"I think its terrific," said one Minnesota-based Dain rep. "All firms should do it. If youre really going to focus and do a good job for your clients, you probably need fewer clients and therefore the (clients) you have need to be bigger. So you need to become an expert on the needs of those bigger, more affluent clients."
The wealth management platform will tie together several products and services that Dain already offers affluent clients, which it defines as those who have between $100,000 and $5 million in investable assets. The idea is to focus on the three key financial concerns most affluent investors share: wealth accumulation, wealth protection and wealth transfer. As part of its training, Dain said it will call on some of its approved-list separate account money managers to train firm reps in specialties such as tax management. The plan also means that clients will be profiled using one standard document rather than different ones for insurance, estate planning, managed money and other needs.
Dain executives are adamant in assuring that the new process isn't meant to automatically winnow out smaller clients. As explained by Tim Paulin, director of private client services: "Some brokers will say, Ive got a great team and the capacity to serve several hundred clients. Others may say, My goal is to serve no more than a hundred at a time. Were helping them make determinations about which clients they are going to serve and which they can not."
Three criteria determined the selection of Dains initial class of 175 reps: their tenure in the business (three to seven years was the desired range), whether they use Dains proprietary financial planning tool, and whether theyve taken other professional development courses geared to consultant-based business.
Why werent more experienced reps targeted?
