Kerri Sullivan-Kreiss, CFP®, AIF®, based her unbiased advisory agency, SullivanKreiss Financial, in 2004. Having spent the earlier 13 years as an advisor on employees with a publicly traded firm, she wished to go away massive company agendas and proprietary funding merchandise behind. As president of her personal enterprise, Sullivan-Kreiss was desperate to develop a concierge service mannequin constructed round a powerful tradition of fiduciary accountability to shoppers.

As Sullivan-Kreiss says, “I’ve at all times based mostly my enterprise on the basic principal of treating others as I wish to be handled. My goal is de facto quite simple: to place our shoppers’ pursuits first, act with integrity, and embrace the distinctiveness that every consumer brings to our follow.”

Throughout our conversations, the power of Sullivan-Kreiss’s dedication to this imaginative and prescient at all times shined by way of. The profitable progress of her agency may very well be seen as emblematic of the depth with which Sullivan-Kreiss engages with shoppers. It additionally highlights her extremely environment friendly use of time. To offer the customized concierge service that Sullivan-Kreiss believes makes her agency particular, she has turn into a grasp of time administration. She has realized how one can function effectively and collect the required assets to maintain progress and construct economies of scale.

For those who’re trying to go unbiased or develop a longtime advisory enterprise, understanding the ability of Sullivan-Kreiss’s enterprise decisions may aid you chart the best way towards optimizing your time and setting your agency up for long-term progress.

Constructing One thing Particular

For Sullivan-Kreiss, constructing consumer relationships is all about specializing in the journey with every individual you serve. To be able to develop a top quality follow, it’s a must to make every consumer really feel particular. Which will sound elementary, however it’s necessary to maintain high of thoughts. As she says, “It’s being there for shoppers by way of on a regular basis moments, celebrating life’s main milestones, and serving to to offer help, encouragement, and, hopefully, consolation throughout troublesome instances.”

A proactive service mannequin. Ideally, SullivanKreiss Monetary shoppers shouldn’t get voicemail after they name, and follow-up to requests and issues have to be speedy and correct. However concierge service is greater than that: it’s being proactive versus responsive, going above and past what’s anticipated. Sullivan-Kreiss focuses on long-term, complete monetary planning; she isn’t serious about “merely being a cash supervisor.” This implies setting common critiques to maintain abreast of adjustments in shoppers’ lives and assembly each two weeks when creating a plan for a brand new consumer.

The consequence? Sullivan-Kreiss has constructed one thing particular: a extremely engaged neighborhood of long-term shoppers. For her, that’s what makes the advisory enterprise rewarding and enjoyable. And there’s icing on the cake: based on Sullivan-Kreiss, “The vast majority of my agency’s new shoppers come from referrals from current shoppers.”

Spending Extra Time with Purchasers

As you possibly can see, Sullivan-Kreiss’s enterprise mannequin is straight tied to her spending as a lot time as attainable with shoppers. Notably, like lots of her Commonwealth friends, Sullivan-Kreiss spends considerably extra time in consumer conferences than different business advisors. That’s based on a 2020–2021 study performed by Commonwealth in partnership with Cerulli Associates, which discovered that, on common, Commonwealth advisors spend 33 % extra time in consumer conferences than different advisors from each wirehouse and unbiased companies.

The truth is, based mostly on additional evaluation of the information, Commonwealth’s Observe Administration crew decided that Sullivan-Kreiss ranked within the high decile of productiveness amongst Commonwealth advisors, based mostly on gross income, progress price, and period of time spent with shoppers. This statistic speaks to the necessary work Sullivan-Kreiss undertakes day in and day trip with the people she serves.

Reaching Scale and Effectivity

So, how is Sullivan-Kreiss capable of spend a lot time with shoppers? There are inherent difficulties in scaling a concierge mannequin. Nonetheless, as she labored by way of fixing them, Sullivan-Kreiss realized that having the appropriate employees and agency companion may help facilitate enterprise scale and effectivity.

The facility of your individuals. Sullivan-Kreiss delegates administrative, operational, and sure planning duties so she will be able to concentrate on client-facing work. With three full-time employees members (a director of consumer relations, a monetary analyst, and an operations supervisor), she is obvious on their significance to her enterprise mannequin: “My crew is phenomenal. What they do behind the scenes allows me to be good at my job and spend as a lot time as I can with my shoppers. Their strengths permit the agency to ship top-tier concierge-level help—the personalized effect we commit to each consumer.”

Based on Sullivan-Kreiss, her regular progress has been pushed by her crew’s steadiness of competencies. And that progress has introduced the agency to an inflection point, the place extra employees is critical. To deal with the amount of labor and maintain her productiveness excessive, Sullivan-Kreiss plans so as to add an funding supervisor and a further advisor to the crew.

When requested about recommendation for advisors trying to develop, she states, “Probably the most productive issues you are able to do is empower your individuals and provides them room to develop. It’s completely key to have the appropriate individuals on employees, significantly those that have complementary abilities units to yours.”

The influence of your agency companion. Sullivan-Kreiss remembers her agency’s early years flying by in a blur, however she has at all times acknowledged the significance of a supportive agency companion. She explains, “Along with actually busting your derriere . . . it’s a must to domesticate the appropriate relationships with the appropriate individuals. You want to have a companion behind you that’s proactive and responsive.”

Like different unbiased advisors, Sullivan-Kreiss appears to her agency companion for a wide selection of back-office assets and help. As a result of her work is grounded in monetary planning, she appreciates having specialists, akin to Commonwealth’s Advanced Planning team, available to speak by way of a posh planning or retirement downside.

As for funding administration, Sullivan-Kreiss acknowledges that this position is an ongoing problem for any unbiased agency. She prefers customized portfolio administration and, with the help of her monetary analyst, does a substantial amount of her personal funding analysis. Nonetheless, if a consumer is in search of a selected funding technique, she desires to have the ability to depend on her agency companion for specialised information. She receives that help from Commonwealth’s Investment Management and Research crew.

In the end, Sullivan-Kreiss says that your agency companion should have the ability to present a “phenomenal degree of help” that’s tailor-made to your wants.

Cementing the Cornerstones of Success

Being an unbiased advisor has allowed Sullivan-Kreiss to utterly align her agency along with her values and shoppers’ greatest pursuits. She’s been capable of construct the agency she’s at all times dreamed
of, one based mostly on placing her shoppers’ wants first and powered by environment friendly time administration. Proper now, she’s centered on the fun of the current and accelerating much more progress sooner or later. Something is feasible along with her imaginative and prescient, a powerful crew, and Commonwealth’s partnership at her again.

For those who’re an advisor desirous to go unbiased, Sullivan-Kreiss’s recommendation is to do it as quickly as you possibly can. As for contemplating a agency companion, be thorough about due diligence and align with a agency whose values mirror yours. Final, however actually not least, at all times take into account that you need to go the place you possibly can develop, even when it’s one step at a time.

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