the four types of professionals … and which one you need to be.
by anthony glomski and russ alan prince
your $5-million high-net-worth practice
over the last decade with rising markets and the ranks of the wealthy swelling, it has certainly been possible to build a $5 million high-net-worth practice.
more: the essential process for building a high-net-worth practice | what the wealthy need | setting financial and practice goals during covid-19 | 4 components of a high-net-worth practice | life insurance as part of wealth management | mistresses, mister-esses and accountants | the coming boom in tax services for the super-rich
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even with soaring competition, using the very same approach as we are discussing, you could have consistently generated those kinds of revenues or better.
so, what is the difference today? the difference is covid-19.
consider the modified equation from a previous post:
conviction + process + expertise + the covid-19 crisis =
$5 million high-net-worth practice built quickly
we, like everyone else in the world, eagerly wait for the covid-19 crisis to end. people dying, getting sick, and even those surviving getting sick, possibly having longer-term adverse health consequences, is something we all want to end as fast as possible. hopefully, medical science will come up with a solution quickly.
this health care crisis has also morphed into a severe economic crisis. at one point, there were more people out of work in the united states than during the great depression. sadly, the financial pain is going to continue for some time to come.
throughout this disaster, the wealthy persist. while some of them have seen their fortunes somewhat deplete, many others have substantially increased their net worth. what is also likely to happen is that as the world heals, the wealthy will collect assets and grow wealthier, and other people will not. as the saying goes, “the rich get richer.”
implications of the covid-19 crisis for your high-net-worth practice
this disaster is providing you more opportunities to shine and cultivate the wealthy than before. pre-crisis the economy was going strong, and the markets were defying gravity. now, there are severe economic problems that are unlikely to disappear very soon.
again, it was always possible to build a $5 million high-net-worth practice, but it would have likely taken longer. the covid-19 crisis is dramatically shrinking the time it takes to generate significant new business.
becoming a hero to the wealthy and other professionals: if you are able to establish and enhance your business relationships, and you are able to deliver you and your firm’s expertise, more of the wealthy than ever before are likely to become your clients. you can establish and enhance the business relationship by using the everyone wins process. your expertise is the deliverables of your high-net-worth practice.
your ability to bring some semblance of composure and rationality can alone make you a hero to the wealthy as well as professionals who can refer the wealthy to your high-net-worth practice. it is not as if you have the answers. you do not know when the covid-19 crisis will end. you do not know when the economy will be up and running strongly.
what you can do is help other people better deal with some of the stresses and pain the covid-19 crisis is bringing. you can form sincere human connections that make it easier for other people to cope. you can provide ways for them to think through their circumstances to better deal with things today and come out strong when the covid-19 crisis abates.
by being a hero to these people, you are also going to end up being incredibly more successful.
very importantly, the pre-crisis environment hid a lot of flaws and mistakes the wealthy were making. these actions are now being uncovered. by connecting using the everyone wins process, you can help fix their problems and improve their situations.
bottom line: the wealthy will pay you well for helping them through the covid-19 crisis. by doing so, you will also be their hero and their accountant now and afterward. you will also often end up with a lot more business.
it has always been the case that a large percentage of the wealthy get poorly served. it has become much more evident because of the covid-19 crisis. an excellent way to understand this is to consider the four types of professionals.
four types of professionals
we have been able to segment professionals working with their wealth based on their intent and expertise. of course, the wealthy want to work with experts who are focused on their well-being and who are extremely technically capable. these are the “true professionals.” the other three types are likely more pervasive in the accounting profession as well as all the other professionals catering to the wealthy:
- true professionals: this is who you need to be. true professionals are experts in their respective fields who are recognized by peers, other professionals and clients as leading authorities. they are very talented and highly adept. they are sincerely motivated to deliver the best solutions available to help their clients succeed.
- pretenders: most professionals working with much of the wealthy are probably pretenders. they want to do a perfect job for their clients but lack the knowledge and capabilities to do so. pretenders’ technical expertise is often limited, thereby resulting in substandard or inaccurate recommendations and services. the thing about pretenders is that they do not know what they do not know.
- predators: the criminals intent on separating the wealthy from their monies are predators. they are the con artists and hustlers resolved to steal a wealthy individual’s money through cunning, guile and duplicity. predators work outside the law and seek to manipulate the wealthy through scheming and deception, capitalizing on the greed, naiveté or goodwill of their intended victims. predators may or may not be technically sophisticated. however, they are usually superbly capable of building false but convincing rapport and trust. their ability to succeed is very much a function of people believing in them.
- exploiters: these professionals are often quite technically adept, but they regularly push the envelope, thereby creating a strong possibility of severely negative results for their clients. (not for themselves – for their clients!) unlike pretenders, they are usually very knowledgeable and skilled and do not engage in anything that is presently illegal. however, they are rarely – if ever – looking out for the best interests of their clients. instead, they promote solutions that are often inappropriate or structured in ways that may produce terrible outcomes down the line. these solutions are big paydays for them. like predators, exploiters are in it exclusively for themselves.
when the economy is booming and the world is in its “normal” state of dysfunction, pretenders, predators and exploiters can be fairly hard to identify. the good times mask a lot of sins. because of the covid-19 crisis, many of these sins are becoming apparent. consequently, the wealthy are looking for true professionals.
as a true professional, you can make a big difference in the lives of the wealthy. making a difference can readily translate into having a $5 million high-net-worth practice. you can, for instance, help many of the wealthy re-evaluate their professional relationships through stress testing.
helping other professionals: a related implication of the covid-19 crisis is that you can be a hero to other professionals who can potentially send you wealthy clients for your high-net-worth practice. the way you become a hero is to understand what matters most to them – especially in a business context – and help them achieve their agenda.
keep in mind that most professionals working with the wealthy have been and are still being tossed around by the covid-19 crisis. for the majority of them, their practices are suffering. as we will explain, there are ways you can help them get a better understanding of what they can do now and later to make up their losses as well as supercharge their practices for when life gets better.
conclusion
the covid-19 crisis is a disaster and one we all want to disappear as fast as possible. even when the immediate health crisis resolves, there are likely to be longer-term health care issues and complications. also, the economic crisis brought on by covid-19 – in one form or another – will be with us for some time.
your ability to develop powerful relationships coupled with your ability to deliver expertise will enable you to provide tremendous value to both the wealthy and other professionals. in addition, because so many so-called professionals are not true professionals (as we are defining the term), not only are you able to stand out, but you can, relatively quickly, build a $5 million high-net-worth practice.