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.

“When asked to rank four services in order of important, investment management tops the list (38%),” according to the report. Next in importance were financial planning, wealth management and retirement solutions.

Expertise and close client relationships are connected, the study said.

And clients who believe that their advisors are knowledgeable tend to also believe they are fully engaged, according to the study.

“Engaged clients are not only 1.3 times more likely to say their advisor is knowledgeable, they are 1.6 times more likely to say that he or she demonstrates technical expertise,” according to the study.

Attracting and retaining these demanding affluent clients requires that advisors continue to learn more and prove their professionalism.

Advanced designations are the main ways advisors can demonstrate technical expertise. Seventy-three percent of the wealthy clients surveyed said that designations and credentials are an important way for advisors to demonstrate their technical expertise.

Another element of achieving consumer confidence is ensuring that client relationships are confidential and that the advisor “has the highest ethical standards.”

“High-net-worth clients expect their advisors to have advanced ethics and expertise to drive tangible outcomes,” said Sean Walters, chief executive officer for the institute.

Walters told Financial Advisor that financial professionals must “constantly improve” if they expect to attract and hold this kind of business.

“As you reach the $5 million or more in assets client, you have to be able to offer better and better services. You are facing a more and more competitive environment,” he added. This kind of client, he says, expects a higher level of service than the average client.

Some 83 percent of respondents told the survey that confidentiality is “critical” in a relationship. And 81 percent of respondents said ethical standards are also critical as well as promptly replying to client inquiries and carrying out instructions.

Walters said the study also “illustrates that for high-net-worth clients, advanced capabilities mean knowledge and application of strategies they could not get from other advisors.”

He adds that, in trying to obtain high-net-worth business, the advisor must understand that he or she is competing in a much more competitive market. The advisor is now often going against big institutions, such as endowments and national full-service brokerages.

Is he or she, Walters asks, up to the challenge?

Institute officials said that, building on the findings of the study, they have set up an online program to improve relationships. The program is called “Exceptional Advisor: Communicate Your Value & Build Client Engagement.”