How to deliver new opportunities for your business owner clients
by Chase Brakke, Vice President of Business Owner Solutions
Major corporations like Apple and Google use a metric called “Share of Wallet” or SOW to determine the portion of a single customer’s dollars attributed to their brand compared to competing brands in the same product category.
The more money a customer holds with your brand versus others, the more valuable the customer is and the less likely they are to leave your brand.
This metric is equally important to financial advisors:
The more products and services that your clients have with you, the more valuable they become and the harder it is for them to leave for the next shiny new object.
Share of Wallet:
The more money a customer holds with your brand versus others, the more valuable the customer is and the less likely they are to leave your brand.
The financial services industry is continuing to become more complex with more access points to products than ever before. What used to be your competition (other financial advisors) has expanded across sectors:
- CPA firms and employee benefits firms are now fighting for 401(k)s.
- Insurance brokers are now fighting for benefits and executive planning.
- Technology companies are looking to do it all for less and with a cool technology feel to it.
Even though you might not currently offer these things, they all fall under “financial services,” and your clients will start to move their assets if someone else promises something more than just “AUM advice.”
Expanding your service offerings and holding more of your clients’ dollars will ensure they think twice before acting on the next pitch.
At North Star Resource Group, our Business Owner Solutions team is designed to help the advisor better support their business owner clients through advanced business planning and strategic review for business supported products.
The team consists of a Business Planning Consultant, advanced planning team, commercial insurance consultants, employee benefits consultants, life and disability consultants, valuation experts, and tax planners.
This team’s sole focus is to support our business owner clients in every way possible.
Through a collaborative approach to planning and guided by our Business Owner Consultant, every advisor—whether inexperienced or a tenured—will add unprecedented value to their business owner clients through comprehensive financial advice and product implementation where appropriate.
Whether a business is a start-up, in expansion, mature and thriving, or in transition, every business owner needs guidance, and they want it from someone that understands their whole business.
Case study of comprehensive business owner solutions
A tenured advisor that focuses primarily on the physician market had a client’s husband approach him about help with health insurance for his company.
The physician’s spouse had started a logistics company a few years prior and had started to see success to the point where the physician could start to reduce her time at work.
The advisor had never worked with a business owner before, let alone a group medical plan before.
He reached out to our Business Owner Consultant to see what could be done and how best to approach it. After a joint discovery meeting with the client, we found out they had already met with several other brokers for help but wanted to see what this advisor could do given the relationship.
After presenting their options and explaining their role, the client decided to move forward with medical, dental, vision, STD, LTD, life, and an HSA plan. They had already setup a 401(k) with another broker but aim to move it over to the new advisor in the coming year.
In our debrief meeting, we went through other solutions our team could assist with and a business plan opportunity opened up. Executive benefits planning along with future transition planning were now the key topics and in progress.
The financial advisor generated nearly $1,500 a month in benefits revenue, plus a $6,000 business planning fee with opportunities for life and disability on the executive team and the possibility of taking over the 401(k). Commercial insurances will be reviewed at renewal.
All this was made possible because the advisor didn’t rely only on client loyalty. They leveraged the combination of loyalty and comprehensive service to meet the evolving needs of the client and their connections.
Are you looking for more opportunities to serve your business owner clients? Learn how North Star can help.
Author: Chase Brakke, CEPA®, DIA, DIF
Chase leads our disability insurance, property and casualty insurance, and employee benefits divisions, ensuring clients have a customized protection strategy for their specific individual, family, and business needs.
Chase is heavily involved in his community as a member of the board for BestPrep, a non-profit providing Minnesota students with financial literacy skills