How can advisors ‘elevate’ the client experience?

When it comes to delivering on the client experience, Tom West said it should be "an elevated experience."

As senior partner at Virgina-based Signature Estate & Investment Advisors and the head of an ensemble practice with 11 employees, his focus has shifted from direct client advising to one around strategic management and team development.

"When you're talking about advice and planning as part of our industry, the value proposition we're giving clients is giving advice. And for advisors, why don't you do some planning in advance?" West said.

On Mondays, the firm’s advisors prepare for client meetings, mapping out the week and dividing time between portfolio management, client meetings, and other tasks. The goal is to understand each client's unique needs and craft a tailored agenda to maximize the value of every interaction, he said.

“Those are the necessary things that we map out,” he said. “We’re of the view that every meeting is a discrete experience. What is it that the client really wants out of this experience? What are the things that we want to get out of the meeting in particular so that we can have an elevated client experience?"

A key part of this elevated experience is integrating multiple team members into the client meetings as having more than one person working with the client can create a sense of a "team" pulling for the client's success, he said.

This could involve bringing in an investment strategist, healthcare specialist, or other aligned professionals to provide complementary expertise.

"There's certainly a psychological benefit for our clients to hear affirmations from different perspectives and different people when it comes to the client experience," he said.

At West's SEIA office, there are four advisors who each look after roughly 75 clients. The advisor also acts as the primary relationship manager, West said.

“We don't have to be limited just on our team. Maybe we're bringing in an outside attorney. Maybe we're bringing in a care manager. But the idea is that the individual advisor is trying to map out all the different moving parts of the client meeting. It’s an elevated experience. It’s not just a bilateral dialogue.”

Despite Zoom meetings becoming increasingly common for clients to meet with advisors, West is mindful of maintaining a balance between virtual and in-person interactions.

“I am always concerned that Zoom, like a lot of things with internet culture, has sort of devalued a lot of interpersonal exchanges like small talk, getting to know people, nonverbal communication,” West said.

When possible, most in-person meetings take place at SEIA's offices in the Greater Washington, D.C. area, with a third of in-person meetings occurring at custodial locations like Schwab or Fidelity offices.

As for client appreciation events playing a role in client experience, West said they’re ultimately “a waste of money”.

“I take a different tact,” he said.

“I think that any of the client experiences beyond our regular meetings should be complimentary of roles that the advisors are taking in our clients lives to begin with,” he said, pointing to a catered lunch that houses an expert in estate planning or special needs trusts.

“We’ll also do an evening dinner where it'll focus on, 'What's the best way to be a successor trustee, or somebody that serves as a power of attorney?'”

“I think that we have a limited amount of time to show our value to our clients from a professional standpoint. I'd rather have all our extra events that we're spending money on and bringing people together be adjacent to ways that we're serving clients,” he said.

“That can give us an opportunity to talk to our clients, maybe in a new way, with an elevated experience.”