(AAMA) When your success is dependent upon trust, reliability, and relationships, why would you ever want to work with smaller, boutique strategists?
Well, the answer is simple—because our success also depends on trust, reliability, and relationships.
Often times, we associate larger, household brands with reliability and quality. That may be true in consumer packaged goods. But as you know, financial advice is different.
Investors that seek advice aren’t looking for an indexing strategy. They can get that themselves. They are seeking a partner in the investment process—someone to answer their questions, help them think through their challenges, and help them avoid a life-changing mistake.
Boutique investment shops are well positioned to help you meet your client’s broader needs. In particular, there are three core benefits to working with smaller firms, like Advanced Asset Management Advisors (or countless others available to you).
PS – If you’re more of a video person, we cover this same topic in a short, seven-minute video. Click here to watch it.
How Boutique Strategist Partners Can Help You Manage Clients And Grow Your Firm
1) The Network Effect
Every strategist would love to win 100% of a portfolio. But the reality is, that’s often not what’s best for the client. Investment strategists all have strengths and weaknesses (like any other service provider). But why does that matter?
More specialized strategist firms tend to be extremely upfront about where we do and don’t fit in a client’s portfolio. And because of that, we are also highly tuned into the other strategists available to you. That means we become excellent partners in helping you blend portfolios to meet a client’s expectations.
Meeting client expectations, consistently, is key to creating a positive investment experience that is manageable. When you work with smaller strategists who are more focused on a core competency, not only can they deliver dedicated focus to their segment of the portfolio, but they also become great resources in the portfolio construction phase.
When you call us with a new case, we’re happy to tell you where we do and don’t make sense for that client. We’re also happy to direct you to a few complementary managers who might help round out the portfolio for a client’s expectations.
2) Two Minds Are Better Than One
For many clients, access to someone that can answer their questions is an important value in the financial advice relationship. For advisors, access to resources to help you answer those questions is equally important.
Boutique strategist firms tend to be more accessible. Taking AAMA as an example, we don’t have secretaries or an office administrator. When you call our office, you get a directory that’ll take you right to our senior stakeholders.
Have a question about our investment strategy? You can speak to our Chief Investment Officer. Have a question about the economy? You can bounce a question off our Chief Economist. Want to discuss a tough case? Our National Sales Manager will work directly with you to solve the problem.
We know that most of your time as a financial advisor is spent managing clients or winning business. Because of that, we understand access to insight and support is critical to your success. So we make that a priority.
3) ...Yea, We Can Do That
Managing existing clients is necessary. But so is growing your practice. And we think your strategist partners should be just as willing to help you win new business as they are to help you maintain existing relationships.
Are you hosting an educational event for prospective investors? How about a meeting with a high-level prospect? Could direct support from a strategist partner (or two) add value to those meetings? We think so.
At AAMA, we like to think of ourselves as an extension of your team. A lot of boutique managers view their advisor relationships in this way. We have to. It’s where we create value.
So, when you ask if we can join that important meeting to showcase the depth of your investment team, we’re likely to respond, “… yea, we can do that”.
Value Beyond A Return Figure
Is your success dependent on more than a return figure? If so, I’d encourage you to consider incorporating at least one or two smaller strategist partners into your portfolio mix.
We’re all expected to deliver performance that meets a risk-adjusted need. And larger, household name firms can deliver great performance with great cost-efficiency. But what really differentiates us, and you, is the value delivered beyond that quarterly figure. Delivering a quality experience is what gives advisors an edge. And firms like AAMA want to help you sharpen that edge.
If you’d like to learn more about AAMA, the profile is your first step.
