Second in a four-part series.
Developing and nurturing a high-caliber, dual-impact brand is essential if you want to not only source the super-rich, but also build a solid book of extremely wealthy clients. The importance of a dual-impact brand in sourcing and working with the extremely wealthy cannot be overstated.
A dual-impact brand conveys to the very wealthy that you have the highest levels of technical skills and knowledge in your area of specialization. It also conveys to influencers (often other professionals) that you're the authority to which they should send their wealthiest clients. Concurrently, a well-articulated dual-impact brand communicates to influencers that you can seriously assist them in growing their businesses. As seen in the accompanying chart, with a dual-impact brand, you're positioned to the extremely wealthy as a technical authority and to influencers as both a technical authority and a source of value-added expertise.
A dual-impact brand can result in the super-rich coming to you over the threshold. Some of the super-rich will, on making their fortunes, turn to "name" professional services firms and recognized industry authorities. Turning to known big-name experts is an incredibly potent risk-mitigation strategy employed by a small but meaningful percentage of the extremely wealthy.
After selling his company for close to $400 million, for example, the company founder was confronted by a deluge of investment advisors camping out on his front porch. He never bothered to see any of them. Instead, he made a call to the office of a very well-known, well-respected local investment advisor. The people at the local investment advisory firm took his call, then took a meeting and then took his money (to invest, of course).
Along the same lines, a powerful dual-impact brand will, now and again by its nature, result in influencers bringing their extremely wealthy clients to you. This is exemplified by the accountant who brought a hedge fund managing partner to an investment advisor known to be adept in dealing with compliance issues. The investment advisor ended up with all the managing partner's considerable non-fund assets to manage.
When a powerful dual-impact brand motivates influencers to bring their extremely wealthy clients to professionals they have no direct contact with, it's almost always for a bespoke service. It's rarely about the basics. It's most often about the out of the ordinary. As such, it regularly concerns an exceptionally wealthy individual-if not one of the super-rich.
Consider the case of the accountant that brought his top client to an attorney he only met after initiating an e-mail exchange. The attorney is internationally recognized as an authority on asset-protection planning. The client in question wanted to avail himself of this expertise and asked the accountant for a referral. Referring his premier client to any asset protection attorney would be potentially disastrous. He needed to refer his client to the best and that's what he thought he did.
What's more valuable than the business you might get over the transom is that your dual-impact brand can be a critical part of the strategic methodology you employ to:
Increase your chances of success when being serendipitous. Your dual-impact brand will facilitate and make your random networking activities more efficacious.
Garner extremely wealthy referrals.
Be the recognized specialist in your area of expertise so that your wealthy clients are increasingly comfortable directing their peers to you.
Help create a pipeline of such referrals from influencers, including ensuring that you're introduced to their super-rich clients when applicable.