the pandemic has made knowledge more precious than ever.
by anthony glomski and russ alan prince
your $5-million high-net-worth practice
an approach you can use and one that can strongly differentiate you from your competitors is to add value that helps the professionals reach their goals and become more successful. some of the more viable approaches involve helping them become thought leaders and providing them with turnkey business development solutions.
more: the new way to get the best clients | maximize referrals from wealthy clients | building a high-net-worth practice during covid-19 | setting financial and practice goals during covid-19
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adding value with thought leadership: becoming a thought leader is one way just about any professional can become significantly more successful.
when you provide a roadmap and make it easy for the professionals you are working with to become the experts of choice in their respective fields, you are helping them grow their practices in a big way. the more you help them succeed by assisting them to become thought leaders, the more likely they will help you succeed by referring their best clients.
at this point, you understand their business model and where they are indeed experts. you are also very familiar, generally speaking, with the wishes and dreams, the concerns and anxieties of the wealthy. these insights enable you to provide other professionals with the targeted, high-quality thought leadership content they can use to become the experts the wealthy want to engage, thereby making them more successful.
remember that while you need to skillfully position these professionals as experts in specific matters, you will usually want to provide high-quality thought leadership content beyond their specialties. sometimes, thought leadership content on issues that are not financial can be very effective.
we have found that delivering high-quality thought leadership on health, family and lifestyle topics is well received and quite useful in building stronger relationships with the wealthy. this is more the case because of the covid-19 crisis.
to become a thought leader, and to help other professionals become thought leaders, you need high-quality thought leadership content – a lot of it. moreover, simply giving other professionals even the most sensational thought leadership content is not enough. you also have to help them make the most of the materials.
the greatest value you can add at this point is to help these professionals make clear connections between specific pieces of thought leadership content and specific wealthy individuals who would benefit from receiving the material. the more the thought leadership content resonates with a particular wealthy client or prospect, the more likely everybody will get more business.
you can also help them share the thought leadership content most effectively. for example, you can …
- customize the thought leadership content with the recipient’s name and the name, photo and contact information of the other professional
- send the thought leadership content with a personal message that references a concern or interest of the recipient.
using high-quality thought leadership content to help the professionals you selected to become much more successful and consequently refer you their best clients is very powerful. still, other approaches can also work very well. as always, the most viable methods are dependent on their self-interests and how they operate.
additional ways to add value: to reiterate, what you uncover during the discovery process illuminates how you can add value. sometimes, it has nothing to do with business. it can be about helping their children by introducing them to specific resources or even possible employers.
in our experience, especially as you are enhancing these relationships, it is regularly about growing their practices and incomes. in this regard, one way to add value is by providing the professionals with new viable perspectives such as …
- an understanding of the implications of new tax regulations and legislation
- insights into the changing world of the wealthy and how different professionals can benefit
- sharing the everyone wins process
in sum, by learning a lot about these professionals, you can develop possible solutions and approaches that can help them substantially grow their practices. fairly often, this same way to add value is effective with many different types of professionals.
always remember, you will still need to explain your value-added solutions in the context of their self-interests.
tracking results
in any business endeavor, results matter. are you getting the results you are seeking? are you getting the results you need to keep going in a set direction? are you getting the results you need to become significantly more successful – to build a $5 million high-net-worth practice?
when it comes to working with professionals who can refer you wealthy clients, there are two sets of results that matter:
- the results achieved by each professional you are working with: the extent to which you are helping each of these professionals achieve their self-interest is crucial. for instance, your ability to help them generate new business for their practices usually directly correlates with the amount of time and effort they put into referring their best clients to you. often, the more business they get, the more wealthy client referrals you get. the results they are getting are an excellent leading indicator of the success you can potentially have.
- the results you are getting: you are helping these professionals achieve their self-interests. therefore, it is essential to know if the professionals you have chosen are providing you with the wealthy clients you need to achieve your professional self-interests – to build your $5 million high-net-worth practice.
know which professionals are vital to you: while professionals tend to all agree on the importance of getting results, very few of them are actively tracking all the possible outcomes. even those who are tracking results tend to be less than precise. to make smart decisions, it helps to be precise, so …
- how many wealthy client referrals have you gotten who have become new clients?
- how much revenue are these new clients generating for your high-net-worth practice?
- how much income are you deriving from that revenue?
keep in mind that the amount of revenue, not the number of new clients, matters most. three new wealthy clients, for instance, are usually better than 10 new, less wealthy clients if the revenue is the same.
during the discovery process, you can usually get a good sense of the potential a professional has to refer wealthy clients to you. by diligently tracking, you can compare this potential to the actual outcome. if there is a large gap between the two that seems unlikely to close, consider saying n.e.x.t.
know how important you are to each professional: one of your goals is to help the professionals you have chosen to achieve their self-interests. we have approached this as helping them build their practices. when you are clear about exactly how much value you are providing to them in terms of increased revenue, and it is significant, you can justifiably ask for more business in return.
your ability to garner wealthy referrals depends on your ability to determine and quantify the value you bring to these professionals. and the only way to know how important you are to them is to track their financial results that stem from your efforts. once you know the economic gains each professional enjoys from working with you, make sure you are getting appropriate economic benefits from working with each of them.
taking action
just as maximizing your relationships with your wealthy clients results in better service for them and profits for you, the same is true when you help other professionals become more successful. in these scenarios, wealthy clients win, the professional wins, and you win (big).
getting tactical …
- step #1: identify five other professionals (including accountants at your firm) who you think probably have potential wealthy clients for your high-net-worth practice: you start with five and depending on what you find out through the discovery process, you decide if you need to talk to more. remember, you do not need – nor can you likely effectively work with – many referral sources.
- step #2: determine their self-interests and gauge the possibilities of them referring you wealthy clients: based on what you find out through the discovery process, you are selecting the professionals who have wealthy clients you can provide value to and want to work with you. you are also determining if they will refer you wealthy clients.
- step #3: for the professionals you have decided to work with, determine ways to help them achieve their self-interests: for these professionals to send you their best clients, you need to help them achieve their self-interests. with most professionals, helping them improve their practices – especially during this crisis – is a compelling incentive. there are various ways to do this, such as helping them become thought leaders.
- step #4: track results: you want to know how your support helps them achieve their self-interests. this tells you how important you are to them. at the same time, you want to know if a professional is worth your time and effort.
because of covid-19, other professionals are likelier than ever to talk to people who can help them deal with what is going on, including helping make their practices more successful now and later. yes, most of them are busy. still, a large percentage of them are hungry for meaningful direction and answers. do not forget or get distracted, because you can provide useful guidance and have answers.
conclusion
your ability to create a steady flow of new wealthy clients from other professionals depends on your ability to understand them and their practices and help them achieve their self-interests. you do this by employing the everyone wins process. the more successful they are because of your efforts, the more likely you will be more successful.
the discovery process and being empathic is often central to sourcing wealthy referrals from other professionals. based in large part on you ascertaining their self-interests, you will know fast when to say n.e.x.t. for those professionals you choose to work with, there are various ways – some by direct alignment, and more by adding value – you can help them achieve their self-interests. lastly, tracking results tells you what is working and what is not, and what changes you likely need to make.