Because of the enormous amount of competition for high-net-worth investors, wealth managers need to stand out from the crowd. Being a thought leader is often the most effective way to source new affluent clients.
According to John Bowen, co-founder of CEG Advantage and author of Elite Wealth Planning: Lessons from the Super Rich, “Thought leaders are wealth managers that prospects, clients, referral sources, intermediaries, and even competitors recognize as foremost authorities in selected areas of specialization resulting in them being the go-to professional for said expertise.
Furthermore, for wealth managers to be thought leaders it is especially critical that they monetize their state-of-the-art thinking by increasing their ability to source and work with high-net-worth clients.”
While it is possible to become a thought leader by being an expert and sharing that expertise with others, without a concerted and strategic effort it will take a great deal of time – often decades – to achieve this stature.
Curating high-value content is an approach that can exponentially increase the probability of wealth managers becoming thought leaders relatively quickly.
In a survey of 803 financial professionals, only about 13% of wealth managers are actively working to become thought leaders in some other manner.
In contrast, about three-fifths of those earning US$1 million or more annually are taking steps to be recognized authorities in their field of expertise.
Among those earning less, fewer than 10% of wealth managers are taking steps to become recognized authorities in their field.
It is evident that leading wealth managers are disproportionately working at differentiating themselves from the competition by developing and nurturing a reputation as leading authorities in their fields.
