Case Study

There are many excellent accountants, attorneys, wealth managers and other allied professionals who do a great job for their family clients. It can be hard to stand out when competing for business. Wealthy families and families with operating businesses have special needs and when professionals ally themselves with outside expertise, they differentiate themselves from the competition and better connect with prospective family clients.

A very well-known wealth manager who frequently appeared on national media was often vetted by large families with very significant assets but was not being engaged with the frequency he wanted. He was looking for a way to set himself apart from others much like him. He was introduced to Jeff and explained his dilemma and desire to attract and engage more of these families. He often invited these families to nice dinners at upscale establishments for education about investing and what made him different than other wealth managers.

Main themes and interventions:
  • Jeff provided education about family business/wealth dynamics and governance for this wealth management expert and his team. He brought them up to speed about the growing field and the unique needs of families which spurred the field’s growth.
  • Jeff visited dinner events to see how they were being run. He noticed potential clients losing interest as they were overwhelmed by technical presentations. Jeff suggested he collaborate with the team, they make their technical presentation shorter and then Jeff presented on the issues which these families were most concerned about:
    • Will my wealth hurt my children? How much should I pass to them and how?
    • Can the next generation take over the business successfully? Will my loyal employees be able to have security and my children, nieces and nephews get along?
    • What will I do if I walk away from my business?
  • Jeff trained the team to understand and address these issues on their own going forward.
  • Upon seeing the desire of potential clients to talk deeply about their families at the dinner events, Jeff sat at tables, engaged them deeply in conversation and landed the firm a new client the very first time. Jeff coached the team to be better listeners and to weave knowledge of family dynamics into their conversations with prospective family clients.

*Identifying details have been changed to protect client privacy.