At the recent CEO Summit held by Tiburon Strategic Advisors, managing partner Chip Roame gave his views on the future of the planning industry. The two opportunities he cited hold the keys to your next reinvention—a process that yields greater profits for your business and maximum satisfaction for you.

 

Succession planning and acquiring new clients seem to be diametrically opposed activities. In the evolving environment, they each enhance the other. Roame stated the obvious. Succession planning is not just something you should do, it’s something to begin now. Preparing well for the inevitable takes time, forethought, and strategic planning.

 

Growing your book of business—both in number and in quality—gets you top value when you're ready to capture it. A new generation of investors is sitting right at your doorstep and they are significant in number. They're already accumulating their wealth. You can start the process now to attract this new crop of investors.

 

You don’t have to change your core philosophies to do this. The most successful advisors don’t. Just as chameleons adapt to the color around them, leading advisors adapt to their clients’ ways of seeing and doing things. This doesn’t change who you are at your core.

 

The new generation of investors isn't interested in quarterly meetings. They connect and interact through social media and over the internet. They have different expectations for their advisory relationships.

 

They’re building their wealth now and they won’t wait for you to catch up. They need your advice, your wisdom, and your experience. And they’ll go it alone if they can’t find someone interested enough to work with them on their terms.

 

Firms will have to adapt, too. This includes independent broker-dealers as well as large institutions. Reinvention doesn't just occur at the advisor level. Top advisors will seek the best environment for they way they wish to implement their businesses. Firms who custom tailor their offerings to support these advisors are still at the forefront of the new wave of change.

 

As early as 2004, firms began tailoring their offerings to support top advisors. One example involved advisors wishing to serve their clients as both consultants and money managers.

 

The advisors wanted closer relationships with their clients and greater transparency. They had a passion for managing money and were also skilled at building client relationships across generations of the family. Their firms chose to partner with them and share in their success.

 

The custom-tailored model their firms offered also enabled these advisors to partner with other professionals to offer a broader range of services.

 

Roame’s half-way house model is an extension of this same model. Whether advisors break away or simply move to another firm, they are seeking an environment where they can implement their businesses in line with their vision.

 

Every crisis is rife with opportunity. If you’re waiting for the right time to grab it, it might just pass you by.