HNW magnet: Positioning your practice beyond investment advice

What’s the first meeting with you like? What’s the process from there? How much contact will there be throughout the year? Who do they contact with various issues or questions? If you are looking to win over high-end prospects, the wealth management approach is a compelling one. At the very least, it puts you on […]

By Arthur T. Sanchez | June 24, 2004 | Last updated on June 24, 2004

4 min read

What’s the first meeting with you like?
What’s the process from there?
How much contact will there be throughout the year?
Who do they contact with various issues or questions?

If you are looking to win over high-end prospects, the wealth management approach is a compelling one. At the very least, it puts you on a level playing field with many of your competitors. Depending on the type of team you are able to assemble and how well you are able to communicate the value and benefits of your approach to wealth management, it could also take your business to the next level.

As for existing clients, very few of them worry about your value as an advisor when the markets are up, but when the markets are uncertain or volatile, everyone worries. So the more solid and insulated your practice is because you handle all aspects of wealth management, the less likely your clients will leave.

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Art Sanchez is regional vice-president, Toronto region, for Manulife Investments. For more information on Manulife’s financial protection and wealth management products, please visit www.manulife.ca. Art can be contacted directly at art_sanchez@manulife.com or (416) 436-7041.

06/24/04

Arthur T. Sanchez

What’s the first meeting with you like?
What’s the process from there?
How much contact will there be throughout the year?
Who do they contact with various issues or questions?

• • •

06/24/04

(June 2004) Over time, investment advice becomes just one aspect of a total wealth management portfolio. As clients grow older, their needs change — needs for insurance, estate planning and tax planning, to name a few, all come into play. And what clients want is one person to do it all, not several people, which is basically how wealth management came into being.

Strength in numbers

The first challenge an advisor has to overcome in becoming a wealth manager is assembling his team. A solid team will typically include members such as an estate planning specialist, perhaps a lawyer who also works on the estate planning side and an accountant. Many advisors are starting to include photos of these team members in their marketing materials to emphasize and highlight the expertise they have access to.

The big advantage of the team approach to wealth management is not just a better served client — it’s also a more loyal client. Think of a retail bank. If a customer just has a chequing account there, there aren’t a lot of compelling reasons for complete loyalty on her part. But if she has a chequing account, a credit card, a savings account, a line of credit and a mortgage all at the same bank, it’s pretty tough to leave this one-stop service. The same holds true for your clients.

Massaging your message

Once your team is in place, the next biggest challenge is overcoming the mindset of the general investor. It’s up to you to educate your clients and prospects, making them aware that you are more than just stocks, bonds and mutual funds.

One of the best ways to introduce your full range of wealth management services to prospects — or to re-introduce your services to existing clients — is through a presentation that tells them exactly who you are, what you do and how you service clients. For prospects, these are the three questions they need answered to determine why you are different from their current advisor and what will happen if they switch to you. For existing clients, this will help you avoid the painful, “But I didn’t know you did that, so I went with this other advisor” conversation.

Who you are

In this introductory section of your presentation, talk about your team and why you developed it. To personalize your presentation, include pictures of you and your team, so your audience is clear on which team member would take care of which need or issue. Remember, there is strength in numbers — the more expertise you have on your team, the more credibility you have.

Try to talk a little about yourself and your interests and hobbies. This is like a job interview — people want to be able to connect with you on a personal level as well.

What you do

In this section of the presentation, we always encourage advisors to tell a story that demonstrates how you would use all facets of your wealth management arsenal to meet a client’s particular needs.

For example, if you are speaking to a group of business owners, you may wish to tell them about your client Tom, who came to you 10 years ago to for help with his RRSP and to set up a non-registered account. Ten years later, you used his RRSP to help him buy his first home and the capital from his non-registered account to start his own IT business. As a new business owner now with wife and child, Tom’s insurance needs also changed, so you introduced products such as critical illness and arranged for insurance for his company. Addressing the issue of creditor protection, you also moved his RRSP into an individual pension plan, along with moving some of his non-registered assets into seg funds to provide additional protection while still allowing them to grow.

The point of an illustration such as this is to emphasize that as a client grows and his needs change (something all of your audience members will relate to), you and your team can introduce strategies and products to facilitate these needs. And that’s the big difference between wealth management and just providing investment advice.

How you service clients

This last section of your presentation is really just an overview of what your clients can expect from you and your team:

What’s the first meeting with you like?
What’s the process from there?
How much contact will there be throughout the year?
Who do they contact with various issues or questions?

• • •

06/24/04

Strength in numbers

Massaging your message

Who you are

Try to talk a little about yourself and your interests and hobbies. This is like a job interview — people want to be able to connect with you on a personal level as well.

What you do

How you service clients

This last section of your presentation is really just an overview of what your clients can expect from you and your team:

What’s the first meeting with you like?
What’s the process from there?
How much contact will there be throughout the year?
Who do they contact with various issues or questions?

• • •

06/24/04

Arthur T. Sanchez

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