When it comes to practice management, experienced advisors want to learn more about three subjects: engaging centers of influence, pricing, and measuring and building client loyalty. At least, that's what Genworth Financial Wealth Management has heard from advisors attending its Mastery practice management workshops for independent advisors who use the company's investment platform.
In response, Genworth has added "enhanced mastery" sessions to cover those topics.
"We've been offering these enhanced programs for two weeks," said Matt Matrisian, Genworth's vice president and director of practice management. "After a four-to-five-hour meeting, the advisors in the group wanted our practice management consultant to stay longer, so they could keep discussing client loyalty and pricing. On a Friday afternoon! I've never had advisors do that before."
Genworth has been running these Mastery sessions for nearly a decade. There are eight, two-day conferences annually , with two sessions each in four regions nationally. Attendance typically runs anywhere from 50 and 100 advisors.
"They're all about practice management," Matrisian said. "No products, no investment strategies."
Topics include Building a Next Generation Advisory Practice, Delivering a Wealth Management Experience, Designing Your Organization for Scale, Maximizing Your Human Capital, and Realizing Value in Your Life's Work. Advisors range from those new to Genworth to veterans who have been to multiple Mastery meetings.
Some Mastery alumni have asked for expanded content and more access to practice management consultants, so the new topics have been added. As Matrisian explains it, when a Mastery session is scheduled in a certain area, selected advisors are contacted and encouraged to attend. Part of the draw is the chance to participate in the enhanced program, which might be limited to 15 or 20 advisors and take place at the end of the meeting's second day, after the core meeting.
"The advisors in the enhanced session will form a study group," Matrisian said. "They'll work on specific topics with each other and with a consultant. Ideally, they'll be back for a face-to-face meeting a year later, at a Mastery workshop in their area. We've seen from successful advisors that they like to engage like-minded advisors and discuss various issues, including practice management."
