It may sound counterintuitive, but BC advisor Thane Stenner has methodically cut client numbers in order to grow his business.
Those clients Thane Stenner held onto after paring back the size of his book are so glad the WP Awards finalist did.
“In your career you morph and you evolve and you change things and I’m no different,” said Stenner, up for two awards at the inaugural gala ceremony this June 5 in Toronto.. “At the end of the day I said I want to know my clients exceptionally well and in order to that it meant I had to go back to very few clients and really select them well.”
The process of culling his practice began in earnest about 10 years ago when he made the decision to methodically transition his practice from 600 families down to 10 clients. Not an easy task, the process took approximately five years to accomplish; he then began bringing on new, wealthier clients.
“I grew my practice over the years to six or seven-hundred million. Over the last five years I’ve been bringing on 8-10 new relationships per year in the $10 million-plus space,” says Stenner. “So, today we have the highest or second-highest average household account size within our firm [Richardson GMP] with 51 clients across Canada and minimum net worth of $10 million up to a billion-plus.”
Asked about a moment in time when Stenner felt he’d made it as an advisor, he suggested it was when he hit $100 million in assets under management, a common refrain from advisors working with high-net-worth clients in Canada.
But true success for finalists in the inaugural Wealth Professional Awards brought to you by Invesco comes from client relationships that get better over time. Stenner’s transition to a smaller group of clients has allowed him to achieve exactly that.
“I have worked with Thane and his team for a number of years and have been extremely impressed by the level of caring and professionalism that they express in working with their clients,” says one client, “BG.” “In addition to great service they demonstrate a high level of technical expertise in managing their clients’ investments assets.”
Thane Stenner, CIM®, FCSI is Director, Wealth Management, Portfolio Manager for ultra-high net worth investors at StennerZohny Investment Partners+, a multi-family office within Richardson GMP Limited, a firm with $27B in assets under advisement. His website is www.stennerzohny.com.
Thane Stenner was awarded as one of the Best Financial Advisors in Western Canada. See the full winners in Wealth Professionals special report.
