Page 15 - Investment Advisor - Jan/Feb 2021

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

By Timothy D. Welsh

How to Build the ‘Perfect’ Advisory Firm

It’s not rocket science, but it does require a tight game plan to address
seven key business areas.

ports athletes strive to perfect
their talent to achieve the highest
Slevels, and there are a number of
ways to define that pinnacle. Typically,
it’s based on a set of difficult criteria
that athletes must complete to be con-
sidered “perfect.”
For example, in baseball, that per-
fection is a perfect game — 27 up, 27
down — no walks, no hits, no errors, no
hit batters and no fielder’s interference.
In bowling, it’s 12 strikes in a row for a
score of 300. In golf, it’s a hole in one. In
tennis, it’s a love set.
There’s no prescription or required
methods for accomplishing perfection
in any of these endeavors. You just have
to get there. The hole-in-one that landed
right in the cup counts just the same as ment, asset, advisory, etc. — we won’t Our target market can be defined by
the wayward tee shot that hit two trees, stand out in that crowd. many factors — demographics, wealth
a rock, bounced off the sand trap rake Also, we don’t want a made-up levels, occupations, financial planning
and rolled in. word, or an ancient Greek or Latin needs, technical specialties and more —
If we were to extend this model of phrase. We would constantly have to all of which we need to sort through to
perfection in sports to the business of explain what it is, what it means and determine which niche to pursue.
advice, here’s how it might manifest what we do. It has to be a niche that helps us
itself in a theoretical “perfect” advisory But through much research and stand out and enables us to become spe-
firm that can stand the test of time. diligence, we’ll come up with a name cialists and experts in our target market.
that’s compelling, differentiated and That way we become memorable, dif-
THE RIGHT NAME communicates how our brand will res- ferentiated and referable to our specific
First, we need a brand and a name onate with our target market and can target clients — we can’t be all things to
for this high-promise operation. This resonate across its digital and social all people.
seems simple enough, however, it’s media channels. By specializing in a niche, we drasti-
probably the most difficult and ardu- cally simplify our operational footprint,
ous challenge. The brand and name SET A TARGET MARKET staffing levels and corresponding over-
must convey the experience that we Underlying our branding is the selec- head costs. This move also allows us to
want clients, staff and the community tion of our target market, meaning who establish a defined set of services for our
to experience, while differentiating us
client niche, leading to a virtuous cycle
we want to work with, who most needs
bizvector/Shutterstock there’s no real enterprise value in it for premium price for them. While we are TECHNOLOGY STACK
our services and who’s willing to pay a
of referrals to similar people.
in a sea of competitors.
We can’t use our last name, since
dedicated overall to helping people, we
future owners. Plus, we have to stay
do need to have a highly profitable busi-
Next, we need an operational technol-
ogy stack. Of course, there are many fab-
ness so that we can fund ongoing opera-
away from the thousands of clichéd
names using wealth, capital, manage-
ulous options of unified systems, wealth
tions and growth.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 13