Advisor says investment industry has the whole process back to front
Creating a positive client experience often comes down to one crucial factor – listening.
According to Jason Pereira, senior financial consultant at Woodgate Financial & IPC Securities Corp, the vast majority of advisors simply show prospects what they want them to do rather than what the client is actually requesting.
It’s just one aspect of developing an award-winning business development strategy Pereira will discuss during a Wealth Professional webinar on July 11, along with panellists Zachary Sikorski, director, Sun Life Financial; Susan Latremoille, wealth advisor, The Latremoille Group, Richardson GMP Limited; and Diane Nash, wealth advisor, NASH Family Wealth Management, National Bank Financial.
Other topics include: lead generation strategies; driving growth through commercial strategy and operational strategies that support successful sales.
Pereira said his firm wins business because rivals simply present to people for five minutes before recommending a portfolio that is suited only to the firm.
He said: “The vast majority of advisors put forth what they want to do themselves without listening to the client and that is a huge fundamental error.”
The other mistake advisors make, he said, is that they talk about investing a client’s money without a financial plan and IPS in place.
He added: “This industry does that all the time: 'Transfer your account and I will turn around and produce a financial plan'. Well, what are you doing there? Two things, a; you’re signalling that you don’t really care about the financial plan, it’s a secondary concern and, b; all you care about is the investments.
“We put a financial plan and an IPS in place with full fee disclosure, written and with our signatures on it, prior to the client ever transferring over a single dollar.
“By the time they’ve done that, they’ve not only bought into the financial planning process, bought into the investment process and bought into the fees that they are going to pay.
“But you can’t do that unless you are willing to charge upfront for financial plans and frankly I’ve met only a handful of advisors who have the balls to do that – and that’s not counting the fee-only advisors who exist because the only thing they sell is financial plans.
“But people who manage money, all they want to do is give it away as the free toy in the box. Well, how valuable is a free financial plan, actually? What is the client’s perception of value of something you give away for free?”
