The ClientWise Blog

Whenever I have a conversation with an advisor client about his or her professional advocate network, invariably they begin to discuss the number of client referrals they receive from attorneys and CPAs and their ability to convert those leads into new clients. The problem is, their focus is on a strategic byproduct (referrals) rather than on the primary purpose of building a network in the first place – to better deliver on your client promise to provide holistic wealth management.

While CPAs and attorneys are certainly important components to any advisor’s professional network, far too many begin and end there, overlooking a litany of other important professional service providers.

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Last week, we posted Part I of this blog, which talked about the best way to tackle succession planning by starting to plan while you’re still growing your business. To make this incredibly overwhelming thought a little more manageable, we broke it down by our ClientWise Professional Advisory Model™. Then, we broke it down further into three different periods of time. Using this multi-layered thinking will help you be more efficient in evaluating your business and preparing you for succession.

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Unfortunately in business people don’t always see eye-to-eye. What works for some professionals might not work for others. But what about an instance in which you don’t agree with your professional advocates? In many cases, those same people who refer you business could have a completely different idea of how to interact with clients or, perhaps even more frustrating, an entirely different take on industry-related best practices. This isn’t the end of the world (nor does it have to be the end of the advocate relationship), however it’s important to be aware of in instances in which you repeatedly share business. 

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Did you ever consider that an untapped asset in your corner could be those people whom you view as your greatest competition? A mistake many advisors make when building out their center of influence and professional advocate networks, is that they fail to consider including the people who do the very same thing that they do within their network of resources.

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