Women are different from men, but they are also different from each other, says a recent report published by Ernst and Young (EY).

Advisors who treat women as a homogenous group will find themselves left out of the race to secure new clients in this underserved population, says Nalika Nanayakkara, principal and wealth management practice leader at EY. Among EY’s financial services, EY is a consultant for advisors and wealth management firms.

There are many types of women, including the entrepreneur, the inheritor, the executive, millennials and baby boomers -- and of course overlap in those groups. Women worldwide will increase their income from $13 trillion to $18 trillion in the next five years and by 2028 women are expected to control 75 percent of the discretionary income around the world, EY says in the report, Harnessing the Power of Women Investors in Wealth Management.

“The situation is improving, but a majority of advisors still see all women as a monolithic group when it comes to financial advice,” says Nanayakkara. “They are going to have to change that view and their tactics.”

If a firm has a recruitment event for women, the material needs to be targeted to the type of women attending, whether they are small business owners, executives or mothers trying to secure a future for their children and grandchildren, she says.

Advisors who have male clients who are baby boomers need to make sure they are bringing the wives into the planning.

“I know an advisor who had a male baby boomer client with $20 million in assets. The husband decided the wife needed to be brought into the planning process, and in their first meeting the advisor talked to her about asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing without giving her the background she needed to understand the process,” says Nanayakkara.

That is the wrong approach.

In addition to setting up the proper context, advisors need to know that many women want to talk to more than one person before making a decision.

“Women typically spend more time educating themselves before making a decision, and they tend to have a longer sales cycle, so larger wealth management firms have started coaching advisors on perseverance,” she says.

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