Advisors want high-net-worth clients, but they must be able to understand these clients’ special needs, which most commonly include investment management.
According to a new study, advisors who target this business should consider these questions: Does the well-heeled client believe that you are smart and striving to get smarter, that you are very honest and that you are intimately acquainted with the client’s long-term goals?
The advisor must be able to meet those standards if he or she expects to recruit and retain those with lots of assets.
Those are some of the conclusions of a study by the Investments and Wealth Institute (formerly known as IMCA).
The study also found that 91 percent of clients are somewhat or very satisfied and 89 percent are somewhat or extremely satisfied in working with their advisor.
Although institute officials said these numbers are good, they argue that advisors still need to constantly work to reinforce strong relationships.
Advisors who expect to recruit high-net-worth clients should demonstrate that they are always learning, that they have the highest ethical standards and understand client goals. They should be “fully engaged” and command the needed knowledge and then some, according to the study.
“Expertise is more than just knowledge; it is about technical expertise,” according to the institute’s “2019 High-Net-Worth Investor Study.”
The study questioned some 1,000 high-net-worth clients from the United States and Canada. Clients had investable assets from $500,000 to somewhere north of $5 million.
Advisors who succeed with the wealthy investor must show they are the masters of investment management services.