Sterling Shea, managing director of advisor and wealth management programs at Barron's, shared five valuable best practices that he sees consistent in those that they rank as top advisors at IMCA's annual conference.

1. Client selection - Shea said, "More process around identifying the right client builds efficiency within your practice."  He believes that understanding what service experience is needed will help keep clients happy.  "Learn from your clients and deliver a consistent client experience," said Shea.  To do this he suggested picking the three best clients and asking their advice.

2. Team focus - Shea stated, "An advisor's time is squeezed like it hasn't been before."  He explained that it is a more complex market today and that is one reason why more advisors are taking time away from clients to do other things.  Shea thinks that longer-term success is based on the degrees one can create team efficiencies (as opposed to trying to do it all by oneself.)  

Shea advised, "Hire people to help achieve the vision."  Related to focusing on team roles, he added, "Just showing your team that you are willing to invest in their growth and development can profoundly motivate them."  

Shea said, "Now is the time to grow your team.  There is great talent in this market."  There might be significant opportunities to incorporate the right professionals.

On a side note, Shea thought that effectively using a robust contact management system was also a factor in a team's success.

3. Self awareness - Advisors need to realize they should take a different approach than that which has been engrained in them.  Shea admitted, "Advisors can't be everything to everyone."  

He also suggested, "Learn from clients you didn't acquire."  He told a story of how one advisor said 'I called back every beauty contest I didn't win' and how that information helped make him more successful.

Shea also believes in cross mentoring, suggesting, "Do it by age.  For example, a 50 year old might get a 25 year old mentor to learn things like technology."

4. Multi-generational focus - Shea made it clear that there will be a huge potential for advisors in the coming years and they need to get ahead of the curve.  He said, "It is going to be the largest trans-generational transfer of wealth."

Shea shared a scary statistics for advisor with older books, noting that when the patriarch of a wealthy family passes the primary decision of a wealth management provider to the spouse in the family, the average advisor retention of the account is only 44%.   When the decision is passed to the children in the family though, the average account retention drops all the way down to 2%.  [He attributed this information to Sallie Krawcheck Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.]

That is why he stressed, "Advisors need to build relationships with younger generations."

5. Market conviction - Retooling today's core investment philosophy will be a necessity.  Shea said, "If it isn't broke, break it.  It needs to be succinct, forward looking and easy to understand."  He explained clients want to hear a simpler approach that makes sense to them.

Shea did point out that advisors need to make conversations count.  He thinks advisors are more vulnerable to lose accounts if they are seen as just an investment manager.  Shea advised the attendees, "Spend no more than 50% of the time with clients talking about the markets."

Shea's final thoughts were to redirect clients from wants to needs.  He explained this saying, "Clients want knowledge, but need a trusted advisor."  He ended with three simple top advisor takeaways:  1.  Decide what your practice should look like, 2.  Define your client, and 3.  Put the plan into action.

Read the article called Top Advisors Share Keys To Success to learn more from the IMCA session that Shea helped organize.

Mike Byrnes founded Byrnes Consulting to provide consulting services to help advisors become even more successful.  His expertise is in business planning, marketing strategy, business development, client service and management effectiveness, along with several other areas.  Read more at www.byrnesconsulting.com.