Elizabeth MacBride covered three of the top investment advisors in the world, including Barron’s number one advisor (Ric Edelman) at RIABiz recently, revealing a common theme among successful practices. That is establishing scalable, repeatable processes and systems that empower advisors and staff to focus on clients. We believe it is the difference maker for teams that seek to grow their assets on a large scale while maintaining control of resources, expenses and supporting a high standard of service.
Extensive studies have been completed on this topic by the likes of Moss Adams and Tiburon Strategic Advisors, however, MacBride boils it down to the key techniques of these three who all have accumulated north of $4 billion in AUM. We could not agree more – having surveyed and worked with a number of practices and broker dealers across the spectrum in AUM size and client/account ratios.
In our view it broadly touches on these key areas:
- Knowing your business model – in our terms – understand your “wheelhouse” where you add the most value and expertise and focus on it. Don’t spread your offerings and resources thin to try to accommodate every prospective client
- Have a business plan for each component of your business – leadership responsibilities, staff assignments, technology and systems and marketing.
- Don’t try to keep up with your competitors – deliver your expert offerings with confidence and quality, provide high-touch service and stick to the tenets you forged to define your business.
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