I recently read with great interest an article published in the Harvard Business Review called “Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers”. The article addresses a recent research study of 75000 people conducted by the Customer Contact Council a division of the Corporate Executive Board which showed that a major contributor to client disloyalty across a range of industries was poor service. Whereas client loyalty was more based on brand and product.

Recently, Merrill Lynch and Capgemini have issued a very important research study which demonstrates how much investors confidence has been eroded by the turbulent markets. Investors are still very wary of the future. Click Here to read the article.
The article points out that the following:

1. Investors want a more active relationship with their advisors, including a deeper understanding of their investments and how they are aligned to their goals, based on their actual risk profile.
2. Many investors are being driven by their emotions when making investment decisions which is increasing the need for advisors to engage in greater dialogue with their clients.
3. Clients are now demanding fundamental changes in how they are served, and are favoring firms which can understand both their emotional and intellectual needs. This is increasing the need for advisors to incorporate a behavioral finance approach towards portfolio management. Advisors need to be able to incorporate the emotional factors into stronger portfolio management and risk management capabilities. A behavioral finance approach of this nature can be a big differentiator among firms.

This research is very consistent with other research, such as from Gallup, which demonstrates the need to emotionally engage with clients at a much deeper level. This is the new “behavioral economy”.

I have just read KPMG's Swiss Financial Services Newsletter for August 2008. The newsletter provides very sharp insights into the increasingly complex international needs of high net worth individuals. The outcome is that the consulting team will need to have a greater global outlook and more sophisticated approach to the technical and human issues impacting the HNWI client.

Some of the key trends driving the changes in how HNWI's need to be serviced are:

1. Investments of HNWI's are continuing to become more global and diversified
2. Stronger demand for superior life quality resulting in lifestyles taking on a growing international flavor
3. Family members living and working internationally away from the home base
4. HNWI's want their consultants to play a collaborative role - working with them, not for them
5. Demand for a higher set of values including ethically correct behavior, social recognition and reputation
   

Specifically for the consultant this will mean their service model needs to meet the following requirements for the HNWI:

1. Capability to deal with many different legal and tax jurisdictions, which means increased complexity and recognition of cross border issues
2. A personal approach and outlook which is cross cultural and able to adapt to diverse human requirements
3. Focus on comprehensive, customized solutions with a holistic perspective that take into account the concerns of the HNWI, short and long term goals in life and multi-generational family issues
4. Clearly understand their vision and be able to anticipate their unique needs
5. Understand them in the context of a larger relationship which encompasses both family and business matters
6. Provide a single point of contact with access and the ability to coordinate a worldwide, comprehensive network of professionals
7. Be free from conflicts of interest and exercise absolute independence
8. Innovatively deliver and implement best in breed solutions
9. Have systems that assure complete security and confidentiality
10. Provide the reliability of a recognized brand name
    

I definitely believe this is the new world order for HNWI services. Very few can do it individually. Great collaboration will be needed to be successful.

Personally, over the past 10 years my approach to this has been to play the role of "brains trust" to HNWI's by firstly understanding who they are at a deep level. Then as part of this role, be the independent sounding board to deal with the complex issues and bring in the right specialists as and when needed.

In the past few weeks we have had a number of people contact us who are starting some form of business partnership together. Most of the time their request has been to find out more about their differences. Some of the typical issues they are seeking to understand are:

1. What are our different talents?
2. What should our role in the business be?
3. What areas do we have to watch out for?
4. Do we have shared values and purpose?
5. Who else should we hire?
6. How do we communicate with each other?
7. How do we hold each other accountable?

These are all very important questions and it is important they are always addressed in structuring and managing a partnership.

However, there is another dimension that needs to be understood and is seldom directly addressed. That is the influence of different money personalities.

1. What are the different money personalities of each of the partners?
2. What is each partner's different relationship to money?

In essence, we need to know their Financial DNA. How will each partner behave with money based on their financial behavioral style? This is absolutely critical to the success of the partnership. So often partnerships do not work or certainly fail to reach their potential because of the different financial attitudes. The different financial attitudes will have a large bearing on their respective goals, what each wants from the business, how they will handle money in the business, how the business is financed and the business development plans. You will even find the financial attitudes of the spouses will be important as this is another partnership to which each of the business partners is accountable and is strongly influenced by.

If one partner is more dominant, then his or her financial attitude will prevail and have a strong influence on the outcome of the business and the decisions. It is my experience from working with many partnerships, and first hand from being in partnerships, that each partner having a healthy relationship to money will be foundational to success. Just have a look at some partnerships that you know of that have worked and failed. Ask why? Money is nearly always there in a big way. Do not be afraid to find out the answers early as this will save a lot of pain later. This is important as having shared values and knowing your respective talents. If not understood, it will become a major road block.

In recent years there has been a lot written about how wealth created by the first generation (the entrepreneur) is lost by the third generation. Often the second generation has also added to the wealth. Then the third generation has lost it through being irresponsible, idle, or simply making poor decisions.

Research from a range of sources is consistently showing that this is happening in over 70% of family wealth transfers.

A significant aspect of intergenerational wealth loss is related to the fact that the financial and estate plans do not adequately take into account the human issues involved. Very often poor communication and relationships within the family along with negative emotions lead to bad decisions. The reality is that many wealth transfer plans whilst technically sound become redundant the day after the wealth transferor passes on.

So, how can you improve those statistics so there is greater intergenerational wealth preservation and also family harmony?

The solutions are found in some interesting research undertaken with a high number of wealthy families by groups like Family Office Exchange and also The Williams Group. Their research points to the top priorities for the families are now to address areas such as family legacy and the family relationships. Whilst investment competence is important it is somewhat low on the list. Investment management is generally seen as a given and considered somewhat of a known science. Notwithstanding, getting the family to adopt these priorities and change their behavior is another matter. If you are an advisor, accountant or attorney what areas should you spend the most time on?

The importance of building greater family unity cannot be underestimated. The family needs to have a defined legacy with a shared mission and set of values. This then becomes the framework and platform for family decisions, dealing with businesses, inheritance, financial education, philanthropy and so on. If needed, bring in specialists to deal with the human dynamics and facilitate this. We often do this with advisors. So, I would really encourage for family meetings to be held. Whilst this process can be expensive in some cases, it does not have to be. Just being aware of the importance of these issues and doing a little more to work on them even through more "relational" discussions will help. Of course, for a high net worth family with many financial complexities and plenty of family history then a family meeting is a great idea and will lead to great results.

Hang on. Where is the market going to? Will the Dow be 5000 in the next few months by June 2009 or 22000 in 6 years? Who knows. They are interesting questions. I have placed my own personal wager on the markets reaching these levels in those time frames with some friends. I have often talked about this with friends and clients since 1999. Japan could still get messy for the world yet as it has many unresolved issues. These problems coming down the pipeline have been a big part of my move into the human behavior business.

However, this whole discussion does call into question what is our role in advising clients? Is our role to help them manage their behavior or to get the highest maximum performance?

I have always said that financial planning risks are the sum of human behavioral risks (client and advisor) and market risks. Our whole Financial DNA program for investors and advisors has been predicated on this. Whilst the market itself cannot be managed by a client their reaction to it can be which comes back to human behavior management. There is university research which shows that 5% of a person's wealth comes from their investments and 95% from their behavior.

I do believe 75% or more of our role is to save clients from themselves by helping manage their behavior. This involves educating, guiding, coaching and empowering them. What we call "Wealth Mentoring". By adopting this approach you will be helping your clients obtain superior returns which far out weigh any level of fees that you can charge. The reality is that the key to successful investment is managing behavior.

Wealth Mentoring Transforms the Client Experience and Enhances Value

For the Wealth Mentoring approach to be successful the advisor must transform the client experience they provide. The client needs to experience the feeling that their life is more than money, their money has been humanized, a sense of improved relationships, discovery of life purpose and meaning, and finally a tailored portfolio built from the inside out. Then there must be an ongoing development experience involving wise counsel with the client knowing they have an improved quality life. Understanding their behavioral style and preferences is fundamental to all of this. Behavior shapes life decisions which in turn influence financial decisions. The linkage is very close.

Importantly, the value proposition to the client needs to be communicated. There are many tangible and intangible benefits of this approach. Research shows average mutual fund investors will over a 20 year period do themselves out of nearly 60% of the return produced by the average equity mutual fund. This means the average investor will significantly underperform the market and his own investments. So, if the average mutual fund return over the last 20 years is 10.81% and the average equity fund investor has averaged 4.48% then there is a 6.33% difference which represents the cost of not having a good planner. Hence a financial planner charging fees of 1% per annum and/or a retainer is very good value.

What is great is that now we have turbulent times lots of other leading commentators are coming out of the woodwork and giving this message loud and clear. We are at the start of a cultural revolution in the role of advisors in financial planning and the investors attitude to it. A revolution that is client centered and one from which everyone who plays the right game of managing behavior will be big winners. The philosophy of Understanding People before Numbers is here to stay.

The Advisors Value Proposition of a Wealth Mentoring Approach

Our last Whitepaper summarizes research that we have recently performed of 100 advisors with AUM over $50m. The conclusion is that far more client discovery could be performed and there is plenty of scope to introduce more fee based services which address the life of the client.

In my view what is ever good for the client will generally be good for the advisor in the long run. Lets look at why a behavioral "wealth mentoring" approach is good for the advisor's bottom line let alone the credibility of their financial planning process and business.

The ROI for an advisor of adopting a systemized behavioral approach is driven by the ability to aid advisors in:

1. increasing client acquisition rates
2. increasing walletshare among existing clients
   
3. providing the justification for higher advice fees
   
4. increasing client retention rates
   
5. improving advisor productivity
   
6. increasing the business value.
   

Advisors who integrate a behavioral system into their practices find that they achieve these ROI goals by:

1. Establishing trust more rapidly with prospective clients through anticipating their communication, investment, and lifestyle needs
   
   
2. Gathering more assets from existing clients by positioning themselves as the client's trusted advisor. Wealth mentoring facilitates client interactions that go well beyond investments and provides the basis for a deeper relationship with each client.
   
   
3. Supporting higher planning and advice fees through the offer of a powerful discovery process. Financial advisors may also use client centered systems to add new revenue generating services such as couple or family facilitation, executive life balance programs etc.
   
   
4. Improving relationships with problem clients. Advisors often struggle with a segment of their clients because their natural behaviors differ greatly with those of the advisor. While advisors may keep these relationships in good times, rocky markets require more careful facilitation to help clients feel understood.
   
   
5. Advisor productivity increases because once you know the behavior of the client it is easier and quicker to identify their needs, manage them and keep them committed to a plan. Alot of time can get burned for an advisor dealing with client changes and problems after year 1 which could have been addressed up-front.
   
   
6. Greater documentation of who the client is enables relationships to be transferred to other people within the practice and also when it is sold. This has a very positive impact on business value.
   

In terms of metrics, here is what we base the wealth mentoring value proposition on:

1. We have seen trends that advisors who adopt a client centred methodology are increasing their gross asset under management revenues by 25% or more per annum from new clients. Further, we are seeing them increase their fee for service revenues by 15% or more per annum. Also, there is enhanced client retention. Of course success from using any system is also up to the effort of the advisor.
   
   We believe it is possible in respect of an average practice to help the principal advisor double their net take home profit over a 4 year period. This is achieved from segmenting the client base so it is fundamentally more productive and building the AUM and fee for service revenues from the top 100 or so clients. This is a substantial return on investment from our costs and the coaching cost.
   
   
2. From point 1, there is the ongoing business benefit that the increased revenues and profits translate to increased business value on sale. What we have also seen is that the behavioral data enables greater transferability of clients which is fundamental to the business value as revenue and profit sustainability post the sale are fundamental to the value.