Engaging Clients Across Generations With Eliot Weissberg

It's good to be here. I'm visiting you from sunny Maine today.

 

Steve Gresham  00:27

Nice, nice. Well, you've earned that. So my co host here is Suzanne Schmitt. We've been working on this concept of longevity planning and advisors leaning into the next generation of engagement that's really the foundation for forward growth. But you've been at this for a long time, so maybe tell us a little bit about your practice and how all that connects to what I just said.

 

Eliot Weissberg  00:51

Sure. So this is my 44th year in practice. I started in 1980 as a mere 22 year old. I've always been on the, what people would call the independent side of the industry, with a couple of different broker dealers along the way, or I should say, a few. And last 25 affiliated with Raymond James. And the real interesting part about that is because when I started at age, you know, 22 - any clients I had that had money were at least in their 40s, and I really wasn't attracting clients older than that, because I was a new advisor. And, you know, fast forward, I'm now 65 and those same people are in their mid 80s, and I always had this belief that, you know, I was to serve my clients, and as they grew older, we realized we had to serve them in a different way, and that we owed them that service. I think, as I said to Steve in a prior conversation, you know, these are the people that help send my kids to college, to pay my mortgage, to give me the life that they've given me, and the least I can do is help them through the, you know, later stages of life and give them expertise that they need. And so, you know, I this sort of morphed into, you know, what would now be called today, a longevity planning practice. And you know, we're, we're very happy to put that into the business front and center for us.

 

Steve Gresham  02:35

So I guess I would lift right from what I've heard from you, what you've said so many times that you begin your practice with a set of core beliefs so that's already rooted, and then you have acquired clients, but it's almost like you're recruiting clients. That's the way it feels to me, because you've got a very specific feel for how clients should collaborate with you.

 

Eliot Weissberg  03:00

Yeah, no, we are very nichey and very picky about how who and how we take people on, and you know, are they a good fit? And there's multiple filters and screenings that occur, from a phone call to a first meeting to a second meeting before that decision is even made. One of the things you alluded to was my beliefs around our fiduciary responsibility and collaboration. You know, one of the niches that we chose to hone in on early was people who didn't want to collaborate, or as I prefer to call them, delegators. We work much better with delegators than collaborators. Collaborators are difficult, or if not impossible, to scale from a business point of view, but delegators allow us to do our best work by trusting us and allowing us to do the things for them that need to be done.

 

Steve Gresham  04:07

So what does that look like when you're working with a family where the Generation1 clients, as you said, are now in their 80s, and you are supporting them. Some of the things that that I've heard you say, you know, freedom to live the life you want begins with making the choice to plan. So you know, I suspect that there's conversations that are taking place into that second generation. When do those actually start?

 

Eliot Weissberg  04:40

Well, typically the we'll call them, the parents, in this case, have bought into the concept and have been long term clients. So, you know, the the children have heard my name a long time. You know, it's like, if anything happens, call Eliot. I'm that trusted advisor type. So I think it starts with that. Conversation when they're younger, with their parents down to them, but then it begins with us as parents start to, you know, I'll use the words loosely, age out,  that we bring the kids in. They're the powers of attorney. They're the beneficiaries of the assets they typically, you know, part of our screening process, they typically love and care about their parents, and we have a lot of situations where that is not the case. And so our planning is, I'll call it non traditional in that sense. But, you know, we try to work with the kids and bring them in. You know it usually happens as the parent, as everybody realizes the parents truly need help and can no longer be completely independent. That's when we're we're dragging the kids in if they haven't been dragged in yet.

 

Suzanne Schmitt  06:00

Got it so in reflecting on a prior conversation you have, I think a more unique approach in terms of how you onboard clients, and that may involve more meetings than the typical advisor is used to setting up. Could you talk a little bit about how you create that, I should say, create a relationship with that client as you each vet each other out.

 

Eliot Weissberg  06:23

Sure, well, I'll go through our process, I think is the easiest way. So it starts that with what I would just best describe as a screening call. This is a 15 minute call between myself and the prospect that's scheduled, where we just ask some questions around. Does it make sense to have a first meeting? These questions are things like, what are you trying to accomplish, Mr. Prospect? What are your, What are your - what do you want to get out of this meeting? Why are why are you reaching out to me? You know, because we didn't reach out to them normally. And all we're doing there is getting a very broad sense of, okay, we'll risk the first meeting or not. And usually when they're referred, you know, they we can jump through that hurdle. It's rare that people don't, but allows us to set the stage also for the fact that, yeah, we're doing this, we are going through a process of we'll see if we fit. And so then we schedule what we would call the first meeting, and my assistant, one of my assistants, sends out a letter, email or correspondence with a list of things to bring to your first meeting if you feel like it, okay, and it's the laundry list, all right, but we never expect it to show up in the first meeting. The purpose, and we tell them so, the purpose of the first meeting is just sit and talk for about an hour to see if we're able to sit and talk for about an hour and have chemistry. And, you know, can get sort of into a trusting mode, if you will. You know, are they going to tell me what's going on? Are they going to be non forthcoming? And you know that that's a nice, easy way to vet people, because we know if they're not forthcoming, that they're probably not going to be a good fit. And it's easy to tell when they're not forthcoming or not. But assuming we you know that meeting all goes well, then we schedule what we would call the second meeting, which is really the have to bring in everything. Have to get undressed. You know, the first is the first date. We don't ask them to get undressed. You know, by the second date, we're like, no, no. We, you know, got to see everything. And we see what everything is or isn't, mostly what it isn't, because they think they bring everything, and it's rare that they bring everything, but we're able to get enough to piece it together and see if they're trying, and see if they really want to become a client, because at that stage, if they've disclosed, you know, we know what their intent is, And then we just see if we, you know, if they're willing to do things like delegate, follow instructions. To Steve's comment earlier, they have to decide that they're willing to plan and execute on that plan. Okay, it's not just, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm going to do that. No, no, no. They have to, like, do it, you know. And they can't pass go until they do certain things and they you know. So I think that would be the, the more most concise answer I can give you, although that wasn't that concise.

 

Suzanne Schmitt  09:54

It's really helpful. And a quick follow on - at what point in your onboarding process do you look to understand who's important to that client, or prospective client? What their family looks like, who their trusted partners are?

 

Eliot Weissberg  10:06

Yeah, well, hopefully day one, you know, first call, that's the thing. Tell me about your circumstance. You know, that's the question, How can I help you? And they usually just start talking and we listen, but you know, we're asking things like, you know, if they have documents, of course, I'm reading them so I can see who's in their documents. You know, their will and their trust and powers of attorney, who they've given, sort of put their put their life in the other person's hands, if you will, if they have a medical power of attorney. If they don't have any of that stuff, and many don't, you know, the majority of people do not you know, then we start to talk about, well, tell me about your family, any special needs, any addictions, any spendthrift problems, you know, any uglies and No, no, no. I got three doctors. They're all wonderful. You know, false. But you know, because, you know, I can tell you stories, but you know the fact of the matter is, is that that's coming out very early on, because in most cases, that's part of the goal package, if you will. Like, I want to make sure that the interactions between those around me are what I need, and so that's what we talk about. Because it's not just about the money in longevity planning, it's about how are you going to use that money to achieve the lifestyle you want to achieve?

 

Steve Gresham  11:40

Suzanne, we have heard so far from advisors that we've been talking to in our study. We, I think we've, we've got a common theme going from the people who are the most successful with longevity planning, and it's the point that you made a second ago. It is working in advance. You know, it's the it's the prior screening of the clients coming in. You know, the onboarding of the clients, the people who seem to be the most successful, especially at engaging the next generation, are the advisors and practices that have kind of baked in all of that upfront work. But would you - do you share my observation there?

 

Suzanne Schmitt  12:20

I do share your observation, and I think, like what we've we've heard from Eliot just just so far, there is an intentionality about making the family a part of that first meeting. And to the extent that advisors like Eliot, not to put words in his mouth, are successful at doing that, it is because that is a consideration from day one. But I'm curious, Eliot, what advice would you give advisors who really want to get into more intentionally that longevity planning practice and make the family part of the conversation? What advice would you give to maybe a younger version of you, or advisors who are thinking about that right now?

 

Eliot Weissberg  12:55

Sure, so one of the steps that I skipped when I talked about our onboarding process. But I think it's very important to what I'm about to say is that if this is a not a single person, whether they're in a relationship, but you know, if they're married, you know, we're requiring the spouse be involved day one, like if the spouse is not involved, day one, it's a no, period. You know? It's a no like they are required to come to those first two meetings, and if they don't, it's a no. So we're immediately making it known that this is a package deal. You know, it's the family. It's not just you, Mr. Or Mrs. But very often, Mr. And so as we're we're going through this, I've just learned that if they want to get where they want to get, the family is going to be involved. I mean, it, it just can't not be involved unless there's no family, you know, then you have to make other arrangements. And it's also interesting to see how the family dynamic changes. And the things that I think young advisors can pay attention to is siblings, children, having contact information. Trusted Advisor. Trusted contact information. You know they may not be at the point where they're named in the documents yet. You know, if I've got a husband and wife, 70 years old, really healthy, with 40 year old kids, I don't know that they've named them as power of attorney at that point. You know that's a if both spouses are healthy. So I think you just make sure you've got the names, you've got the addresses, you're including them in they you work them into conversation. You know, every conversation obviously should start with, you know, how's your family? How are you, how's your family, how's life. You know, tell me about Susie, Johnny and Joey. You better know those names and keep track of them through your CRM or, you know, whatever, because, you know, that's what those people care about, is their children, typically, more than anything else in the world. And young advisors, parents or not, need to, you know, just always understand what motivates the elders, if you will.

 

Suzanne Schmitt  15:25

Well said. Steve, I think one of the things that we are both personally interested in and have found a kindred spirit here in Eliot is, how do you get people talking about aging when that is something that the average person really struggles with? And I was particularly struck with some language that you use, and specifically this notion of how you and your practice guide people to discover and leverage their capacity to age confidently. So tell us how you do that and what drew you to take that approach.

 

Eliot Weissberg  15:54

Sure, so part of it is personal journey, and part of it is just being, how do I want to say this? You know, when you, when you act as an as an advisor to somebody for 20, 30, 40, years, it's, it's hard not to fall in love with them. I'm just going to put it at that level. That's the nature of the let you know, kind of the endearing work that we do. You care about these people, you know. And it's like, All right, well, Joe, how do we, you know, get you there. I mean, in the beginning it sounds like this:  okay, so we got to figure out how long your money's going to last for, right? Yes. How long do you want it to last for? They say, you know. And I say, No, no, no, how long you gonna and they know how long you gonna live for, you know? So it comes out literally, usually in the second meeting, you know, we're talking about how long, long, you know, long you know, they don't know we're talking about longevity planning. But I'm immediately introducing that into the into the discussion of, how long does the money have to last? Because that helps us build risk tolerance and the nature of the portfolio, and are the goals and objectives realistic relative to the money and cash flow they have and all that stuff. So they, and most people, chuckle, and you know, I wish we knew and all that, but having that little back and forth in that second meeting about really opens up a lot of, you know, note taking and and opportunity set, because they either say, I don't want to worry about it, you know, in denial, okay? Or they have so much it doesn't matter. God bless them, you know, but for most people are in between, and you got to get them there.

 

Steve Gresham  17:46

So one of the questions that that we hear a lot is is basically it comes from a place of skepticism among advisors, but also by management, by owners of advisory firms and skeptical about the amount of time and effort that is needed to and that you invest in these clients, but it's obviously it's worked out for you. But Eliot, so how do you track financially, the metrics of the practice? How important is that? And what are you looking at?

 

Eliot Weissberg  18:19

Oh, well, there's a lot of- so we we look at many metrics, you know, asset growth, return on assets, you know, margins, profit growth. You know, all the different expense metrics, profit per client is my favorite metric. That's probably our most important metric. You know, make sure each client is profitable, and if they're not profitable, we understand why. You know, children would be an example, perhaps, of a non profitable relationship, but yet we invest in them, or clients that have spent down, and we know they're not profitable any longer, but I always frame that as well. We reserve for that. So don't worry. But at the at the end of the day for me, and I don't know if we've talked about this in the past or not Steve, and I'm a little weird this way is, once my compensation has hit a certain level, I'm not taking any more compensation. I'm sharing that with my team, and they know it. And I hit that level in 21 you know, we all had that kind of bonus year in 21 and then the last couple of years, not so much. And this year, you know, well, we'll see, forgetting today for a moment, you know, this will be a reasonably decent year. And so I'm now driven in my career. I'm now at a stage where I'm driven to support my team, and how can I take care of. Them in a way that they deserve, because they've been with me for 20, 18 years. You know, it's like, I couldn't just like the client. I couldn't have done it without you. And therefore, okay, you know now it's your turn.

 

Steve Gresham  20:20

Right. And so, so the the advisor that's listening, or the management of an advisory firm that's listening, starts to hear a, you know, a holistic planning guy story. But it's a lot more than that. It's deeper than that. You're and you're paying very close attention to the monetization along the way?

 

Eliot Weissberg  20:42

Oh, yeah, and I'm sorry I really didn't answer the question effectively. You know, what I would say is, it's all how you spend your time and what you can scale and what you can't scale, and systematizing those things, giving you the time. I mean, the amount of time we spend managing money is very little, okay, the managing the money part of our practice is 99% systematized, and that includes what to do when a client calls up and asks for money. What to do when a client puts in money, you know, depending on their life stage and everything else. And so that's, you know, almost mechanized, not quite mechanized, but absolutely systematized, which gives, and that's unusual, I want to be clear, and that frees up time to, you know, I have a team of six in total, or five and a half anyway, one person's part time. But, you know, we're kind of all seasoned professionals. We know what we're doing. We kind of bang out the work, and our biggest issue is capacity. And maybe, you know, maybe that's a constraint. But, you know, we hire as we we grow that we just the biggest issue with our practice is we cannot grow rapidly in terms of new new client count, because we go so deep, but we can take on big clients, and, you know, an onboarding process for us might take six to eight weeks. We never want to be onboarding more than three clients at a time. You know, those kind. So we have rules and guidelines so we don't go off the rails. As I tell new prospects, your workflow is very important to me, because I have to be able to deliver what I promised. I deliver, you know, because it's my word, and if I can't do that, that's bad. And I we have that conversation up front about how this is going to flow and what should be their expectations and things other metrics, like, how long is this going to take? Well, you know, my experience is it takes the average client 18 months. The slower client 27 months, and the client who really bangs it out quickly can get it done in 13 to 14 months. I've never seen anybody do it faster, and they look at me like, I'm crazy. Of course, I can get it done faster, but no one does. No one you know. And you know, so we track that, because we know there's much more work in those first 18 months, and then, you know, the work becomes less. I should also comment for many clients, that's the point in which we reduce their fee, because at that point, the work is much less, because now their affairs are in order. They've learned, they've learned our system. They've delegated. They're happy with it. They sit back. They let us do our thing. Our thing scales very nicely, and so our costs are much less the number of meetings and so on and so forth. And you know that works. So this, there's a lot of metrics.

 

Steve Gresham  24:09

And how many households do you have overall in the practice today?

 

Eliot Weissberg  24:14

Sure I don't have the exact number in front of me, because it's on this iPad we're chatting on today, but with that said it's about 150 families that represent about 250 households. Obviously, the excess is multi generational.

 

Steve Gresham  24:31

Sure well this is interesting. Suzanne, I think we could probably talk to Eliot all day. So we'd like to come back and catch up with you again. But, but I'd like to thank you on behalf of the power your advice podcast on advisor pedia. Suzanne Schmidt, we are here with Eliot Weissberg. Eliot, thank you so much.

 

Eliot Weissberg  24:49

Suzanne, Stephen, it's been a pleasure. I'd be happy to come back again.

 

Steve Gresham  24:54

Great.