Chris Ferretti, CRPC • Chesapeake, VA
Integrated Financial Partners, Inc. • Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp.
We believe in working with clients who have a strong appreciation for our firm’s operating philosophy. Most of our new client prospects come in through direct referrals, and a driver of our success is in clearly communicating the process we use to work with clients.
My partner and I have found that a successful tool in converting prospects involves both of us attending the very first meeting with a potential new client. We have different personality types, and this helps determine who might be the more appropriate point person. I tend to be very analytical and am happy to get down in the weeds on as much data as anyone would like to see. My partner is more of a big-picture person, and that works better with certain client types, such as type A business executives who want the 10,000-foot view.
Understanding social types and personalities is important, as people internalize information in very different ways. We have found we can be better and more successful advisors by giving clients the information that they need in a way that makes sense to them.
I classify the mindset that we find optimal for a new client as advisor-receptive in some cases, and advisor-dependent in other cases. For both, we place a great deal of emphasis on needs-based financial planning, and prospects who would like to work with us should be very open to sharing and discussing their financial history, their resources, their goals, and their aspirations. They need to be receptive to working through the process with us and to thinking about their long-term financial and investment planning in a way they may have never considered before.
We tend to attract quite a few new prospects who are very analytical by nature, due to their education and profession, and that works well. As we take them through the process of what we call our Lifetime Income Model, they receive considerable data and analysis to make informed decisions.
Northrop Grumman is one of the major employers in our area, and we also have a large Navy base and associated military contractors and related firms. I have clients who are nuclear engineers, mechanical engineers, structural engineers, and so forth. Probably more than 25% of my practice involves this type of client, and they tend to bring that receptive mindset. They are solution-oriented people who appreciate a process-driven approach.
Disclosure: Chris Ferretti is a registered representative of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp., a broker-dealer (member SIPC) and registered investment advisor. Integrated Financial Partners, Inc., is not an affiliate of Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp.
Editor’s note: This article first published on August 6, 2015. Mr. Ferretti is affiliated with LPL FInancial as of this update (December 29, 2017).
Photography by Chris Winton-Stahle
