Your 2023 Practice Focus

After an extremely rocky year in the markets, from the looks of it 2023 won’t exactly be smooth sailing, either. So carrying forward lessons learned in 2022 can be a good place to start as you consider your main objectives for the year.

Building Evergreen Value

Last year we posted an article about evergreen value, and the strategies we outlined are just as relevant today. 

No one is immune to volatility, but if investment performance is just one component of a larger wealth management program that incorporates various features, processes and services, then the value you offer as an advisor is not as closely tethered to the swings in the market.

Maintaining Strong Communication

Silence creates space—space for clients to worry, hypothesize and, potentially, explore other options.

Investing in client communications doesn’t have to be an extremely time-consuming endeavour, but if you and your team can reach out with a mix of personal check-ins and general content like newsletters, commentaries and the like, then you can provide some of the consistency that clients crave during erratic market environments. 

You can also reinforce their confidence in your ability to navigate the waters, and even help prevent the ad hoc conversations that are sometimes necessary to reassure clients during adverse market conditions.

Being Transparent with Clients

What many advisors learned in 2022 was the importance of showing their work. Clients want to know that there is a clear, disciplined rationale behind the decisions guiding their portfolios, and they want to know where they stand relative to their goals. A well-documented methodology, combined with a goal-oriented client process, can help keep relationships strong through 2023 and beyond.

All this being said, there’s no way to completely avoid market panic. But if you provide your clients with something tangible to lean on, you can reinforce the idea that it’s precisely in times like these that they need you the most.