Vice President/Advisor Consultant, First Trust
Jackie is a speaker, author, consultant and coach for select partners of First Trust. Her focus is businesses development and innovation including expertise in helping financial professionals, teams, and the next generation of high net worth individual/households and multi-generational families. She is the author of Insights & Innovations, a business development blog for financial professionals and enterprises.
Today’s Interview with Jackie Wilke
Here are a few of the topics Jackie Wilke covers in her keynotes and blog posts:
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Next gen and connecting with clients’ families
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Biggest hesitations or FAQ’s around next gen and engaging clients’ families
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The increasing importance of relationships and people in the rising environment of technology and AI
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The formula for modern value: Who & Why powered by What & How
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Experiences for clients that drives growth
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Why professionals lead with education and how they build their strategy
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Differentiating your brand as all things to some people
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The 4 C’s of Modern Marketing: content, channels, curate, consistency
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The resource for right now: the 20 minute Ask Anything Session
I asked Jackie to take five minutes on each of these three topics in a bit of a lightning round for today’s interview:
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The increasing importance of relationships and people in the rising environment of technology and AI
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The formula for modern value: Who & Why powered by What & How
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The resource for right now: the 20 minute Ask Anything Session
4 Tips Tools and Techniques to Grow Your Advisory Business
### Understand What You Can Control
Financial services can get unpredictable, but there are a few things that are in your control. As long as you understand your controllable factors, the process becomes easier.
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Mindset: Keep a steady state of mind with a goal in mind, and keep your eye on the prize.
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Narrative: These are the things you do, say and focus on. This is what your target audience will lock onto and value.
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Experience: Create an experience for your audience that will capture their attention and allow them to talk about your business, goals, values, etc.
Know the Fundamentals
Know the foundation that will allow you to move forward with any plan and strategy you develop.
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Process: The key to success is continuity. Make sure that you have a plan and strategy that will provide a smooth and efficient process that will lead to success.
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People: There is nothing more unique than people. Get to know your clients from all angles, understand what it is they want and let them know that their wants and goals are the same as yours. When you get to know a person, selling the product is not transactional anymore. It becomes purposeful.
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Planning: Do not just prioritize finances. Now more than ever, it is important to start with people first — and keep them as your number one priority. Make sure you know your clients’ goals, and figure out the best plan of action to help them achieve success.
Pinpoint Your Target Market and Fully Invest in Them – And Their Families
Get to know your client, and don’t assume anything about them. Asking discovery questions is probably the best way to understand them more. You can follow the WEALTH principle to help define and understand your clients’ priorities, core values and purposes: Wealth, Exchanges, Affluence, Legacy, Time and Health.
It is also important to touch base with your clients about their wellbeing. Do not assume that your clients are always happy and engaged.
One way to keep track of a client’s satisfaction and wellbeing is through surveys. Distribute surveys for select clients, asking how well your team and firm is doing, event interests they have, whether they prefer in-person or digital sessions, what is top of mind regarding educational programming (e.g., cybersecurity, caring for aging parents, ESG) and more.
According to the “U.S. High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2021” report from Cerulli Associates, $84.5 trillion in assets will shift to heirs or philanthropies by 2045, with the lion’s share transferring to Generation X. The risk with this significant shift in assets is that 25% of families or friends will change to a new financial professional. To help avoid a shift in portfolio management, it is strongly encouraged that advisers begin proactively establishing a relationship to the family tree, such as regular phone calls to check in, 20-minute “ask anything” sessions for families to fully understand the client’s assets, etc.
Promote Your Brand and Create an Engaging Environment
Success often comes from a well-functioning, supported team with a strong brand position.
Branding Experiences
Create experiences that are not directly related to advising to keep the firm name in mind. For example, throwing themed parties with a twist is a great way to promote your business and brand while also keeping your clients entertained.
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After tax season was over, First Trust threw a shredding party with its clients, where they shredded expired tax forms while serving shredded pulled pork and shredded green beans.
Engage Your Team: Make sure that you and your team are on the same page by communicating, holding meetings and providing updates in real time. Conduct “energy check-ins” with your team, but give them a scale of measurement. An example of this would be asking your team how they feel from a scale of one to 10 when the weekly meeting rolls around. Don’t neglect the people that you support and support you!
No matter the content you produce and provide, it is you and your team that people choose to work with. Make your team members feel valued, and your clients will feel the same.
About First Trust
First Trust Portfolios L.P. and its affiliate First Trust Advisors L.P. (collectively “First Trust”) were established in 1991 with a mission to offer trusted investment products and advisory services. We’re inspired every day by how financial professionals and their customers use our products and services to define goals, solve problems and develop long-term strategies. Everyone in our company is encouraged to work diligently and respectfully to deliver superior products, services and results. This philosophy is carried through to our approach to investing. Our approach is simple, and our company was built with these core principles in mind:
Know what you own – When it comes to investing, it is critical to know what you own. We believe that transparency is enormously valuable in aiding investors and financial professionals in making informed investment decisions.
Invest for the long-term – We view market timing as an investment strategy that results in undue risk. Because it is virtually impossible for even the most experienced investors to predict market movements with certainty and consistency, we believe investors are best served by following a well considered, long-term strategy.
Employ discipline – Disciplined investing does not guarantee a profit or protect against loss, but it does reduce the probability of making emotional investing decisions which can result in entering or leaving the market at precisely the wrong time.
Rebalance – Over time, the asset mix in a portfolio can begin to drift from its original allocation. Rebalancing “forces” you to periodically reset your portfolio back to its intended allocation. By setting a pattern of rebalancing, you become accustomed to taking profits from winners and adding to losers. This process has the added benefit of helping to remove emotion and avoid the temptation to chase performance or shy away from value.
Control taxes – Minimizing taxes is an important part of an overall investing strategy for any investor with securities in a taxable account. Certain of our products are designed to minimize the effect taxes have on your portfolio. This is accomplished in part, due to the tax efficient structure of many of the investment vehicles that we offer.
