How a Trivial Oversight Created a Big Problem

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Dan Richards

Over 25 years working with advisors, I’ve learned that while you need to get the big things right, small issues are often much more important than they appear on the surface.

A September article outlined how a financial advisor’s failure to make a two-minute check-in call led to the loss of a client.

Last week I met with Jim, a 25-year industry veteran, who’d read that article and told me about another instance of a big price he paid for a seemingly minor oversight.

A winning strategy with business owners

As an advisor with a bank owned firm, Jim takes a total-solution approach with successful entrepreneurs, providing in-depth advice on the full range of his clients’ personal and business needs.

Much of his success stems from a strong partnership with other arms of his bank to meet the needs of his clients’ business operations. He works with commercial account managers to help secure the most favorable banking terms for clients’ companies and for those who operate internationally with the foreign exchange desk to help clients with currency hedging and forex issues. He makes introductions to his bank’s international operations in other countries where his clients do business. And he’s even had some small successes tapping into his bank’s capital markets operation to assist with financing for acquisitions and divestitures.

Jim also brings a tax background from his previous career as an accountant. Jim works with his clients’ professional advisors to set up legal entities in the countries where his clients do substantial business; he’s found that keeping corporate profits offshore rather than repatriating them can sometimes yield surprising dividends. 

The benefits of a total-solution approach

This has paid off in three big ways.

First, his clients feel very well served. Every two years, Jim hires a researcher to conduct phone interviews with key clients, looking in particular for unmet needs and gaps in satisfaction. Clients are asked for permission to share the findings with Jim, but there is seldom much to report. The researcher has said that Jim’s clients rank among the happiest customers he’s seen.