Ep 515: Crafting Deeper Client Relationships To Drive Loyalty, Referrals, And Gain Career Flexibi...
Michael Kitces talks with Sarah Baker, a senior wealth adviser at Mason Investment Advisory Services serving 60 households with $260 million, about building deep, in-person client relationships that drive referrals and keep her career options open.
The gist
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Baker meets clients where they feel comfortable, like their homes, a horse barn or a sailboat, and looks for each client's greatest felt need.
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She often moves a new client into a similar, lower-cost Mason model first, mapping portfolios in Black Diamond, then digs into planning afterward.
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She dropped a fixed service calendar for quarterly virtual meetings with flexible agendas ending in "tell me something good," plus a yearly beneficiary review using eMoney reports.
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Baker left two firms after they were acquired, refusing a roughly six-year non-acceptance clause because she says clients should choose who they work with.
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She advises choosing a salary over chasing pay, raising compensation yourself each year, and spending about six months listening before suggesting changes at a new firm.
"We have an internal software that's like we'll look through Black Diamond, and they're adding in their current portfolio and then mapping that over to a Mason investment strategy... We want to show you Black Diamond, can get you set up, show you all the investments."
▶ Play at 23:46"In our meetings this past meeting cycle, we did a beneficiary designation review for every client. And so, create a report from eMoney. Here's all your retirement accounts. And we made multiple changes."
▶ Play at 41:20What they recommend · 2 picks
"We have an internal software that's like we'll look through Black Diamond, and they're adding in their current portfolio and then mapping that over to a Mason investment strateg..."
"In our meetings this past meeting cycle, we did a beneficiary designation review for every client. And so, create a report from eMoney. Here's all your retirement accounts. And ..."
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