4 insights on elevating your business from Inside Track 2024
Fidelity for Wealth Managers
Powering the growth of wealth management firms to help you be more.
Driving organic growth and delivering exceptional value to clients was top of mind at this year’s Inside Track, where Fidelity welcomed hundreds of clients from across the country to connect on all facets of attaining profitable firm growth.
In case you missed it, fear not! Check out four key insights from the event that can help advisors and firms expand their organic growth.
1) Your employees define success on their own terms, not yours.
In their session, Jason Jagatic, CFP® and Charles Phelan focused on how retaining talent you already have is key to propelling long-term growth. The best way to do this? Increase the ranks of “thrivers” at your firm—those who report high job satisfaction, high effort in their roles, and low to no burnout. A recent Fidelity study found that only 17% of financial advisors are thriving in their roles, and the remaining 83% are merely surviving [1]. Attendees weighed in with their thoughts on talent retention.
What we heard:
Many firms still struggle with return to office – especially with younger professionals and entry level staff. Employees value work/life balance more than ever, and firms are competing with other employers offering this kind of flexibility.
Some advisors sabotage their own success by doing work that doesn’t generate revenue or add value to clients (e.g., they treat all clients the same or refuse to delegate to others).
Generational differences are real; older and younger employees value different things in an employer. Younger employees seek career pathing as a way to advance.
Equity is an increasingly important way to align key talent with your firm’s long-term success.
Takeaways:
To reduce advisor burnout, consider new solutions that create more time in their day, or realign their roles to focus on their strengths—which can offer greater fulfillment.
Help increase retention through your benefits and compensation programs, which can show employees you prioritize their emotional and financial wellbeing.
Bridge the gap with younger employees by recognizing they have different values than their older counterparts. Take the time to ask what matters to them.
2) The best tech adds value to your clients, and your bottom line.
At Inside Track Boston, Rohit Mahna sat down with wealth management leaders to discuss how platform capabilities can help advisors grow and be more efficient. Here are some highlights from the Boston session:
Shannon Spotswood, CEO, RFG Advisory: Just having the technology isn’t enough to benefit advisors. You need to know the answer to this question: What is the firm you want to build? Once you know that, leverage technology strategically to achieve that goal.
Patrick Housen, Regional Managing Director, Mariner: We wanted to offer our clients access to a tax practice, a trust company, an investment bank, etc. – but these all require capital. We decided to team up with Mariner, a firm that provides in-house expertise on these services, and were able to significantly improve the value we bring to our clients in a fraction of the time than if we built those services ourselves.
Matthew C. Peck, CFP®, CIMA®, Co-founder, SHP Financial: It’s not just about the technology; it’s about the people behind it. Having the right tech lets you better build out your teams and serve clients. For example, our interns who convert to new advisors come in and know the tech we are using and can hit the ground running, resulting in efficiency gains.
Takeaways:
Know how you want to make your firm stand out and invest in those capabilities.
Third parties can help you 1) acquire capabilities faster for greater speed to market, and/or 2) outsource the functions that don't contribute to your unique value proposition.
Consider how technology can help scale your business development efforts – and relieve some pressure for advisors.
Did you know? The fastest-growing advisors are more likely to have access to a managed account platform, use model portfolios, and use specialists or wholesalers to help with portfolio construction.[2]
3) Your firm is not for everyone. That's an advantage.
Gwendaline M's session focused on how you can acquire new business, expand client relationships, and scale your practice. When it comes to engaging the right clients, she noted: “While you can’t be everything to everyone, you can be many things to THE ONE.” Attendees in the room also shared their thoughts on the value of segmentation.
What we heard:
Stick to a client segmentation strategy. It’s difficult but can transform a business.
Carrying out the strategy can be hard for advisors who want to give clients a high-touch experience (especially after they’ve gotten to know their clients well).
Be disciplined in your segmentation strategy. Loose parameters can break down a segmentation strategy before it even gets off the ground.
Takeaways:
Fidelity data shows that only 37% of firms segment their clients[3]. Whether you are just getting started with segmentation or are optimizing an existing model, these four steps are useful checkpoints along the way.
Understand how much runway you have with your current clients, and where you have vulnerabilities with assets transferring to spouses, children, or other heirs.
Invest in training advisors and staff to engage with entire families—bringing in children and parents to build more and stronger relationships.
4) Nothing is as certain as change. Be ready.
Tobias Donath took the stage to break down how to keep pace with evolving investor needs, highlighting some key trends:
High net worth clients are increasingly seeking new and more sophisticated investment solutions to help with minimizing taxes and increasing diversification.
Today’s clients need help living life on their terms. From pursuing independent work to living abroad to living solo, more clients are making less traditional life choices that require financial planning.
Clients require more help with planning for health care and family needs to create greater peace of mind.
Americans are redefining ambition and living longer lives, which have real implications for how they think about the purpose of their wealth.
Takeaways
Stay educated on new investment products like alternative investments or digital assets so that you can speak to your clients about them with confidence.
Many of your clients will likely have unique needs outside of the “cookie cutter” retirement formula. Do you have the right talent and the right approach to facilitate new types of conversations?
Consider the role that centers of influence and third parties can play in helping you better educate and serve clients with evolving needs.
It’s critical to develop deep empathy and curiosity, which will help you uncover what’s most meaningful to each client and deliver the right value to them.
Summary
A balanced, integrated growth agenda focused on organic growth can help you navigate change more effectively and position your firm for long-term success. Take the first step toward sustainable and profitable growth with our how-to resources on the Fidelity Growth Hub SM.
Hope to see you at next year’s Inside Track!
[1] The 2024 Fidelity Financial Advisor Community—Industry Trends Survey
[2] The 2023 Fidelity Financial Advisor Community – Profile Survey & Panelist Analysis
[3] Fidelity’s Client Insight Tool
