Session Recap: The Evolving Role of the Wealth Advisor
In today’s fast-paced and media-driven environment, wealth advisors see themselves as everything from a trusted partner to an educator to a financial therapist. Today’s advisors must be great listeners, crisis managers and transparent communicators. They must have a high IQ, and an equally high EQ. They must provide accurate, quick information to clients, and also be excellent facilitators of dialogue and connectors of goals and dreams.
Savvy advisors are leaning in and embracing these new aspects of their role with clients. They also realize that clients themselves are evolving in a multitude of ways:
- While previously clients may have worked with only one wealth advisor, today we know clients often have multiple advisors. The single-advisor model has shifted to team collaboration, with the client always at the center.
- Clients are more knowledgeable and sophisticated than ever. With the vast information that’s available via the Internet and media, clients are self-educated and want to partner in decision making.
- The speed at which we do business is much faster, so clients expect a faster answer. Clients have more access – and faster access – to information, and they demand a quicker response. Advisors have to adjust accordingly.
- Clients want to see the impact of their wealth during their lifetime. They want to invest in things that have a positive impact in the world, and make a difference. And they want to witness this impact.
- Client decisions are increasingly tied to the rising generation’s influence on decision making within the family. Decisions aren’t just top down anymore. The younger generation is pushing up their values. This change creates an interesting dynamic with the family, and an opportunity for advisors to facilitate discussion.
- Clients have a longer life span, and relationships now reach across multi generations. Questions arise as to succession and transition, which again allows advisors to help work through these decisions.
- Clients today are more diverse than ever, with more women and people of color as wealth creators and wealth owners. This requires a thoughtful, tailored approach by advisors.
- Most recently with the pandemic, clients are seemingly accepting of the new digital ways we connect, but it is important for advisors to continue to stay personally engaged.
All this to say, in order for you to meet your client where they are, you can utilize numerous tactics to stay on top of your game and embrace your evolving role as an advisor:
Invest in technology. Our ability to employ good technology showcases our competence. Seek best-in-class technology that provides efficient and digestible data management, so you can quickly provide clients with simple, accurate and easy to understand information. Make sure your online presence and social media is in top shape, easy to navigate and consume, with updated and valuable information.
Maximize client experience. The client is at the center of everything you do. Always be thinking alongside your client, looking ahead, and considering their best interests. Client experience is now more fluid, individual and responsive. Be consistent, but don’t be standard – in other words, go above and beyond to personalize every interaction. Let the client be your guide in what they want and how they want it. Pay attention to the little things – these “soft experiences,” such as sending flowers for a birthday, recognizing a career move, or playing tennis together on a Sunday afternoon, are the glue that makes your clients stick.
Be a good partner. Ultimately, you are a partner, working in lock-step with your clients. Team work and collaboration are #1. Listen to them; seek to understand. Be patient in developing the relationship. Continue teaching your clients and bringing them along. Help clients understand the range of choices and make decisions together. Clients expect us to provide great solutions. But more importantly, they want to know that the person sitting across the table from them truly cares, and has a vested interest in their life and their success.
Do the right thing. Experts agree – the most important thing you can do for your clients…is to do the right thing. Don’t cut corners. By doing the right thing each and every time, your clients will trust and appreciate you. They will know without a doubt that you care about them, and the relationship will blossom, leading to increased satisfaction for all parties. When you do the right thing, people like you, and they want to work with you.
We can all agree that clients want advisors to simplify their life. Being wealthy is just as complex as it’s always been. Advisors must come to the table with more insights and more advice; and they must bring better ideas and better decisions. By fine tuning and appropriately orchestrating your approach, your clients will appreciate your value and embrace you as their advisor and partner.
 | David Toth is a managing director at FOX. In his role, he constructs actionable insights and strategic analyses for family offices and wealth management advisor members. He developed a pathway of initiatives that assist family offices and wealth advisors in building pricing strategies, elevating client experience, talent management strategies and optimizing team structure, and achieving profitable growth. David has authored a number of reports including our recently published study on the “Transformation of the Ultra-Wealth Business.” David serves as co-moderator of FOX’s Multi-Family Office (MFO), Integrated Wealth Advisor (IWAC) Councils, and the Strategic CIO Council (SCIOC). Areas of Expertise: Industry Trends, Advisor Strategies |