Advisor Forum update: Lessons from the bear market

(October 31, 2003) Stephen Ross spent much of the three-year bear market culling clients — and he has no regrets. The Calgary-based advisor says firing clients helped him eliminate negativity and spend more time with people he enjoyed working with. Ross took part in a Top Advisor Panel discussion this week at the Advisor Forum in Calgary, along with Remo Cardone of HSBC Securities and Lee Raine of G2 Financial Group.

“I fired 146 clients in the last few years,” said Ross, who’s with CIBC Wood Gundy. “Two things came out of that: I eliminated a lot of negativity from unhappy clients who were blaming me for what was going on in the world. The second thing was it allowed me to spend more time with clients who appreciated what I did.”

Ross said the 146 clients amounted to about $5 million in business. His book has grown about $15 million over the last few years, he noted, thanks to referrals and new money from existing clients. Ross also raised his minimum account size to $1 million, from $250,000.

“Create scarcity, don’t take on every new account,” Ross advised. “With a $25,000 account, a client belongs in a self-serve line at the bank. If you tell a million-dollar client that you only accept million-dollar clients, they’ll call.”

Mining an existing database proved fruitful for Cardone, who says he increased his assets by about 30% just by updating his clients’ financial plans. “Situations change, people sell property,” he said. “Our industry teaches us to go out and find new assets when there’s a lot of existing assets we haven’t fully uncovered.”

Cardone focused on communication during the bear market, tripling the amount of contact he had with clients. “That was the most challenging thing I had to do because you’re making calls when the markets are down and things aren’t working out. But clients remember that.”

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In a down market, advisors need to keep investing in their business, said Raine. “We continued to increase our staff and we’ll keep doing that. We should invest in our practice first because that’s where we know we can make the profits.”

“If you’re doing a lot of $10 or $15 an hour tasks, you’re probably not using your time effectively because you should be sitting in front of clients,” said Cardone.

Asked to provide advice to industry newcomers, Raine said advisors should set up, and stick to, a business model. Ross agreed, noting that all advisors should have a business and marketing plan, and suggested hiring a business coach or getting advice from a mentor.

“The fellow who taught me the CSC in 1982 is a wealth of knowledge and I can still go to him,” said Ross. “There are no secrets, everything’s been done before. And it’s never different, so you can avoid a lot of mistakes and learn a lot.”

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You can get insights about prospecting, client retention, cost efficiencies and maintaining a quality client experience from successful advisors from your region at every city on the Advisor Forum tour:

• On November 3 in Vancouver, you can hear from Malcolm Ross, Invest-A-Flex Financial Strategies Ltd; Nancy Shewfelt, Wellington West Capital Inc.; and David Chalmers, Rogers Group Financial.
• Toronto‘s Top Advisor Panel features Cynthia Kett,Stewart & Kett Financial Advisors Inc.; Mike Newton, CIBC Wood Gundy; and Murray Morton, Cartier Partners Financial Services on November 18.
• Last but not least, Halifax‘s Top Advisor Panel will be made up of Michael Nuscke, Assante Capital Management Ltd.; Mike DeVenney, The Bluteau DeVenney Group of Wellington West; David Bluteau, The Bluteau DeVenney Group of Wellington West; and Remy Richard, PEAK Investment Services Inc.

For dates and more session details on upcoming Advisor Forum conferences in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax, please visit the Advisor Forum Web site by clicking here.

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Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, dwatt@advisor.ca

(10/31/03)