For fans of college basketball, it’s “March Madness,” when tournament play will reduce a field of 68 teams down to a Sweet 16, an Elite 8 and then a Final Four in April when a national champion will be crowned. In the seeming chaos, one thing is certain: The winning team will have shown vision, discipline and strategic integration across all its parts.
Recently, here at Rockefeller Capital Management, we gathered top performers to talk about what characterizes the most successful wealth management teams. No surprise—we found clear similarities with top-ranked sports teams. For our purposes, we created “The Practice Management Excellence Equation,” our own version of the “Elite 8.” Here they are:
- Digital Proficiency. Marketing, prospecting, communicating and servicing mostly take place today via social media. Each team must secure dedicated resources and training. Hint: LinkedIn is compulsory—having grown to 800 million users in 2021 and the most powerful way to expand a network and establish credibility. This channel should be central to any business development program.
- Focus—Narrow and Tenacious. A successful business must be selective and efficient in taking on new clients. Not every team has a definable niche, but the best often has an ideal client in mind—partners in private equity firms, orthopedic surgeons, athletes and entertainers, or Greek professionals, to give a few examples. This approach creates a natural attraction for prospects.
- Moving Upmarket. Generally, the higher the net worth, the more complex the financial issue, and the greater the need for your expertise. Generally, the reverse is also true.
- Bullet Proof. The industry has never been more competitive. The best of the best regularly step back and stress-test their own business. They ask, “If I were the competition, what would I point out as lacking in this client relationship?”
- Identify and Display Sustainable Differentiators. This is not just a value proposition. This is about creating real intellectual property that differentiates your firm and sparks interest in prospects.
- Leadership. When you search Amazon.com for books on “leadership,” you get approximately 60,000 results. There is a reason. A lot has been written because it is such a tough thing to do—lead. Most financial advisors are unable to bring in new clients, take care of existing ones and lead an effective team. The best of the best can do all three.
- Pipeline Management. The best-of-the best teams prospect continuously—applying great discipline in managing a pipeline—i.e., sourcing, tracking, closing and onboarding.
- Investment and Planning Excellence. Financial advisors actually run three businesses—planning, investing and service. They are not mutually exclusive. Clients expect their financial advisors to bring superior investment insights, comprehensive planning acumen and detail-oriented execution.
Vision, discipline and strategic integration—critical themes for effective teams, in any field. And the “Elite 8”—our specific formula for taking your wealth management team to the top of the league.
Michael Parker is divisional director, Northeast at Rockefeller Capital Management.