Importance Of Personal Service
Your article, "Billion Dollar Babies," profiling
examples of successful larger investment advisory firms and what makes
them tick (September 2005), caught my eye. Last month, I spoke with one
of the firms the article profiled, RegentAtlantic in Chatham, N.J., as
a possible advisor for members of my family. When it became clear that
the services they had to offer were not an ideal fit with my family‚s
needs (which centered more on legal and accounting help rather than
comprehensive financial planning), they immediately offered to provide
me with a list of professionals in my area who might be a good match
for the needs I had outlined to them.
Margaret Prentice from RegentAtlantic called the
next day with several suggestions, along with an offer to call anytime
if I had additional questions. I had never spoken to these people
previously, and have no affiliation with them whatsoever. Nonetheless,
they went out of their way to be of help to me.
Perhaps one reason this firm (and very possibly
others mentioned in your article) has enjoyed a high level of success
is that they have not forgotten the importance of providing personal
service. RegentAtlantic‚s approach made me want to recommend them to
others, which is one way advisory businesses turn into "Billion Dollar
Babies."
H. Robb Levinsky
Neptune, N.J.
Are We Really A Profession?
Bill Bachrach‚s "Six Do‚s and Don‚ts" column
in September was a perfect example of what is wrong with a large part
of our profession. Specifically, I take great offense at the concepts
that "Keeping up with Financial News" and "Becoming Overinformed or
Overeducated" are among the things that are to be avoided. When you go
to the doctor, do you hope to find a physician who runs his
practice well, relates to you well and fails to keep up with medicine,
proudly avoiding learning more about his field? Well, neither do I.
When I go to the doctor, I want it all: a well-run practice with a
caring professional who is knowledgeable and current in his
field. If you follow Bill‚s advice and put all your efforts into the
practice management area, how do your develop the skills and foresight
to evaluate the money managers you hire? I consider risk management and
forward-looking expertise part of what I owe to my clients. Anyone who
has been awake for the last decade (Enron, mutual fund scandals,
etc.) should feel they owe more to clients who entrust them with their
savings than merely delegating money management blindly to others. We
need to be knowledgeable and have a discipline for evaluating who
should be entrusted with our clients‚ assets. Otherwise, we are just a
salesman who can be replaced by a "Lifestyle Fund."
Ted Schwartz
Capstone Investment
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Editor‚s Note: What follows is a response by Bill Bachrach to the above letter:
Dear Ted,
After reading your comments and
re-reading the article I wrote I was a little perplexed that you were
offended. It seems that we are basically in agreement. I agree that you
should be as informed as you need to be in order to serve your clients.
My article referred to the need on
the part of some advisors to be "OVERinformed and OVERedu-cated" which
they use as a work-avoidance mechanism. I did NOT suggest that you be
totally uninformed and so ignorant that you can‚t serve your clients.
The words "blindly follow" and "proudly avoid learning anything about
his field" are your words, not mine, and a gross mischaracterization of
what I was communicating. I can only speculate that you might have been
offended because this particular issue does not apply to you, as you
have managed to organize your time in a way that allows you to stay as
educated and informed as you need to be and are still able to do all
the other things required to build a successful and great financial
services business. So, while you may have a thriving business teaming
with Ideal Clients who are all thrilled with your service while you
also lead a happy, healthy, fulfilled and balanced life–not all
advisors are as fortunate as you to have figured out how to get that
done.
I appreciate your feedback, and
encourage you to take the whole article in context to find those
aspects that are actionable for you in a way that will help you better
serve your clients and create the perfect practice for them and you.
It sounds like you are exactly the kind of caring trusted advisor we need more of in our industry.
Keep up the great work!
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
November 1, 2005
« Previous Article
| Next Article »
Login in order to post a comment