Q&A with Kelli Hueler: - Napfa

The Efficient Planner
by Jennifer Lazarus
Client Advisory Boards Can Generate
Great Questions and Valuable Feedback
In my last Efficient Planner column,
NAPFA advisors shared their
experiences about the logistics for
setting up and running a client advisory
board. Here, advisors share the questions
they have posed to the board members
and the valuable, actionable feedback they
have received.
Br anding
Giles Almond, whose firm, Matrix
Wealth Advisors (MWA), focuses on
physicians, uses questions such as these:
• What words come to mind when you
think about MWA as a brand?
• What words come to mind to
describe how you feel about MWA as
a brand?
• What services would an imaginary
world-class wealth management firm
dedicated to the needs of physicians
provide?
• What services would an imaginary
world-class wealth management firm
dedicated to the needs of physicians
provide that you perceive MWA
does not currently provide? How
important on a 1-10 scale is that
service, and would you be willing to
pay more to get it?
• What medical practice challenges
would an imaginary world-class
wealth management firm dedicated to
the needs of physicians assist with?
• How would you describe (frequency,
duration, agenda topics) the client
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review meeting at an imaginary
world-class wealth management firm
dedicated to the needs of physicians?
• Where do other medical
professionals go for financial
planning advice?
• What are the best ways to reach
physicians about MWA and its
specialty with physicians?
Perhaps Almond’s biggest revelation
from the client advisory board survey
was that his carefully honed specialty in
serving physicians had not truly sunk in
with his clients. “We learned that while
they knew we had a number of physicians
as clients, none of the board members
realized we specialize in this area,”
Almond said. “They suggested we tout the
number or percentage of physician clients
we serve, as we are marketing to other
physicians.”
Almond also learned from the board
members that “there is a grave concern
about the ‘Giles-centered’ practice, and
questions exist about my succession plan.
We learned that emergency access to me
or another advisor is seen as something
they expect, without paying more for it.”
Almond likens it to an “advisor on call”
for after-hours support.
Clients also indicated that they would
pay more for additional coordination of
their full financial picture beyond what
is currently provided—or perceived to be
provided. “For example, board members
[understood] that we provide referrals
for estate and tax matters, but they said
they would like an integrated approach
where we serve as quarterback and bring
other professional advisors into client
meetings to keep them from having to
translate information from one advisor
to another,” he said. “We learned that
the board members feel that their estate
and tax planning is disjointed from their
30
Napfa Advisor October 2012