Virtual Team Building—The New Superpower

The Earth hurtles through space in its orbit around the sun at a speed of 67,000 miles per hour, spinning on its axis at 1,000 miles per hour at the equator.

Yet we feel nothing.

Change in the financial services industry also unfolds at a blistering pace, but we don’t sense it because it has relatively little impact on our daily lives. It is only when we step back that we see that our world is in a constant state of flux.

This presents a special challenge for advisors and their firms. How do you simultaneously care for existing clients, attract new clients, and prepare for and adapt to constant change?

It’s possible with virtual team building.  

The Advisor’s Mission Has Changed

In a simpler time, most financial advisors provided a limited service offering focused on investment management. Their technology supported this narrow activity. 

They charged 1% of assets under management (AUM) and met with their clients in person quarterly. Competition was local, and there were relatively few marketing channels. 

Now, clients have access to most of the same products and information as their advisors. They are demanding a more intimate and personalized experience.  They want help with financial, estate and tax planning. Advisors are coaches as much as they are technicians.

An advisory firm’s tech stack must support this expanded service offering and new communication and marketing methods. New tools for risk measurement, client onboarding, and content creation/distribution must be incorporated.

Advisory firms can now compete for business anywhere, so they have a choice. They can up their game and develop the capability to attract business nationally or wait for other more efficient predators with slick brands and targeted stories to pick off their best clients.   

Fees are changing too, shaped by market forces. The fat-and-happy days of charging 1% — take it or leave it — have morphed into a more tailored, tiered service approach.

Regulators have increased their focus on independent advisors as their share of the market has grown. Trying to manage compliance out of your back pocket is a recipe for disaster.

Looming on the horizon are the questions of how private equity-driven advisory firm consolidation and new technologies like AI will impact the landscape of advisory firms.

Virtual Experts Are Waiting in the Wings    

The old days of taking a one-man-band approach to running an advisory firm are gone. No one can successfully service clients at an A+ level while also serving as CEO, CIO, CFO, CTO, CCO and CMO.  These tasks should be assigned to those with specialized skills and the ability to focus on their respective areas of responsibility.   

The good news is that the industry has grown to meet this need. Experts are waiting to assist advisory firms in every area where they need specialized help.

Successful advisory firms of the future will become masters of orchestrating excellent outcomes through the creation and management of virtual teams of experts. 

Scott MacKillop (LinkedIn) is CEO of First Ascent Asset Management, a subsidiary of GeoWealth, LLC. First Ascent is a TAMP that provides services to financial advisors and their clients on a flat-fee basis. He is an ambassador for the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard and a 48-year veteran of the financial services industry.