In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, Chris Volpe tells advisors why right now is the perfect time to remind clients of your value.
Volpe works as head of Informa Financial Intelligence’s Zephyr, a fintech provider for financial planners, wealth managers and investment managers. He leads Informa’s $32 million wealth management business and relies on his nearly 30 years of industry experience to help advisors and asset managers leverage technology to solve problems related to portfolio analytics, portfolio performance and operational innovation.
Volpe made the move from Thomson Reuters to Informa in 2015 and initially served as director of account management. In that role, he was accountable for growing more than $100 million in existing revenue across multiple business units within the company.
On this week’s edition of the FP Podcast, Volpe goes deep on the importance of an advisor’s “reproposal.” With volatility and uncertainty running high, he believes we’re in a moment in which financial professionals need to reinforce what they bring to the table.
Volpe said clients should also understand that because the potential for market difficulty has already been factored in, their long-term plans won’t fall to pieces with every market shift.
But he says there is an art to the process, and with the right approach, clients will know their financial plan is in good hands. The key is showcasing different scenarios and turning to the right technology to provide real-time evidence.
During his conversation with FP Podcast host and lead editorial producer Justin L. Mack, Volpe discusses what clients define as “value” in today’s market, why listening is a far more powerful tool than talking and how tech has tweaked the reproposal.
Listen to the new episode — as well as all future and past episodes — by subscribing to the FP Podcast on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Justin Mack: (00:02)
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. Welcome to the Financial Planning podcast. I’m your host, Justin L. Mack, wealth tech reporter with Financial Planning, and it is my pleasure to introduce this week’s guest, Chris Volpe, director of wealth management solutions at Zephyr, an Informa Financial Intelligence company. Chris, thanks so much for joining us on the pod this week.
Chris Volpe: (00:22)
Oh, Justin, it’s my pleasure, and I really appreciate the opportunity to chat with you through some pretty exciting and big changes going on in the industry today across the board for financial advisors.
Justin Mack: (00:35)
Definitely a lot going on and a lot to keep track of, which is exactly what you do over at Zephyr. Now, Zephyr, for those unfamiliar, is a fintech provider for financial planners, wealth managers and investment managers. In his role, Chris leads Informa’s $32 million wealth management business focusing on portfolio analytics, performance solutions, investment products, data, business development and more. He’s a busy guy. His primary focus is to identify and deliver solutions to advisors and asset managers with strategic importance to their business, including digital and operational innovation. Chris joined Informa from Thompson Reuters back in summer 2015 as the director of account management and was accountable for growing more than $100 million in existing revenue across multiple business units within the company. And when he is not working, he’s an Eagle Scout and assistant scout master who digs hiking, fishing, boating and camping with the wife and twin sons on Long Island when he can.
Justin Mack: (01:25)
This week on the FP Pod, we’re chatting with Chris about a financial advisor’s reproposal. With volatility and uncertainty all over the place, now is the time for advisors to implement a reproposal to clients. And unlike the proposals that are all about getting new business, the reproposal focuses on re-stating an advisor’s value through ongoing conversations about risk tolerance, especially given the current market conditions. And, Chris, let’s jump right in. Why is now a prime opportunity for an advisor to ensure their clients understand that their long term financial goals are still in solid place in the hands of the advisor that they’ve been working with for years?
Chris Volpe: (02:04)
Well, Justin, just think about what’s happening today, right? The markets dropped what 14, 17% or something like that. People have seen their value, the value of their portfolios erode away. And so if two years ago you were 99% likely to meet your goals because you had — I’m gonna use round numbers — a million dollars in investments and you had 10 years to retire. Today you’ve got those same goals, you’ve got eight years to retire, and only $800,000. Right? It looks like you’ve taken a step backwards. The goal financial advisors and planning is to make sure that you are able to meet those goals. And if you look at the raw information today, I’m further away than I was two years ago. So when an advisor sits down with a client to explain, no matter how you explain it, the first question in the client’s mind is more than likely, “Oh my God, what is he doing to help me out now?”
Justin Mack: (03:04)
Yeah. And that question is coming up, like you said, more and more. And it’s kind of pushed forward by looking around at what’s going on. Even outside of conversations that a client might have with an advisor, they can pick up their phone or look at a headline or see what’s going on in a friend or family’s life. And all of a sudden, maybe be a little concerned and run to that advisor with that question. Like you said, what is that advisor doing to help me? So how do advisors prove it? Because that of course is the tough part. You’re wanna restate the value you bring, let your clients know that, hey, all this stuff that’s going on, we have a long term plan and it’s solid. But how do you back that up in the room when you have a client who has a lot of concerns and wants all of those questions answered right away?
Chris Volpe: (03:45)
Well, I think first off, God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason, right? The first thing you need to do is listen to what the concerns are for the client. And then I think it’s, it’s really about going back to the beginning. It’s really about going back and explaining to them where they are or why they’re in the risk tolerance they’re in today. Why the investments that they were put in are still the way to go today. You know, clients may simply wanna change their risk tolerance. Right. Two years ago, if you said, would you be comfortable with losing 20% of your investments? Most people probably said, yeah, because they didn’t think it could happen.
Chris Volpe: (04:28)
Today, it’s a very different issue. So I think it’s really about one listening to your client and what their real concerns are. Two, it’s going back to the beginning about why you chose those investments for those clients. Why your clients agreed to come with you to begin with. And then three it’s being able to create that story of “why” in a way that is customized, but efficient for you as an advisor. Not every customer has a full financial plan. For some, it was just an IPS. Or it was just Monte Carlo simulation. So going back to the beginning and helping clients understand why they’re there, why they came to you in the first place is, is the key. And not taking for granted that they remember.
Justin Mack: (05:18)
Absolutely. And something else that what you just said kind of brings me to is, when you’re doing this reproposal … is it maybe an opportunity to change the relationship with a client? A reason I ask is, is like you said, if someone comes to an advisor years ago for one specific purpose. And now in recent years, we’ve seen the way we do business and the way we interact change so much, obviously through digital tools being a big push in that, as well as a push for that holistic financial plan. To manage more than just one aspect of a client’s life. To kind of handle everything. So when you’re doing this reproposal, is it maybe an opportunity to change or tweak the relationship? And how do you do that in a way that’s seamless without it feeling like, you know, on the client’s end, that you’re just pushing to get more business out of one individual.
Chris Volpe: (06:04)
Yeah. You know, it’s a great question. I think one thing that you need to understand is how much of your investments, or how much of your client’s financial life you are looking at today. Right. And then how much of their financial life is outside of your control or impact. And being able to explain why. So as an example, I hold 70% of my client’s assets, but they have 30% on the outside. Whether it’s their 401k. Whether it’s their investments they just keep on the side to do their own investing. Whatever it is. It’s to make sure that you’re bringing those investments in without making it a land grab, right? Like, let’s talk about your 401(k). How is it invested today? Let’s, let’s add it in.
Chris Volpe: (06:50)
Let me help you with that without necessarily bringing it under, you know, under my AUM. Right? Sometimes it’s impossible because it’s a company 401(k), but offering to help them and offering to understand for them their entire financial picture I think is, is the biggest first step, right? So that’s the difference to me. I sort of look at it as, you know, there there’s an investment advisor. And he handles your investments. And then there’s a financial advisor who helps you understand your overall financial position. Things like, you know, should you be refinancing your mortgage? Should you be paying your mortgage off early? Should you be taking money from your investments now that you’re not getting 20% and doesn’t make sense to pay down some of your mortgage? Because the interest rate on your mortgage is higher than what you’re gonna get on an investment return. You know, things like that. And making the customer feel like you’re not just looking at it from your point, right? You’re not just looking to grab their assets. You’re actually looking to help them build a better overall financial picture regardless of where their assets are.
Justin Mack: (07:56)
Absolutely. And how much does technology help in that reproposal, especially now? And this is something I’m always interested in as the technology editor here at FP, but always talking to advisors or solutions providers about how we can show more value or state value a little bit easier because we have these new tools that help us do it. In your experience, how is the work you’re doing with Zephyr and just in your day-to-day … how is tech part of that equation now?
Chris Volpe: (08:24)
Well, it’s a big piece of making it efficient, right? It’s always been a piece of the plan. You know, there are tons of companies that will allow you to do a financial plan with assets that you manually enter in, or you may get an aggregator as part of that. That may get, you know, 90% of someone’s assets. But from a technology perspective today, the efficiency is where it grabs you. The ability to pull existing holdings, whether they are held away, or whether they’re held with the advisor at multiple custodians. Or just, you know, I’ve got a bunch of dividend reinvestment plans, right? Where you don’t get them electronically anywhere, but my advisor is able to put them into a CRM. And then all of that information through, you know, various integrations is brought into the plan.
Chris Volpe: (09:21)
So being able to essentially just go into a client, hit a button and having all of their information available and then being able to look side by side. That’s one of the biggest pieces that technology brings today is a better scenario planning, right? What you could do. Like, look, here’s where you are today. Your aggressive growth. And the next step for you might just be to go down to a growth platform. And here is the difference. Here’s the actual real difference. Not just in asset mix, but in tangible things people can see. So if you did this, here’s the change. If you did it, you would have a 3% more chance of meeting your goals. However, over the next five years, you’re giving up this chance because you’re reducing your risk. Therefore you’re reducing your return.
Chris Volpe: (10:16)
Being able to show people that in a graphical format quickly and easily without a whole lot of, you know, numbers explanation or, “listen, I’m gonna take you out of this fund and put you into this fund because” … you know, the details are not what clients care about. They care about themselves, and that’s why they’re paying you. To manage those details for them. So technology plays a huge role in the planning process, but also in bringing all assets together. And then, you know, as I mentioned before, being able to tell that story quickly, efficiently, and in a way the client understands
Justin Mack: (10:51)
Absolutely. Making it more streamlined. Showing some very clear scenario A and scenario B situations and something tangible. Something people can hang their hats on, if you will, kind of goes a long way I imagine when you’re trying to explain exactly what your value is and why a client needs to just relax in a crazy market and stick with the plan. So we hold onto that thought, though. We’re gonna take a quick break with a word from our sponsors. You’re listening to the Financial Planning Podcast. I’m chatting with Chris Volpe of Zephyr, take a quick seat, and we’ll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
Justin Mack: (11:27)
All right. And welcome back to the Financial Planning Podcast. I’m your host, Justin Mack. And this week we are chatting with Chris Volpe of Zephyr, talking all about the reproposal and restating value in a long-term relationship with clients. And trying to make sure the stickiness of those relationships that you’ve worked so hard to build stays intact. And moving right along, I kind of wanna talk about value and that term. What it means. Because I think when we talk about restating value or the value proposition, it almost gets lost as far as what that means to the person you actually have to prove that value to. That being the end client or the investor. So, Chris, I wanted to talk about what value means or how that’s defined by clients and how that is changed over the years. What are clients looking for and what is the most valuable to them really in 2022?
Chris Volpe: (12:15)
Well, you know, it’s interesting because everybody may be different slightly in all ways. But I think value comes down to, you know, being able to show what you are doing for them that either saves them time, money, or effort. I mean, in the end we all have our priorities. Value, to me, is I wanna spend more time with my wife and kids. Could I do my own investing? Sure. I don’t. I choose not to spend the time and effort to do that. So you need to be able to give back to the client what they value. Again, I hate to use value, you know, talking about value and then use value again. But you need to understand what’s important to that client. And then be able to give that to them.
Chris Volpe: (13:00)
That might be a higher return. It might simply be, you know, oversight. And I think, you know, your point before of restating why you’re there or restating what you’ve done for them and what you’re going to do for them in the future does help them reframe that relationship. It also gives you a new jumping off point. Because at that point you can reach out to your customer in, you know, six, eight weeks and just say, hey, we talked about this a little while ago. It’s still the right thing to do, in my opinion. You’re still gonna, you know, get XYZ out of it. But I think value is understanding why that client is talking to you in the first place. And like I said, that could be a host of different things, but that’s where it comes in.
Chris Volpe: (13:48)
So if you just hand them a piece of paper and say, “This is I can make you more money than anybody else.” That doesn’t do it for me. Right. What does it for me is, “I can work with you. Help you retire two years earlier so you can spend more time with your family and still maintain your lifestyle.” They’re the same things, right? He’s getting me a better return, but the way he’s framing that for me, those two frames are very, very different.
Justin Mack: (14:13)
Absolutely. And, and it sounds like it’s a process that really is going to require something you touched on earlier. Two ears. One mouth. Really listening to what people are looking for and understanding that value is going to be a case by case basis. And that, you know, that’ll kind of be a make or break point to prove if you have been listening. When a client comes in with concerns, and if you’re answering them with something that doesn’t ring true to what they’ve expressed to you before, I imagine you might be in a tough spot if they are really considering making a move. So that listening still sounds like it’s top of the list for advisors when they’re going through this process,
Chris Volpe: (14:48)
It’s like the old adage. ABS. Always be selling, right? If you’re not selling to your clients, somebody else is. And everybody in sales knows that listening is way more important than talking. So it’s really just reinforcing what you did in the first place to get that customer.
Justin Mack: (15:04)
Definitely. Now, when you are thinking about reproposal, is it important to take a proactive approach? I imagine this isn’t a situation where you wanna wait until a problem starts to pop up and then you start coming up with your game plan on how to restate that value. So when is the right time to do something like this? Is it something you should, you know, plan on a regular basis? What is too often? What is too infrequent? What is the right time and frequency to do these kind of reproposals with clients?
Chris Volpe: (15:30)
Yeah. I hate to dodge the question a little bit, but I think you’ve gotta figure out and you’ve gotta understand your client to be able to do that. I think the time to do it is now. I don’t think the market … I mean, I’m not a macro guy. But the signals, or at least what I’m seeing is, the market is not just gonna turn around tomorrow. So if you can go to your customer and say, hey, I understand the markets are changing. You probably have some concerns. Let’s start from the beginning. This is why we did what we did for you. This is where your investments are. Tell me if this is, you know, if your goals are still the same. If you’re feeling uncomfortable. But giving them something upfront certainly makes them feel like you are invested with them.
Chris Volpe: (16:17)
So, sooner the better. The level of that is gonna depend. I think the statistic is something like 80% of clients don’t have a full financial plan, right? So maybe you want to start with those, you know. Because if you did a full financial plan for somebody, they understand the market ups and downs. They understand that things are gonna lose value. They understand that. But if you’ve done a, you know, a shortened version of a plan. Or you’ve run through a Monte Carlo with somebody, they probably don’t have that same comfort level of somebody with a full financial plan. So that’s where I would look to start. Is with those people who, you know, may not (have a plan) for whatever reason, right? They may not have wanted a plan at the time.
Chris Volpe: (17:00)
They may have just said, look, I need help managing my investments. And, you know, you put them in a model portfolio based on a risk questionnaire they answered. Well, now’s the time to go back to that person, say we should relook at this and affirm that this is the right thing. Because even if you had to make a change after that … like the, the thing about reproposal is it isn’t necessarily just what we’ve done before is the right thing. But it may be, we need to make a change, right? And, proactively offering a change and why things might change is probably better for your overall client retention. Than just saying, you know, all is well, nothing to see here.
Justin Mack: (17:44)
Definitely. And speaking of retention, I would love to talk more about not just current client retention, but even generational retention, Talking about making that reproposal, how important is it … or is there any value in kind of widening the scope of that reproposal to include other members of a family or an organization? Or whoever you might be advising for and kind of bringing those additional minds into the conversation to let them know what kind of value you bring. Does that matter and how much does that help?
Chris Volpe: (18:12)
Well, first of all, I think it helps a tremendous amount, right? It’s the whole generational wealth transfer. And there have been tons and tons of articles written up by people who are probably way smarter than me. But the reality of it is that engaging a client’s heirs … be that their children (or) be that their their family … with an eye towards education I think is, you know, is just an incredible bonus, right? If my financial advisor said to me, hey, I’d like to meet. I’d like your kids to come in and meet. And I’d actually like to talk to them about their accounts. Now they have nowhere near enough money in their savings accounts or their investments accounts to qualify for managed services. So he’s not interested today about managing their money.
Chris Volpe: (18:55)
What he is interested in is building and developing that relationship. So if you are sitting with a client and you say, “here’s what’s important because, you know, you said one of the things that was important to you was to leave money for your children. Or to pay for your children’s education. Well, let’s get them involved now.” Even if you don’t talk the numbers, right? Some people are skittish about giving their kids what their net worth is, how much they make. But don’t talk about the numbers. Talk about the process, right? Talk about the goals. This is what we are trying to do for you. This is what your parents are trying to do for you. And I’m here to help them do that. Just beginning to build that relationship without necessarily, you know, looking at or taking over their investments. Especially if they’re older.
Chris Volpe: (19:47)
And they have their own investments. Their own advisor, you know. You don’t wanna be seen, again, as land grabbing. But if you’re there to educate them, I think that is hugely important. You know, we sort of touched on this, but it’s so easy to move money these days and change advisors. You don’t even need to write anything down. You can do it online. And there are so many options today. From robo to different investment classes and different investment philosophies, right? It’s easy to move money and that’s makes it harder on advisors to maintain the business. Especially after, you know, the next generation comes into that money.
Justin Mack: (20:30)
Absolutely. And great point, too, on the options and the ability to quickly make a change or disconnect from an advisor who maybe again, if you’re a child who’s, you know, working with someone after a family member has passed and there’s no connectivity, you don’t really know this person. I have so many options at the press of a button where maybe I can do something different, or establish my own plan. So something to keep in mind. Last thing I would love to have you touch on. I always like to end our conversations here on the Financial Planning Podcast with some good vibes, because a lot of this conversation can sometimes be difficult or intimidating. Or in some places, you know, you’re making this reproposal because, as you mentioned earlier, someone is always potentially selling to your client. Whether it just be a self-directed or a robo option or whatever it might be.
Justin Mack: (21:20)
So in all the work you’ve done over the years, helping advisors with this and tackling this challenge, any advice for them if it starts to become overwhelming. Where they can go to for help? How they can kind of manage all the different demands? Because if you’ve got a number of clients who might be in need of a reproposal or some calming down … any advice or tips to kind of, you know, maintain your mental stability while you’re going through what is some difficult work and some really difficult conversations.
Chris Volpe: (21:49)
Yeah. I think it’s, you know, as hard as it is on the client I think it actually is harder on the advisor. And I think … look, I’m a client too. And I think everybody knows that advisors are human, right? And that they are, you know, pretty stressed out now. Or at least pretty busy now. And so just making sure that you let them know that you understand and you absolutely are priority to them. You are gonna put some information together for them very quickly. And then let’s schedule, you know, 15 or 20 minutes just to chat, right? Not everything has to be done in one conversation. In fact, sometimes it’s better if you, instead of a two hour conversation with a client about their goals and everything else, you spread that out. Especially if you already have a relationship with them because not only does it give them an opportunity to think through things in between those calls. But if I spend two hours with you, I do it once and boom. And nobody ever thinks, well, that was two hours.
Chris Volpe: (22:52)
If I do four half hours with you, I met with you four times. Now the actual number and the actual amount of time is the same. But if I meet with you four times over, you know, a month. Two months. Or once every two months. That cycle between hearing your voice, getting that reassuring note or whatever it is … is incredibly valuable, too. So we know that you guys are human. We know that they you’ve got a lot going on. We still think we are the most (or) we should be the most important person in your world. Um, so do whatever you can to make us as clients feel that way, but there’s a lot of different ways you could do it. That that would not take up a ton of time.
Justin Mack: (23:43)
All right. Absolutely. Well, that is a great way to end it. And I want to thank you again, Chris, for sharing your insight and your tips on that reproposal proposal and something I know that we will be continuing to keep an eye on and cover and discuss here at Financial Planning. So I wanted to thank you again for making the time to join us this week on the podcast.
Chris Volpe: (24:01)
Oh, it was my pleasure, Justin. Thanks very much.
Justin Mack: (24:02)
Absolutely. And I want to thank everyone for listening to the Financial Planning Podcast this week. This episode was produced by Arizent with audio production by Kevin Parise. Special thanks again to our guest, Chris Volpe of Zephyr. Rate us, review us and subscribe to all of our content at www.financial-planning.com/subscribe. From Financial Planning, I’m Justin Mack, thanks for listening.
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