Firm: Scotia Wealth Management
Location: Calgary, AB
Employees: 2
Team: 6
Target clients: Business owners and professionals
Eric Bennett’s wealth management team might not be large, but thanks to his firm, Scotia Wealth Management, Bennett has been able to surround himself with an array of specialists to provide his clients with well-rounded advice. This has been one of the biggest assets to Bennett as he has built his practice over the past 10 years, as knowing he has access to those specialists has allowed him to focus more on client relationships and overall business growth.
Bennett established his practice with ScotiaMcLeod in 2010 after spending multiple years as an associate, during which he learned the importance of marketing when growing a wealth management business.
“When I was working as an associate, each month we would look at the revenue numbers, and if we had an exceptional month, we would continue to reinvest in our brand and creating awareness of what we could offer to clients,” he says. “That continues to be my approach today.”
When he started the practice, Bennett poured resources into marketing initiatives like seminars and cold calling. When he first moved to ScotiaMcLeod, he still needed to tap external specialists to create a full-service offering. But that changed five years ago when the firm decided to do away with silos and create a more collaborative, holistic offering, formally launching Scotia Wealth Management.
“What drew me to ScotiaMcLeod was all of the support they offered,” Bennett says. “Here were the people to help you; here was everything you need to build your business the way you want. When they made the switch, it just unified the team process into one that is quite seamless for our clients.”
Now, in addition to a senior associate, Bennett has an estate and trust consultant, insurance expert, financial planner, and private banking director as part of his team.
“It makes things so much easier,” he says. “Having conversations with new clients and being able to put them in the hands of a professional who can create their financial plan, help with trust and estate planning, and then report back to me ensures each client can have the entirety of their wealth management needs delivered in one place by one team. I think it really has been the reason we have been able to grow the way we have.”
Bennett’s team works primarily with business owners and professionals who tend to have complex structures in place and who are mainly dealing with pools of capital in non-registered accounts. Because of that, his approach stresses that it isn’t what you make, but what you keep. That has also led to a focus on tax planning and structuring.
“We have found that leading with a tax-first point of view tends to get interest from our clients,” Bennett says. “When we look at a portfolio, there may be good returns, but if the client is in a high tax bracket, we look at how we can structure them to potentially move into a lower bracket, avoid punishing clawbacks and reduce overall tax liabilities where we can. When we do that, it tends to create a positive emotional response. We find that people are very open to strategies to avoid paying unnecessary taxes.”
While that tax focus is one element that has made Bennett and his team successful, another is their attention to the behavioural side of finance.
“Early on, I realized I wasn’t great at picking stocks or individual fund managers,” Bennett says. “I can remember starting out with a pitch book to sell to potential clients. I soon realized it’s not much use if you don’t know anything about them in the first place. That’s when I just started to have real conversations with people. I realized managing behaviour is a better strategy to achieve better outcomes, instead of selling a product to someone.”
In the last decade, Bennett has also shifted his business focus from building a client base to boosting client engagement. That has taken him from holding multiple seminars a year to focusing more on the client experiences, which has led to a series of events he calls the Enriched Thinking Series.
“It is a series of talks on all subjects, not necessarily investment related,” he explains. “We bring clients out with their friends and family. We feel that they may have been to more than their share of investment presentations; however, this is another way to get in front of folks and offer a unique shared experience.”
At a recent even, hosted at a local Tesla dealership, Bennett brought in an expert to talk about the history of artificial intelligence. After the talk, he and his clients got to test some of the cars. Bennett’s efforts have clearly paid off: He was one of the top 20 fastest-growing advisors across Canada within Scotia Wealth Management last year, and he has been nominated for multiple industry awards.
Moving forward, he says his goal is for his team to focus more on the financial planning side of the business to create plans that are updated in real time, 24/7. For now, though, Bennett, like many other advisors, is just looking to confront the challenges the world has seen in the last few months.
“We are not here to defend an old map; we are here to be the guides in a changing landscape and provide the best tools for clients,” he says. “Having access to the people we do during these unforeseen times is extremely valuable.”
