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Ray Sclafani
How Mission, Vision, & Values Impact Your Bottom Line
For many advisors, concepts such as refining their mission, vision, and values (MVV) tend to be viewed as secondary concerns—things that are somewhat useful for the firm...
The Stockdale Paradox: What is it? And how can it strengthen your year-end planning?
As we turn onto the home stretch and drive towards the finish line of 2024, you may be faced with confronting some hard truths – needing to acknowledge both internal and...
6 Key Insights from Fidelity's 2024 RIA Benchmarking Study
I recently had a chance to sit down and digest the data presented in Fidelity’s latest RIA Benchmarking Study. It’s an invaluable report that helps shed light on several...
Ditch the Pitch: 8 Capability Deck Components and How to Bring Them Together
Today, with digital communication in full swing, nearly all prospective clients are a lot more ‘savvy’ than has always been the case. In fact, instead of a canned sales...
6 Critical M&A Insights from Billion-Dollar Wealth Managers
For a long time, steady growth has been the norm for wealth management businesses. Over the past decade, the capital markets alone have driven revenues among fee-based...
The Multi-Tactic Marketing Approach: Creating a game plan for high-growth firms
While some advisors are content with maintaining a 'lifestyle practice' that allows them to generate enough income to support their lifestyle without feeling pressured...
Calculating Your Client Acquisition Costs: How to optimize 8 key components
Acquiring new clients needs to be the lifeblood of every growth-focused advisory business. Sure, M&A deals tend to garner the lion’s share of media attention, but most...
Beyond the 12-4-2: A Dynamic Approach to Client Engagement
When someone repeats the same thing over and over often enough, it eventually becomes accepted as truth—even when it's not. This phenomenon, which psychologists call...
Unleashing Organic Growth: The Essential Truths Every Financial Advisory Firm Must Embrace
Kevin O’Leary (aka ‘Mr. Wonderful’) is one of my favorites on Shark Tank. I don’t always agree with his delivery, but he never fails to ask tough questions that a good...
8 Essential Qualities for Identifying NextGen Producing Partners
Building an enduring firm is an incredibly noble endeavor. Making a positive difference in a client's life can dramatically impact many future generations of their...
9 Ways to Leverage the Pygmalion Effect: Drive Greater Organizational Success and Raise the Bar for Clients
Setting high standards for your team. It’s crucial in building a client-focused firm – helping foster an interdependent team that consistently achieves excellence for...
The RIA Growth Illusion: How to create a financial model to drive organic growth
For the ten years between 2012 – 2021, wealth management firms experienced a nearly $30 trillion surge in AUM (from $20.6 trillion to $50.4 trillion). Yet during that...
Celebrating Independence Day: Reflecting on Freedom, Unity, and Growth
As we gather to celebrate the Fourth of July, it's more than just a day off work or an opportunity to enjoy fireworks with family and friends. It's a time to reflect on...
7 Steps to Building Your ‘Firm of Dreams’
In the 1989 classic film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella, hears a mysterious voice whisper, “If you build it, he will come.” Driven by faith, he...