Lisa Kirchenbauer, founder and president of Arlington, Va.-based Omega Wealth Management LLC, said she is able to grow her firm’s revenues by 15% annually, regardless of recent stock market declines, due in large part to her firm’s successful centers of influence program.
“We meet regularly with COIs and discuss a specific client case study with them. We work it through together, which has helped position us out in front as experts with these trusted influencers,” Kirchenbauer told attendees at Financial Advisor magazine’s virtual Advisor Growth Summit co-produced with CEG Worldwide on Friday.
If you want to focus on winning over wealthier clients, spend time working with centers of influence, the veteran advisor said. “They refer us up in their practice, while clients make lateral referrals or refer us down,” she said.
It’s also important to create a value proposition that resonates with both COIs and wealthy clients. Kirchenbauer said she positions her firm as “life planning and estate planning transitionist experts."
“One area where there is a big disconnect is with clients who want help settling loved ones’ estates," she said. "We’re working for five clients right now."
“We can have a big impact from the beginning of the relationship, holding a client’s hand to provide technical, life and estate transition planning expertise. That’s resonating more and more with COIs.” she said.
Assets don’t move to an advisor firm right away with estate transition planning. But Kirchenbauer has built a fee model that includes an annual planning fee and a smaller asset management fee to make the high-impact planning the firm does profitable.
The fee model “allows us to work with business owners who would be lousy asset management clients,” she said.
Last year, the firm brought on their biggest client to date—a woman a COI knew from church whose father had died, leaving her a high-net-worth taxable estate.
“Assets are all over the place,” but for its labor and expertise, the firm is able to bill the client an $80,000 annual planning fee and an $130,000 investment management fee, Kirchenbauer said.
Wealthier clients “don’t care about retirement. They have plenty of resources, but they want to hear how they can save money on taxes and protect assets. They’re often underinsured and don’t realize it. They also have multiple advisors and CPAs and it can be overwhelming to coordinate personal and estate planning advice. That’s where we add value,” she added.
Wealthy clients also appreciate the firm’s “legacy transition planning services,” Kirchenbauer noted. “We’re continuing to help the daughter understand the implications of the estate and can see we will bring in more assets and more generations. We’re already working with two-three generations. We think that’s a positive way to keep the family engaged so we can do a lot of good for them.”
Opportunities abound for well positioned advisors “regardless where the market is going. We’re able to charge higher fees because we are adding value on the personal and technical side. And, the quality and upsaling we’ve been doing is helping us get to our goals faster,” Kirchenbauer said.
Matt Nordmann, a partner and financial advisor at Morrison Nordmann Wealth Management in East Lansing, Mich., attributed much of his firm’s success to creating a virtual family office five years ago.
“So imagine you have $500 million in assets. You have a CPA, you have that estate planning attorney, real estate, billpaying, travel. The problem is that most people don’t have $500 million dollars, but they do want those services at some level of success,” he told attendees at the summit.
Building out a virtual family office allowed the firm to partner with experts in all those different areas. “We will collaborate with clients’ existing teams, and offer wealth enhancement, wealth transfer and wealth protection," he said. "Or what we’ll find out many times is they’ve outgrown that team.”
Nordmann said the firm also focuses on developing meaningful relationships with centers of influence and even sends thought leadership content and a newsletter template to estate attorneys and others in their COI network, which they can brand as their own.
“The campaign is successful because it helps them grow their business and know our process and what we do, so when it is a good fit, it is powerful,” Nordmann said.
The virtual family office the firm offers is also a selling point with COIs because “it allows clients to take care of their loved ones and the world at large,” he said.
A tax planning attorney recently referred a client who had received a $3.5 million class action settlement, who has decided to work with the firm. “There are more assets and the attorney is referring others to us as well,” Nordmann said.
“Building COI relationships helps clients achieve their amazing life of significance by providing a simple and elegant world class experience. It also allows me to be engaged in their life by creating a business I couldn’t have imagined 20 years ago,” Nordmann added.