WORD ON THE STREET.....

A. High Net Worth Woman

Stats:

•  39% of top wealth holders with assets > $625,000 are women
•  Of this group,  42% are single or widowed
• Between 2010 and 2015 an estimated $12.5 trillion will come into the  hands of baby boomer women
• 58% of women vs. 39% of men are philanthropically  active
•  Business Institute has shown that new and profitable relationships virtually always result from client events; golf, theatre outings,seminars and ski trips

How to Attract Female Advisors into Your Firm

• Many women advisors are seeking ways to grow a business that focuses on a female client base. (Idea: Hartford Investments regularly hold seminars entitled “Women and Money” as a client engagement tool)
• Women advisors tend to seek firms that will openly assist them with issues relating to maternity leave, firms that create transition programs (another licensed advisor with serve the immediate needs of her clients)
• Firm should make it apparent that they want her back after maternity leave: have her office, and her clients, waiting for her
• Flexibility is key: professional women are looking for an environment in which they can thrive and be flexible at the same time
• Be flexible in terms of working hours and working days so women can effectively balance raising a familywith their careers
• Don’t overlook women and their care-giving responsibilities, which can be a important part of their lives at a certain stage and again where flexibility will be key
• Mentoring young women can be an excellent method for bringing female professionals into your firm.Programs that help promote assistants and associates to executive positions can be highly effective.

B. Compensation Models

Within the new economic environment there is a movement towards re-visiting pooling profits and different compensatory models. Without question, your productivity and profitability depend on your team's motivation to do the right things at the right time. But even as the Team leader or Investment Advisors you cannot force or beg employees and associates to be motivated. You can, however, create a culture in which team members are encouraged to grow, are trained to new levels of performance, and are valued and rewarded for their contributions. The first step in creating this new environment is by linking motivation and compensation. AP has guided many teams through the process of integrating private books into a team environment and making sure that the compensation model keeps everyone happy and motivated.

C. Asset Gathering

Top Advice from Steve Elder, CWA,Vice President Elder Group, Hilliard Lyons Inc.

I find that most people in our business are transaction oriented and we can differentiate ourselves by simply being relationship centered.

I spend my energy building community and the assets follow. Building community may sound soft to some but what it really means is networking with everyone -  not only those who appear to have money to invest. I listen and I respond to the young guy serving my coffee who is off to college next year and the elderly lady standing in line with me at the grocery store. I ask their name, I make eye contact,
I give them a few minutes (that's all) of my day and they give me back the same.
A connection was made but even if I don't see that guy or lady again they have my name, my smile and if there is a need they will think of me and appear again in some form in my community - their mother, their daughter, their friend, their neighbor. I love my work.

I can honestly say that being myself and spending more time listening to my clients than talking pays off. Just recently, I gained two new accounts over .5 million each. One current client not only referred me to her friend, she drove her friend to my office and said "you have got to meet Steve Elder." The other new account is really new money from an existing couple who decided to put all “their eggs in one basket” so to speak, and brought their retirement accounts over to me. They said they trusted me.