Strategic vision, investment prioritization, alignment of rewards, leadership engagement, human capital management
Again, there is both a quantitative, objective view and a more qualitative, subjective view. The important job is to represent the advisor-client experience – the ease of doing business together in the current and future state so we can better evaluate a wealth management offering’s current and future value. The entire purpose of this paper is to present a better way to value the offering by adopting a more direct client and advisor perspective. The analytical squishiness of “qualitative” and “subjective” perspectives are minimized by a rigorous, detailed view of the offering. First, we separate the offering into nine distinct elements, then break down each element into smaller parts based on the needs of clients and their advisors – and of industry best practices. This more detailed view then reduces the remaining exercise to a serious of yes/no questions about whether a particular practice or feature is in place, augmented by a view of how well it has been adopted across the firm. Finally, with the Tenth Element, we get a perspective about management using another set of practices gleaned from top firms and reflecting principles supportive of exceptional client service and advisor ease of doing business.
Armed with the specificity of scoring, the wealth management practice has a better, more objective analysis to support its strategic planning and spending priorities. Prioritizing investments is a challenge for wealth managers of every size and the choices are hard to compare and quantify for impact. This paper proposes an approach to creating more transparency into the current offering relative to the marketplace and help leaders make more informed and objective decisions. Remediation efforts of specific elements can follow the outlines, but will always be most effective when first embraced by the organization and customized for its clientele and professional team. In addition, the original analysis provides a baseline from which to evaluate the impact of future investments. The Wealth Management Optimization exercise then becomes a management tool to help keep the practice client focused and advisor centric as the inevitable changes evolve in the dynamic market for wealth management.
Steve Gresham heads wealth management consulting at The Gresham Group, www.thegreshamco.com, and was formerly executive vice president and head of the private client group at Fidelity Investments.