Women & Wealth: The Invisible Opportunity
Published March 2, 2015 10:42 AM
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Updated April 26, 2016 3:33 PM
1 Min Read
Women & Wealth: The Invisible Opportunity
The womens wealth market presents a very real business growth opportunity for advisors provided they understand the specific approaches and differing preferences that will resonate with women investors.
What Can Advisors Do?
Advisors can leverage insights from a five-step process to identify opportunities and demonstrate value to women investors. Follow these fives steps to help you best approach this under-served market.
1. Commit
Simply by making the very conscious decision to serve affluent and high-net-worth women as a valued client base, you will begin to discover additional opportunities. As Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simon of Harvard have cited in their excellent book, The Invisible Gorilla, people dont notice whats right in front of them they see what theyre looking for. The best place to begin the search is within your current practice. How many relationships are there in which a husband is the primary contact? Those wives could be poised for flight to a new advisor. What opportunities might there be to do business with the mothers, daughters, and sisters of existing clients?
2. Contact
If you have conducted a relationship primarily, or exclusively, with one spouse (frequently the husband), how can you gracefully reach out to the wife? It requires care, planning, and skill. Women who have not had a great deal of experience managing financial matters can benefit from a simple meeting to review Top 10 Questions Every Woman Needs to Answer. This can be found in Women & Wealth: The Invisible Opportunity white paper by First Clearing.
3. Connect
As noted in the previous step, women tend to value relationships, think holistically, and appreciate advisors who see their needs as part of a whole, rather than as discreet financial decisions. In addition to taking plenty of time for discovery, its important you keep good records. Being able to recall details of a client relationship and to reference previous discussions creates a strong connection to the female client.
4. Care
You can establish good relationships with women clients by asking pertinent questions, avoiding jargon, and focusing on holistic advice. But you also need to take steps to make sure you can retain those clients long-term. Design client appreciation events that dont necessarily center around golf or duck hunting. While many women enjoy both pastimes, the advisor who also hosts educational and cultural events can broaden the appeal to high-net-worth women.
Cultivate
In addition to hosting events that attract women, advisors may want to think about strategic campaigns to seek referrals and introductions from women who have expressed satisfaction with the service they receive. Additionally, creating an area of expertise the needs of entrepreneurs, for example (remember, women-owned businesses employ 35% more people than the Fortune 500 combined), or financial issues related to divorce can help propel a practice to the next level.
Embrace the Invisible Opportunity: Download First Clearings White Paper
If you want to learn more about strategies that can help you capture the womens wealth market, download First Clearings white paper, "Women & Wealth: The Invisible Opportunity" or visit firstclearing.com.
