Editor’s Note: This article is based on Steve Sanduski’s podcast interview with Michael Chasnoff, the founder of Truepoint Wealth Counsel, a RIA with $3 billion in assets under management serving 750 households. To access more than 100 interviews with industry leaders, subscribe for free to Steve’s podcast, Between Now and Success by clicking here.
How are you going to grow your business?
You do have a plan, right?
Thanks to the nine-year bull market, though, you’re probably pleased with where your business is right now. But, I can assure you, if you don’t have a growth strategy in place, you’re going to be singing the blues in two or three years.
Now’s the perfect time to put your growth strategy in place. Why? Because you can do it from a position of strength, not out of necessity in weakness. Like the old saying, the best time to get a loan is when you don’t need it.
In a recent Between Now and Success podcast, I talked to Michael Chasnoff about how he grew Truepoint Wealth Counsel, his fee-only wealth management firm, to $3 billion in AUM and 750 households—without any mergers or acquisitions. Do the math and that averages out to about $4 million in assets per client, all of them acquired organically. Michael told me that growth was a result of his company’s client experience, knowing its culture, its niche and what its clients value.
Client Experience Is Not Just Pleasant-Sounding Words
How do you grow organically to $3 billion in AUM? Well, a game-changing referral early in his career helped but that alone wouldn’t sustain a nearly three decade-long record of stellar growth.
Go to any conference and you’ll hear the words “client experience.” But what does that really mean? Michael said, “Our business is based upon client experience. We have developed a strong level of client satisfaction, which has led to roughly 80 percent of our new business coming from client referrals. The next largest referral pipeline is coming from important centers of influence, primarily attorneys in the Cincinnati area who refer us to individuals and families that are seeking an integrated wealth management experience.”