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May 03, 2013 at 09:41 AM
Consider two financial planners, both of whom specialize in working with doctors, making their “elevator speeches” at a cocktail party after a medical conference.
The two planners are talking about the day’s sessions when a doctor walks up to them, recognizes that they’re not wearing the usual attendee’s badge, and asks them what they do.
Here’s how The Power of Practice Management, a new book from Genworth Financial Wealth Management’s Matt Matrisian (left) and published by Bloomberg Press, describes the scene:
The first advisor says, “I am a financial planner.” The doctor nods politely, smiles and turns to the second advisor. The advisor smiles on cue and says with confidence, “I help doctors develop an RX for their retirement and make sure they can enjoy it fully by solving the three most common problems they typically face as they retire.”
If you were the doctor, which advisor would you want to pull aside later to discuss your financial future?
Simply saying, “I am a financial planner,” is a conversation killer for most people. Although it’s an important profession, we’ve never heard anyone within earshot respond, “That is so interesting! Please, won’t you tell me more?” More often than not, the interest generated by the first example is a quest for free financial advice, and that’s not the conversation we are looking to initiate.
Matrisian, Genworth Financial Wealth Management’s director of practice management, intends The Power of Practice Management to provide independent financial advisors with “how–tos” for improving their businesses. The book covers everything from “the four essential disciplines” of business strategy and planning, business development, human capital and operations optimization to elevator pitches, niche markets and more.
In an interview in Manhattan on Wednesday, Matrisian described the process of writing the book as a “collaboration” that drew from his years of experience working with financial advisors first at Raymond James and then at Genworth, and also from the “intellectual property” of predecessor firms AssetMark Investment Services and Quantuvis Consulting.
“At Genworth, we help advisors navigate their practices with confidence,” Ahluwalia (right) said. “Our purpose is helping them make positive differences in both their clients’ lives and their own businesses. This book is a natural step in our commitment to advisors’ success.”