Case Studies

Issue

Though he was acutely aware of the common industry theme, for Daniel, transitioning from traditional brokerage to an advisory practice seemed overwhelming. He stressed at the thought of having to sort through all of the client accounts to assess the assets to be transitioned as well as the idea of having the conversations with clients.

Action

To take his business to the next level, Daniel knew he would need to become more scalable. We began working with Daniel to transition book to advice-based wealth management at a time when his practice was less than 8% flat advice-based. This included:

• A Diagnostic Dashboard
• Overall opportunity highlights
• Isolating assets most appropriate and likely to move based on a number of factors

This gave Daniel a clear roadmap for improvement. Having not focused on advisory services in the past, Daniel was concerned about having the conversations with clients. Equipped with Touchstone’s 10+ years of advisory conversion experience, we collaborated with him to develop his Personal Value Proposition and scripts that detailed the benefits of fee-based accounts.

Impact

• First 6 months converted 15% into advisory platforms
• By the 4th year, transitioned $150 million+ in client assets
• Regular strategy meetings with Touchstone consultant to continue focus on next wave of conversions

Issue

Carlos’ branch manager introduced him to Touchstone because he had not been able to carve out the time needed to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of his clients’ investment portfolios – he knew that the significant number of investments were a potential liability but taking time to focus on it seemed insurmountable to him.

Action

Touchstone focused on delivering all of the needed data in an organized and actionable way to free up his time to do what Carlos does best – provide advice to his clients. This included:

• A Diagnostic Dashboard
• Identifying the unique number of investments
• Identifying the number of orphans

Despite Carlos already being aware of the risk, the numbers were much higher than he expected. Our process identified the vulnerable investments which provided him with a clear pathway for contacting clients to suggest different solutions. Carlos was then able to hand over the analysis to a junior partner who then setup five households for consultation each week.

Impact

• First 5 months reduced unique investments by 168
• 57 of those unique investments were orphans
• Bi-Weekly check-ins with Touchstone consultant resulted in refreshing the Dashboard re-energizing Carlos to continue

Issue

Cindy heard through a mentor about Touchstone’s distinctive approach to Strategic Planning. Cindy had a number of strategic ideas the prior year but struggled to execute them. She wanted to hone the definition of roles within the practice, was considering adding another person to the team and was resolute that her business needed to refocus on its service model.

Action

With so many areas of attention, Touchstone suggested we conduct our Strategic Planning Offsite. This included:

• A “pre-meeting” with Cindy
• A survey sent to the team in advance
• A  Diagnostic Dashboard
• A KOLBE® Assessment

The magic created at offsites is driven by establishing a setting that encourages everyone to speak freely – where the sales assistant should be as vocal as the financial professional, and by removing daily distractions – phones ringing, email, etc. Perhaps the most telling aspect though is the outcome of the anonymous survey - we have found surprising trends (both challenges & opportunities) that become essential to the discussion. We designed one-hour sessions that addressed specific areas identified and included outside experts where needed, to assist.

Impact

• Fostered healthy, renewed team communication
• Developed timelined Action Plan
• Assigned Roles & Responsibilities
• Refreshed Service Model – Added Proactive Touchpoints