Page 23 - Investment Advisor March 2021

ient and creative in facing rejection and fied, long-term customers. He makes Are all new prospects just impossible
other business problems. Positive feel- sure to sprinkle affirming experiences to deal with, or was this one case par-
ings can make us more open to seeing when visiting existing clients through- ticularly challenging due to a specific
new possibilities when solving prob- out his day. issue? Was your delivery awful, or was
lems. Our good feelings also can radiate there an external issue — i.e., the pros-
to prospects, making them less adver- 5. OUR EXPLANATORY STYLE CAN pect just wasn’t ready?
sarial and more open to our message. MAKE US MORE RESILIENT. Pink even says you should track
Positive feelings include apprecia- How we view negative events has a pro- weekly rejections and then celebrate
tion, amusement, compassion, joy and found effect on our ability to persist in them. Despite the rebuffs, you’re still
inspiration. the face of adversity. The more we can standing!
The ratio has to be carefully cali- explain difficult events as temporary, Viewing setbacks as learning experi-
brated. You sometimes need negative specific and external, the easier it will be ences and believing in our ability to
emotions to identify and address prob- for us to rebound, says Pink. ultimately overcome them helps us stay
lems. Otherwise, you’ll be in a world of Was your presentation off because positive and resilient.
self-delusion. you were sleep deprived — a temporary
Pink cites one top-performing condition — or because you just aren’t Mark Elzweig heads executive recruiting firm
salesman who regularly visits satis- persuasive? Mark Elzweig Company in New York.

Focus Financial and Orion Form Joint Venture
Focus Financial Partners and Orion Advisor Solutions have For the roughly 30,000 advisors with some 2,400 firms
formed a joint venture that’s set to add a range of cash and using Orion’s platform, the deal means access to lending and
credit solutions to Orion’s WealthTech platform. It builds on cash management capabilities, such as various FDIC-insured
a relationship that Focus Client Solutions, a subsidiary of RIA deposit programs at competitive rates for clients’ portfolio
aggregator Focus Financial Partners, has developed with a cash and held-away cash balances.
group of banks and nonbank lenders working with its 71 part- Lending options include securities-backed and insurance
ner RIA firms, which manage over $200 billion in client assets. premium finance lines of credit, commercial and business
The news is significant as an industry development, since loans, residential and commercial mortgages, and air and
“it’s about tying banking to advisors, and it’s long overdue,” watercraft financing.
said Joel Bruckenstein, head of Technology Tools for Today. Advisors working with Orion have about $1.4 trillion in
“Everybody in the industry talks about margin compression assets under administration, according to CEO Eric Clarke.
and the future of the business. This solves for it. It’s another Also, there are some $47 billion of assets under management
way for advisors [and firms] to make money, and … it builds on its turnkey asset management platform after its recent
on their existing client relationships.” merger with Brinker Capital.
There’s a competitive advantage for advisory firms that About 50–75 advisory firms will have access to the services
loan investor clients money, Bruckenstein points out. “Then through the Orion platform in a beta program starting at the
integrating this [information] fully and seamlessly into finan- end of the first quarter. A full release is planned for the sec-
cial planning software — putting all that data into advisors’ ond quarter, when all advisors using the Orion platform will
hands — also is a big deal.” be able to access the capabilities, Clarke explained.
Focus Client Solutions was “originally created only for Orion expects the joint venture will include a robust,
Focus partners a little over a year ago,” according to Focus end-to-end experience for advisors and clients. Once
Book cover courtesy of Dan Pink advice” for ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth clients cash deposits and loans to their financial plans through
Financial Chairman and CEO Rudy Adolf. It’s a “tried and
the joint venture’s services are fully integrated into the
tested program.”
Orion platform, advisors will be able to connect a client’s
The offering gives RIAs the ability to “truly provide holistic
Orion Planning.
“to really manage their total balance sheet in a highly sophis-
“Ultimately, advisors will be able to monitor and report
on a client’s entire financial portfolio through Orion’s
ticated way,” he explained. Plus, the value-added capabilities
dynamic reporting capabilities,” the companies said in the
tend to be “way superior [to] what a traditional private bank
announcement. —Jeff Berman
or a wirehouse could offer.”

MARCH 2021 INVESTMENT ADVISOR 21