Hybrid communication methods provide new pathways for wealth management

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Whether it’s the kitchen table, Zoom, the office, or someplace else when it comes to meetings between wealth management professionals and clients in 2023, the greatest commonality is not the location, but the flexibility in arriving there.

“We’re in a world now where we want to meet clients where they want to be and where they feel most comfortable,” said Doug Hilfiker, a senior financial consultant at Manning & Napier. “Flexibility has really become paramount.”

This is in line with findings from Mercer’s 2022 Global Wealth Management Investment Survey, which showed that the number-one priority of wealth management firms in North America right now — by a wide margin — is improving the client experience (79%). The second was reviewing fees and pricing (38%) and the third was enhancing ESG offerings (28%).

Communication and relationships are key to the financial experience. Firms are, more than ever, offering a hybrid menu of communication options, including in-person, virtual, and electronic, for clients who became increasingly more comfortable and interested in alternative ways to connect during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At High Probability Advisors, an affiliate of The Bonadio Group, the hybrid approach to communication includes the obvious in-person and Zoom meetings as well as high-quality videos that are thoughtfully crafted for high-net-worth clients located in about fifteen states and several countries.

Stephen Carl, co-founder and CEO of High Probability Advisors, describes the quarterly videos as one of the unintended, positive consequences of the pandemic and a “fantastic” method of communication the firm stumbled into as a way to stay connected with clients.

“We are starting to see the pendulum swing back,” said Carl, about clients wanting to meet in person again, but the videos will continue as they have been so well received. The most recent video, sent to clients last month, focused on the current financial market and volatile economic environment.

Carl noted that while hybrid communication methods open new doors and expand reach, none of these methods can or should permanently replace the value and benefit of in-person contact.

“We are very high-touch and personalized and our primary focus has always been in-person contact,” Carl said. “We prefer to meet with clients in person at least twice a year if they’re willing and able.”

At Manning & Napier the hybrid approach includes interactive technology and software like MoneyGuide Pro, which is a suite of web-based financial planning and retirement planning software. The software has an area called the Play Zone, where clients can test variables like retirement age, goals and savings, and immediately see the impact and share their thoughts with their advisor.

The firm has also embraced educational webinars on relevant subject matters — like market updates — as an additional communication method over the past few years. Manning & Napier increased their number of webinars by 70% between 2019 and 2020.

The webinars have been so well received by clients — who appreciate the flexibility of when and where they can watch them — that they are continuing to produce them as they also re-introduce similar in-person events halted by the pandemic.

“Technology is great, but nothing has permanently replaced the value and benefit of in-person contact,” said Hilfiker, who has enthusiastically welcomed back the firm’s in-person events like small group roundtables and educational lunches where clients can hear from staff members on important topics like where they see the economy heading.

“There is great value in in-person events,” said Hilfiker. “They’re an opportunity for proactive sharing of what we’re doing. Covid aside, we’re in a bear market right now and everyone deals with the market volatility differently. There’s a little bit of comfort in being with fellow investor clients and hearing from the senior research staff.”

Sage Rutty, a fourth-generation family-owned Rochester-based financial services company founded in 1915, has also recently relaunched in-person events as one communication method with their clients and potential clients after a pandemic lull.

In 2012 the firm started Sage Rutty University — a free financial workshop series for anyone in the community. The series went online during the pandemic but began offering in-person sessions again this September (they go until November 22 and resume in the spring).

The sessions are taught by Sage Rutty advisors at the firm’s headquarters in the Corporate Woods Office Park in Henrietta and have themes like, “Retiring During a Recession,” “Savvy Social Security Planning,” and “Why Bonds Shouldn’t be your Safety Net.”

Trevor Holly, president of Sage Rutty, is seeing increasingly more clients choosing to come back for in-person events and meetings, but also notes communication is more client-driven and customized than ever.

“Rarely are we seeing clients coming back to the office for a full in-person schedule of meetings — though they certainly are welcome,” Holly said. “Most common now is a hybrid approach where clients are choosing three virtual meetings and one in-person meeting a year.”

Sage Rutty also hopes to soon offer another line of communication with clients: texting. The firm is in beta testing for a secure app for its advisors that meets industry compliance regulations set by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

“A hot-button issue in the industry right now is texting,” Holly said. “A lot of clients want it, especially younger clients, but there are a lot of regulatory issues and the industry is starting to crack down and levy fines.”

In July 2022, for example, the SEC imposed $1.1 billion in fines on sixteen firms for failing to monitor how employees were communicating with each other and clients via text and messaging apps on work-related matters and for failing to keep records of those communications as required by law.

Caurie Putnam is a Rochester-area freelance writer.