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I’ll cut to the chase. I have the best job in the world.
I get to work with really successful wealth management firms all over the world — helping them get better, do better and gain deeper control along the way.
Everyone has a different vibe, different focus and unique opportunity to do deeply meaningful work for the people they serve.
This particular trip to Alaska to meet a fantastic firm there gave me some time to think about my dad and grandfather on the flight up. Both of the found a deep love of the ruggedness of Alaska. The unbridled nature of all of it spoke to them. Neither of them are still here on earth now. When I was younger, I dreamed of the three of us going to Alaska together, even if I have always been the urbanist of my family. I thought of how short life is and how we should make the most of what we are given.
As I flew north, I thought about how different my dad and grandfather were from each other, how different I am from them, and how different my clients are from each other. I marveled at each person’s importance to their family, work, and community. I thought about the idea that no person matters more than any other person.
Although our contributions to this gigantic, evolving world are very different from one another, we all have this wonderful opportunity to take what’s in front of us and make it into more.
This is where being an advisor is so important. Advisors get to help people make more with what they have. Whether they are old or young, confident or full of doubt. A great advisor is that confidant and partner who gets to roll with you through the messy middle, the sad times and hopefully gives you that kick in the butt to spend some of it here and there (thanks Matt).
While there are many things that tug at hearts for concern, most people today have a good deal of anxiety about money. Their perspective on money can make our break how they relate to everything around them. If they are out of whack, money thoughts don’t stay confined to balance sheet reviews or investment selections. Advisors get to be the trusted guide who can help clients think through their assumptions, unpack their disfunction and get clear with what their future can and should look like.
It’s powerful, or at least it can be.
The more transactional the relationship an advisor has with a client, the less likely they are to keep the relationship, making scale a difficult task.
On my flight to Anchorage I threw out a tweet around my doubt about surge meetings — the concept that you batch all your client meetings into a flurry of activity and focus. In my opinion, it makes sense to do this if we’re only thinking about our own schedules.
Of course, our businesses are fundamentally about others.
They decide to make you their advisor because they want your guidance about the future and you sign on to be with them - when the house gets too small, when college looms, when weddings arrive, when grandkids futures are in play, when they’re thinking about their legacy, when someone passes, when the next generation takes over. You’re there.
If attention to our clients is the most important thing, we have continual work to do to reorient ourselves toward their need. We can’t let side quests steal our time and energy.
The process that has us spending two hours to do basic blocking and tackling in meeting prep? That needs to get automated. The meeting follow up process that used to take a lot of time to parse out to the right team members with data and manual workflows? Time to move to Zocks or Zeplyn (both of which can connect to your data powered by Milemarker, btw).
Your time and focus with your clients is primary and you need to give it a rightful place in your business and client experience. Don’t let your time or your team’s time get mired in what can be simple.
Advisors - If you are still busy being the chief everything officer, director of first, last and in between impressions, it’s time to change.
Providers - If advisors are your ultimate client, you need to be the offensive coordinator making sure that there is nothing detracting them from the focus they need to place on their clients.
If it’s true that every human matters equally, than, I believe, we owe it to show up fully for every client.