how to foster opportunities.
by anthony glomski and russ alan prince
your $5-million high-net-worth practice
as part of the discovery process, you are ascertaining who your wealthy clients can refer to you. in empirical study after study, accountants (as well as other professionals) say that they get most of their client referrals from their current clients. they also say that this happens because they do an excellent job for their clients.
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another insight we find in the research is that very few professionals are doing much to foster getting referrals from their highly satisfied clients.
by and large, because you do a great job for a wealthy client, when that client is approached by someone looking for those services you offer, you might – let us emphasize might – be referred. getting referrals this way is all dependent on someone your wealthy client knows wanting what you can deliver, and your wealthy client remembers and is inclined to refer you.
further complicating getting referrals is that your wealthy clients – even those who are elated with you and your firm – are very likely not talking about you and your firm all that often. when the wealthy speak to each other, most of the time is spent talking about family or their business. the professionals they use do not come up often unless someone is complaining and looking to make a change.
determining who your wealthy client can refer: through the discovery process, you can learn the business and personal ecosystems of each wealthy client. there is a really good chance that some of these other people would make excellent clients for you and your firm. determining who your wealthy clients can refer is really pretty easy, for instance, when they are business owners.
when you learn about a wealthy entrepreneur, part of that learning is understanding all the other businesses they deal with. this means all their suppliers and all their customers. you do this by simply asking them about their business, listening carefully and probing.
if the wealthy entrepreneur, for example, owns a manufacturing company, you might ask, “how do you get your widgets to your customers?” your client will most probably tell you without any hesitation. let us say she says, “we use a trucking company.” you can follow up with, “what’s the name of the trucking company?” there is an excellent chance she will tell you. the trucking company and the owner(s) might be the right clients for your high-net-worth practice.
we do not advise you to ask for a referral at that moment. instead, we recommend you put together a map of each wealthy business owner’s business ecosystem. not only are you identifying potential clients, but you can also gauge the level of rapport the wealthy entrepreneur has with these other business owners. one way to help determine the quality of these relationships is by looking at how long they have been doing business together. generally speaking, the longer the relationship, the more likely a referral will be considered.
at the appropriate time, you ask for an introduction to specific business owners your wealthy entrepreneur is close to. the way you ask makes a big difference. always ask in a manner that will make your wealthy client look as good as possible and connect to his or her self-interests.e
appeal to their self-interests
to reiterate: it is all about them. you are looking for ways to help your wealthy clients achieve their agendas. operating this way regularly works for you because by helping them achieve their self-interests, they will often need to rely on your expertise or that of your firm. there are two principal ways to appeal to their self-interests: direct alignment and adding value.
direct alignment: this is usually the easiest way for you to assist your wealthy clients, and it gets you compensated immediately. for example, you know that an ultrawealthy entrepreneur wants to make sure all the fast-moving parts of his life outside of running the company are well managed cost-effectively. the answer can very well be business management services.
knowing the goals and critical concerns of the wealthy, with your resource grid in hand, you identify ways you and your firm can be of assistance. if a wealthy entrepreneur is thinking about selling her company, there are a variety of services you can provide pre-sale such as:
- a comprehensive formal valuation of the company
- audited financial statements that effectively communicate the value of the company
- restructuring to separate unwanted assets not used in the business or to retain an interest in some part of the business, like rental real estate; an asset that can provide the seller with a future income stream or facilitate succession of part of the business to the next generation
- resolving any governmental or regulatory matters
- pre-sale estate and gift tax planning, which involves the transfer of wealth at discounted values to future generations
- issues that could affect the value of the business, including key employee compensation and incentives
- sell-side due diligence, which assesses various opportunities and risk factors facing the company before sale
consider the scenario where you have found that among many concerns, paying less in income taxes has become a high priority for one of your wealthy clients as his business is doing very well. there are various ways you can lower his income taxes. by understanding their self-interests, you can identify the ways that would work well and would probably be most appealing.
let us say that after doing the analysis, you can show the wealthy business owner how he can use a qualified retirement plan to put away hundreds of thousands of dollars and deduct those monies from current income taxes. also, he will get most of this money when he retires (including all growth of the investments). there is a good possibility that your wealthy client will want to move forward because you really understand him.
whether your firm provides financial products or not, you can get compensated by charging advisory fees. generally, when you frame the conversation around their self-interests, charging and getting advisory fees is usually a non-issue. it is unlikely this wealthy business owner will have much of a problem paying you a one-time fee of tens of thousands of dollars if he is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in income taxes year after year.
these situations are predicated on your deep understanding of your wealthy clients. what sometimes happens is that as you are uncovering their self-interests, your wealthy clients are often unsure of what actions to take. you can provide those answers. sometimes, the uncertainty leads to stress testing, where you critically look at what a wealthy client has done and is considering. you then evaluate the viability of those actions and options.
add value: the other way to help the wealthy achieve their self-interests is to add value. there are many different ways to add value for the wealthy. three types of high-demand services are:
- concierge medicine for themselves and their companies
- wealth management services and products (provided you do not offer them)
- educational services for their children
by connecting your wealthy clients with the appropriate vetted specialists, you are enhancing your relationship with them. this connection, in conjunction with the additional services you and your firm are likely providing, creates a virtuous cycle – stronger and more reliable relationships, and more business.
another benefit of bringing in outside specialists is that these same professionals are potential referral sources for you. still, the main reason for introducing these experts to your wealthy clients is to help your clients achieve their self-interests.
there are some ways you can personally add value because of the covid-19 crisis. your ability to help your wealthy clients – and all your clients for that matter – better cope with the impact of the crisis is something they very much want and will greatly appreciate. by helping them think through their situations and the actions they can take, you are adding structure to their lives, and you are making their current situation more manageable.
framing your recommendations: framing is all about making sense. it is the process of structuring and articulating your advice so that it strongly resonates with your wealthy clients. very often, framing can be just as important as the substance of the message. in other words, how you say something can be just as important sometimes as what you say. your expert advice is less likely to be followed unless your wealthy clients see it as helping them achieve their self-interests.
by understanding the self-interests of each of your wealthy clients, you can frame your recommendations so that each client sees them as a way to get desired outcomes. you tie your advice to what is most important to them. you can use the following for this purpose: cite their self-interest then make a recommendation.
here are some examples:
- to ensure that your wealth stays in your family, we can set up some trusts that you control.
- because a big item on your agenda is to get your financial life in order, we can help you get going by putting together a cash flow statement and a personal balance sheet.
- because of your profession, being concerned about unfounded lawsuits makes a lot of sense. why don’t we evaluate the different ways you can ensure your wealth cannot be unjustly taken?
- because you want to get the best prices for your company, why don’t we make sure all your financials communicate the company’s value?
- your concern with being hacked is very legitimate. would it help if we looked at how to strengthen your cyberdefenses?
with a little practice, framing comes pretty easy to most accountants. because of their expertise, they know the possible solutions. by understanding the self-interest of their wealthy clients, they can tie the two together in a way that quickly facilitates action.
tracking results
only by tracking results can you know how to adjust what you are doing to get the best outcomes for your wealthy clients and yourself. you are going to track the additional services you and your firm are providing, and you will track the revenues you are generating.
you also need to track the business you refer to other professionals.
by tracking what you and other professionals are delivering and what is possible, you are well positioned to maximize your relationships with wealthy clients. in this way you are operating systematically, resulting in your wealthy clients being better served and you taking constructive steps to build a $5 million high-net-worth practice.
taking action
the everyone wins process is incredibly actionable. to maximize wealthy client relationships, when speaking with your wealthy clients as you learn their self-interests, you are constructing a list of opportunities where you and your firm, as well as other professionals you work with, can be helpful.
it is beneficial to keep track of all the possibilities you uncover. rarely will your wealthy clients move on all their opportunities. they are more inclined to pick one or two high-priority issues to address. once those issues get dealt with, there is a strong tendency for them to move on to other matters where you can again be helpful.
getting tactical …
- step #1: identify 10 of your wealthy clients you believe you can do more for. you start with 10, and once you get them moving along, you add another 10 and so forth. the aim is to concentrate on a manageable number of wealthy clients. at this point, you pick these clients based on what you know about them and your thoughts on their greater potential.
- step #2: review what you are doing for each of them. what services and products are you providing? why these services and products? also, it is often beneficial to know the revenues you generate from each of these wealthy clients.
- step #3: determine each wealthy client’s self-interests. it is always all about them. you have to understand their worldview at this time. the covid-19 crisis has likely changed some of their thinking and some of their priorities.
- step #4: create a list of opportunities where you can add value to these wealthy clients. it is very, very likely that you will be able to find more ways you and your firm, as well as the professionals you would bring to the table, can be instrumental in helping your wealthy clients achieve their self-interests. it can be useful to assess each wealthy client’s situation against your resource grid.
- step #5: frame your recommendations based on the self-interests of each wealthy client. your recommendations have the greatest impact when they align with each wealthy client’s self-interests. when they see your advice matching up to what they consider very important, they are likely to take action.
- step #6: track results. this is mostly straightforward. you know what you are doing for them, and you know your compensation. you probably want to track the referrals they provide, and the best ways to do so is to calculate the monies you make from these referrals. putting these numbers together, you have a complete client revenue computation.
as you have your list of opportunities, you can stay abreast of what remains to do. all the while, you are constantly making sure their self-interests are front and center. many times your wealthy clients will take action now.
sometimes, while they realize it might make sense to take action now, they have the things going on and will delay moving forward. this realization is not negative. in these cases, you are building demand for you and your expertise and the capabilities of your firm and the experts you refer to. if you stay on top of the situations, when your wealthy clients decide to act, they will turn to you for assistance.
conclusion
the everyone wins process is client-focused business development at its finest. by using the process, you are finding ways to help your wealthy clients achieve their self-interests. you are not selling or persuading. you understand what matters and deliver solutions to help your wealthy clients get the results they want.
keep in mind, there are a plethora of wealthy individuals and families who can benefit from working with you. this is because the world is awash in pretenders, predators, exploiters and even true professionals who are firm-focused. by mastering the everyone wins process, you have an incredible competitive advantage. you can use this advantage to build a $5 million high-net-worth practice.
we advocate that you facilitate referrals from your wealthy clients. but, you may need more and sometimes more affluent clients to have a $5 million high-net-worth practice. there are different ways to source new wealthy clients, and the most powerful way is referrals from other professionals.