The rewards for financial advisors who transition to a wealth management orientation are significant. Financial advisors who make the transition can increase their incomes by 35 percent or more within a year.
Wealth management is all about delivering solutions predicated on financial products and services to affluent clients in a consultative manner. The complication is that the best solution may very well not be within your sphere of expertise—hence, the necessity for a wealth management team, a network of specialists.
Teamwork takes work. Establishing and maintaining a network of specialists is not an easy task.
There are four phases in this process:
Phase I: Lining up the specialists. Because of the time and effort required to develop and maintain a smooth-running, prosperous wealth management team, it behooves you to be as economical in your efforts as possible.
Start by deciding whether you’re lacking a required expertise. Then assess your own specialties. After looking inside, it is time to look outside. Based on your affluent clientele, what are the most prevalent and important financial issues and problems they are facing? These are the issues you will need to address and problems you will need to solve. If you do not have the necessary expertise, you will certainly need to find someone who does.
Phase II: Locating the desired specialists. If you’re part of a larger financial institution, the requisite specialists might be employees of the firm. Otherwise, it’s often relatively easy to find the requisite expertise by consulting with your peers and other types of professionals.
Phase III: Building the team. Every potential specialist must meet four criteria:
• Specific expertise. Possessing unique knowledge and talents is the first screen in selecting a specialist. The expertise in question must also complement your competencies and skills without being redundant.
• Integrity. The highest ethical standards are indispensable, of course. You must know where the specialist draws the line in the sand.
• Professionalism. In every way ranging from responsiveness to perpetual learning to relationship management, the network participants must embrace professionalism.
• Chemistry between both you and the specialist. There needs to be a comfort level when it comes to working with each of your network participants.
Phase IV: Managing the team. Once a high-quality network is put in place, it is up to you to maintain and manage it. You will also have to spell out financial arrangements among all the professionals in the network.
Your network of specialists must work as a team, even if it is only a team of just two—you and an individual specialist. And, central to this team running well is for everyone to clearly understand who is leading the team. And that person is you.
