Brian Powell: Hello, Brian Powell, Executive Director of Practice Management here at Janus Henderson Investors. Welcome to our series.

I have with me Jeff Brooks, who is our Executive Director of Wealth Strategy here as well.

Now, over the last couple of decades, Jeff and I have been working with teams all across the nation, whether it’s in large wirehouse firms, thinking about RIAs, independents … and what we thought would be fantastic is if we actually took what we experienced with these great teams and shared it with all of you.

So, what we’re going to do in this series is look at specific client types. Today, what we wanted to focus on was business owners. I hear it all the time: “Brian, I want to have business owners; I think that’s my ideal client. I could add so much value, so much impact. I know how we can support them other than other teams trying to do that.”

And so, what we want to do is share our experiences from a practice management standpoint and a wealth strategist standpoint.

So, when I kick it over to my colleague here, Jeff, I’m really curious, when we start thinking about business owners from a wealth strategist perspective, what are three things that advisory teams really need to make sure that they focus on to attract those business owners to their book of business?

Brooks: Well, and you’re right, I’ve worked with a number of advisors who are trying to build their business around working with business owners. The number one thing that they really need to focus on is understanding the client’s business and the client’s industry. That shows the client that you’ve done your homework, that you appreciate what they’ve done. You’ve earned their trust and their respect because you’re showing respect for their business as well.

Secondly, I’ve seen this a hundred times over, and that is the best teams have a plan in place; they have a process for helping business owners go from where they are now to what their eventual goal is. And in the end, whether that’s to leave it to a child or to sell it to a complete third party, those are the kinds of things that have to be spelled out for a client in order for them to be comfortable with the idea that you have that experience.

Finally, number three, make sure that you work with the client to determine what their true goal is, and whether it’s to leave it to a child, or to retire, or to just shut the business down. All of those things are important for you to be able to distinguish yourself so that you’re bringing the best solutions to that client.

Powell: Oh, those resonate with me. When I’m working with teams from a practice management standpoint, we start to talk about, how do you have a business owner’s mindset? Like, you do it as a business owner when you think about your advisory practice, but how do you apply it over here? Because it’s not a paint-by-numbers process. When you start to think about all those business owners you’re trying to attract, everyone’s unique, everyone’s different.

So, some of the things you were mentioning there, Jeff, like thinking about succession planning, how do I support and help them through that? Are they transferring that to another child, or are they going to sell their business in the future? Things on how they take care of their clients. How do they take care of their employees with ESOPs, think about retirement plans, all the things that come along with that.

So, really thinking through, does your team actually have an onboarding process that supports talking about these topics that Jeff and I are all relating to. How do you make sure that you are separating yourself from the competition by once again being curious with those business owners? Each one’s different, each one’s unique. And how do you set up your client support model to make sure that you can implement these topics strategically, along the path of really growing the business and the relationship with those business owners.

When we start thinking about business owners, give me the one thing that you would have as a takeaway for these advisory teams that are trying to attract these as their clients?

Brooks: Well, I’ll tell you, the one thing that that advisors really need to do is focus on the getting there, not the being there. And what I mean by that is this: Too many advisors are focusing on what I’m going to do with the money after it comes into my control, rather than: “Business owner, I’m going to help you get from where you are right now to where you want to be, which is an investor with me.”

It’s that process that business owners need to be walked through, really, to be able to help them get from point A to point B. That’s where you build strong, strong client connections.

Powell: Yeah, that resonates, especially thinking about those discovery meetings when you’re first meeting those prospects and really thinking about how you want to onboard that client. How are you making sure that you have a process so you can discuss these topics that the business owner might not even be aware of? They’re focused on their business. Your business as an advisory team is to help them out all with the other aspects that we’re talking about today, whether it’s succession planning, retirement plans for their team members, and really thinking about what that next transition or that phase of their life looks like.

If you have any questions, reach out to your national director, or give us a call, hit us up here at Janus Henderson Investors so that we can support you, help you coach this through, just like we’ve done with teams in the past as well.