Michelle Smith, Source Financial Advisors:
Specializing your business as a financial advisor is the single most important thing you will do to differentiate yourself from the intense, increased competition.
Investius:
For advisors, the “less is more” idea may be a winner. According to Michelle Smith, the era of specialization has arrived. No longer a broadly focused generalist, she’s become a leading authority on divorce financial analysis. And she views specialization as critical to help advisors compete.
Smith:
Advisors today are facing challenges at an unprecedented fast pace with competition. Your value proposition, everything that you say you do for people, better be wrapped in a specialty going forward, because otherwise you’re not going to stand out. If you have a medical condition, you Google a specialist. As advisors we need to be that Googled go-to person in our area, nationally. It is the only differentiator.
Leasha Flammio-Watson, Flammio Financial Group:
I believe that specialization is going to become more and more prevalent in our area… And a financial planner or financial advisor in a specialized area is going to give more confidence and more success ultimately for the clients.
Paola Lastick, AXA Advisors:
A lot of the time what I hear is if you pick a specialty, you’re not going to get the other clients. When you’re new you want to get everyone. But I think that when you specialize you actually get more.
Investius:
Potential areas of specialization may vary. Essentially, whatever’s complicated and hard for clients to handle on their own is fair game.
Smith:
A specialization can be anything you want it to be, if you are helping people solve complex issues in life. Mine is divorce. It’s helping people solve problems... that they encounter during their divorces. It could be becoming an expert on social security strategies. It could be working with physicians…
Flammio-Watson:
I’m very much thinking about becoming a specialist and… I’ve become incredibly involved in how my clients are aging and to help their children deal with the aging process for their parents.
Smith:
Anyone can specialize. It just takes a very intricate, focused system… You need to just follow the process and the system. If you love this, if you’re good at it, if you’re passionate about it, if people see that, clients want people that not only have… the technical expertise is an assumed thing… but if your energy around it is clearly so aligned and you’re in love with what you’re doing, that’s attractive to people who need your help.
Investius:
Michelle Smith, a leading authority on financial divorce analysis, talking about the importance of specialization. To learn more about specialist practices and wealth solutions, visit Source Financial Advisors, our segment sponsor, at sourcefa.com. At Source FA, the goal is not just to serve client needs… but to ensure their wealth serves their needs. This is Advisor News, independently produced by Investius. Thanks for watching.
