No shortage of top ideas, speakers at Elite Advisor Summit

(May 2003) From prospecting to product to personal freedom, the Strategy Institute’s recent Elite Advisor Summit and its lineup of industry experts offered plenty of food for thought and actionable ideas for each of the 150 or so participants in attendance.

Dan Sullivan, founder and president of The Strategic Coach, an entrepreneur development company familiar to many financial advisors, headlined day one of the two-day event, which was held in Kleinburg, Ontario. Sullivan delivered a keynote address entitled “The Ten Freedoms of the Smart Entrepreneur,” based on his advocacy for “the constant expansion of personal freedom in every area of life.”

Sullivan emphasized that the purpose of making money is to gain personal freedom and his talk pointed out ten things most people would like to be free to do or be free from. According to Sullivan, expanding these freedoms leads to a more focused and satisfied you, which in turn leads to an improved practice.

“There are no jobs, there’s just value creation,” said Sullivan, noting that those who bring leadership, relationship building and creativity to the world create value. Advisors can best create value by delegating their weaknesses and concentrating on doing what they do best.

Sullivan added that advisors should allot their time in accordance to priorities, and determine what stands in the way of their picture of the future.

Norman Levine, a 56-year U.S. insurance industry veteran, entrepreneur, star salesman and author followed Sullivan at the podium. Levine spoke on relationship selling, or what he calls “a passion for compassion.”

“Advisors don’t talk; they listen (with their heart),” he said. “If you talk more than the prospect, then you are selling. Learn to listen.”

That old-fashioned wisdom made way for Toreigh Stuart, CEO of Blumont Capital Corporation. Stuart spoke on the hedge fund industry, noting that on average, hedge funds have protected investors’ assets much better than mutual funds or stocks, yet are still perceived to be risky.

Stuart then dispelled a number of myths about hedge funds, but not without mentioning some warning signs and disadvantages of hedge funds. For the advisor wanting to improve clients’ overall returns while maintaining a relatively conservative stance, he recommended a fund of funds approach.

Other highlights from the conference included industry guru and U.S.-based consultant John Bowen Jr. drilling down on a survey of financial advisors that his firm, CEG Worldwide, conducted for the Investment Company Institute, the U.S. equivalent of IFIC. In that survey, most respondents described themselves as client-centred. However, Bowen noted that behavioural research has found the vast majority of advisors are actually investment centred, an approach that is detrimental. Bowen showed that advisors who personally called or met with clients in the wake of the September 11th tragedy had the highest satisfaction rating from their clients and were most likely to retain their clients’ business.

Bowen concluded that market volatility is the perfect environment for proactive, client-centred advisors to gather new business.

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The Elite Advisor Summit also included some valuable advice and insights on building a better practice in two separate presentations from well-known advisor Kurt Rosentreter and Standard Life Mutual Funds senior vice president Bernard Letendre. For a closer look at these presentations, please click on the links below:

Prominent business coaches frequently proclaim that the best financial advisors are ruthless about weeding out their client base. But an internal survey conducted by Standard Life suggests that top performers actually have more clients than the average advisor. For full details, please click here.

Want to develop your high-net-worth client base fast? “A lot of people don’t have 30 years to build a relationship with [someone like] Ted Rogers,” says Kurt Rosentreter, so he recommends spending $10,000 a year on two accountants, an investment that will net you more wealthy clients “than you will ever need.” Curious? For full details on Rosentreter’s strategy, please click here.

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Donna Green, MA, CFP, is a personal finance writer and assistant author of The New Investment Frontier, A Guide to Exchange Traded Funds for Canadians, and Surprise! You’re Wealthy: A Woman’s Guide to Protecting Her Wealth.

(05/20/03)