ideal. But these and other advisors are also pioneering what may become the first standards for professional planning office design in the marketplace.

First Impressions

What does a client or prospect experience when entering your office? Weil says that his clients have to climb only one step from ground level to walk into the front door, and the walk from the parking lot to the office is short—a boon for elderly clients. Once they enter the office, observes Craig Phillips, of Client 1st Advisors in Clearwater, Fla., many advisors create exactly the wrong impression right off the bat. “I’ve seen a number of planning office lobbies with TVs tuned into ‘financial pornography’ such as CNBC,” he says. “Ditch the TV and have a few high-end, nonfinancial periodicals to read,” he suggests.

Dan Hawley, who practices in Walnut Creek, Calif., scatters lifestyle publications like Travel & Leisure and National Geographic Traveler around his waiting area. “I want clients’ attention on the lifestyle they want to attain,” he says, “instead of having them read a trade magazine ad for ‘Winning Big with Equity Index Annuities’ with a cartoon figure of a guy with money bags in his ham fists.”

Barbara Culver, of Resonate Companies in Cincinnati, installed a wall of bookshelves and filled it with some of her favorite books. “Before long, it turned into a lending library,” she says. “When clients arrive, they’re invited to browse the library before they’re seated. If anything I have there is of interest, they simply take it home, along with whatever I’ve prepared for the meeting.”

When clients return the books they borrowed from Culver, they will often bring their own favorites for her to add to the collection. “It has created a new way to connect with clients, and made for some very interesting discussions,” she says, “along with great new reading material for me.”

David Hermann, who practices in Danville, Calif., offers a caveat that you might not think about when you’re configuring a lobby space. “For privacy reasons,” he says, “clients in the lobby or conference room should not be able to see the computer screens of the receptionist or any other staff person.” Also, he says, don’t make access to the mail room/kitchen/file room visible from the conference room or lobby area. “We didn’t think about that,” says Hermann, “and now we regret the oversight.”

Where to Take a Meeting

What about the space where advisors and clients sit down to talk? Interestingly, there seems to be a trend away from having all meetings in a formal conference room. “Our offices are big enough to include round tables for meetings,” says Glenn Mickelson, whose two-advisor practice occupies 950 square feet in Fairfax, Va. “When we’re not meeting with clients, we get to enjoy having a bit of space rather than paying for a room that’s not in use. When we are with clients, they get to see where we work, how we work and some of our personal effects. I think this shows our human side.”

Greg Friedman, who practices in San Francisco, opted for a large conference room for certain client and staff meetings, but then gave each of his two lead advisors, plus an associate, a roomy 10-by-15-foot office equipped with a conference table that seats four. “That way, the advisor can have a client meeting and we still have a conference room available,” he says. The arrangement eliminates the hassle of scheduling a single conference room, and offers greater flexibility.

Michelle Borne, of Kabarec Financial Advisors in Palatine, Ill., also likes having a conference room plus large offices for advisors. “For new prospective and initial client meetings, we often use the conference room,” she reports. Once the firm has developed a comfortable working relationship with the clients, Borne or company founder Mike Kabarec will meet with them in their individual offices. “Having three possible conference spaces works well,” Borne adds. “There are times when we have several meetings going on at once, and we never lack for privacy.”

Whether you use an office or a conference room, functionality matters. Hermann suggests that you double the ventilation in any conference room, because the marker fumes on a whiteboard can be obnoxious—and because some people tend to perspire. “Nothing is worse than having a meeting with a new client right after a meeting with someone who had body odor,” he says.

Hermann also points out that after everybody is seated (his table seats six, but generally only three or four people are in the room), you want to have enough room so that you can use a whiteboard without bumping into anyone. In addition, he says, keep the meeting table to about 36 inches across, no larger, so the client can read papers while the planner presents them upside down and points out important information. “If the table is too wide, you can’t do that,” he says.

Instead of trying to view printouts upside down, Jerry Webb, of Prairie Financial Group in Naperville, IL, has client information and planning reports projected onto a large screen in his conference room. Then he gives a laser pointer to each participant. “Anyone can direct our attention to a specific part of the report,” he says.

Working Areas

In addition to private rooms, some advisors set aside open spaces where workers can congregate. Kay Kramer, who practices in Edina, Minn., says that it’s important for teamwork to include a good general workspace with a home for shared devices like the copier, fax machine and kitchen facilities. Weil says that the equipment room—where the server, copier, filing cabinet, fax and scanner are located—can be set up in whatever largish, awkward space you have that wouldn’t work as an office.

Levin’s office includes several sitting areas. The most popular one has chairs around a gas fireplace. That’s where his staff tends to congregate and talk about client issues. At Accredited, everybody works in modular cubicles (this includes principals). But the firm has invested in staff amenities: an exercise room and showers, a big grill and patio area, a kitchen and eating areas, and a quiet room where mothers can nurse.

Other advisors report considerations that can be overlooked if you simply look at an architectural diagram. Take lighting, for instance. “In addition to the strategically placed incandescent lamps, our toned-down overhead lighting includes the truest natural-light fluorescent bulbs we can buy,” says Russ Ketron, of Ketron Financial in Novato, Calif. “This light is much easier on the eyes, creates a softer look to the office and will even power a solar calculator.”

Home At Work

Rehl is not the only advisor who has managed to cut her commute to the office from hours to seconds; indeed, working at home appears to be a growing phenomenon in the planning community, as computer, telephone and general office technology become less expensive and more efficient. Nor is working from home necessarily viewed as a sign of unprofessionalism by would-be clients. “My home office is located in the community, and I am perceived as a participant in the community,” says Bill Bengen, in response to the charge that not having a formal office renders him invisible to his potential client base in El Cajon, Calif. “The office is secure, as my home has excellent security,” he adds, “and I am there to watch over it all the time. I can work whenever and as often as I please, if client needs demand it. I have a

40-foot commute each morning from my bedroom—which means zero wasted time, transportation costs and personal stress.

Others talk about the personal and tax benefits. When you have an outside office, you are expected to be there during business hours for drop-in traffic—and that can affect your quality of life in negative ways. “The flexibility is amazing,” says Molly Jarmusz, who practices in Winnetka, Ill. “I can sneak in a few hours if I happen to be up early or have some time at night. It saves on rent money and the tax breaks are nothing to sneeze at either. I can deduct a portion of my utilities, depreciate my part of my house and deduct part of my mortgage interest on my Schedule C.”

Often the office space can serve double duty. Jarmusz meets with clients in her study—which includes bookcases, two couches, a fireplace and a large table. “I carefully created this space for the dual role of work and family space where the kids can do their homework,” she says. But she believes that there’s an advantage to maintaining some separation between the work area and the rest of the home, as a bulwark against lack of discipline or, conversely, working too much. Adds Chris Revak, who practices in Minneapolis: “I moved the office from the house to a separate dedicated space above the garage. The separation has been key,” he continues, “as I have small children who really never understood when Dad was at work or if he was available to play.”

Planners with home offices put a great deal of thought into how to meet with prospects and clients—and where. Some advisors are comfortable meeting in the house, but most home-based planners have alternate locations. Bobbie Munroe, of Fraser Financial in Atlanta, meets most clients at her home. But she also maintains a membership at a business club: The Georgian Club near Cobb Galleria. “I use it for client appreciation events and some lunch meetings,” she says. Jarmusz meets with some prospects at a local coffeehouse.

Several home-based advisors rent executive suites, which offer all the amenities of an office except the actual office itself. Chuck Bowes, who practices in Walnut Creek, Calif., has an office at a local Regus Business Center—one of 950 Regus locations around the country. “It gives us a mailing address, phone answering with voicemail and access to conference room space,” he says. For the $3,850 annual fee, he gets 20 hours per month of conference room time, with the option to pay an hourly rate for additional time. “Our letterhead has a class A address, our phones are professionally answered during business hours, and if clients want to meet there, that is fine with us,” he says. “And if we ever had a need around the world, we’d be able to get space.”

Lesley Brey, who practices in Honolulu, has the most elaborate network of potential places to meet. At the high end is a downtown business club that is centrally located and has great meeting rooms. Brey will also meet for lunch at a restaurant or at Starbucks, which she says is good for first meetings, when the topics are more social than technical and the advisor and client can decide whether they like each other. She will also meet some clients at home. “Morning meetings are a good way to have both members of a working couple present,” she says.

Conscious Spacing

We may be entering a time when advisors are more intentional about their work environments, and pay more attention to the impression they make on clients and prospects, as well as the efficiencies that can be gained from better-designed office space. This is leading to some interesting professional collaborations, such as when Hank Zapisek, who practices in San Diego, hired a designer to apply the principles of feng shui to his office. “The designer picked up on the anxiety people feel when dealing with money issues,” Zapisek says. “We needed to create a soothing environment with water features—and, of course, plants.”

Will Rogers in Augusta, Ga., has adopted a habit which advisors might consider even if they aren’t planning to move into a new space any time soon. “At least once a year, I walk into my office as if I were a client,” he says. “I sit in the lobby, walk down the hall and sit in the clients’ chairs. I ask myself, what messages am I hearing from the stuff on the wall, the layout and what’s sitting out? One of the best things advisors can do is see what their clients see.”

The exercise has led to a lot of little improvements, such as painting over scuff marks and replacing drab pictures with professionally framed photographs of Rogers’ sailboats (“They say a lot more about me than my CFP certificate,” he says). “Every year, I notice something,” he says.

Zapisek reports that since he’s been paying conscious attention to his office space, good things have happened which seem unrelated to image—suggesting that design issues are more important than most advisors realize. “As crazy as it sounds,” he says, “my prosperity increased within days, and we are having a banner year servicing our clients.”

Bob Veres is publisher of Inside Information (www.bobveres.com), which keeps advisors on the cutting edge of practice management, marketing and client service issues.