Kerri Sullivan-Kreiss, CFP®, AIF®, with Commonwealth since 2004
Kerri Sullivan-Kreiss, CFP®, AIF®, based her impartial advisory agency, SullivanKreiss Monetary, in 2004. Having spent the earlier 13 years as an advisor on workers with a publicly traded firm, she wished to go away massive company agendas and proprietary funding merchandise behind. As president of her personal enterprise, Sullivan-Kreiss was wanting to develop a concierge service mannequin constructed round a robust tradition of fiduciary duty to purchasers.
As Sullivan-Kreiss says, “I’ve all the time primarily based my enterprise on the elemental principal of treating others as I want to be handled. My goal is basically quite simple: to place our purchasers’ pursuits first, act with integrity, and embrace the individuality that every shopper brings to our follow.”
Throughout our conversations, the pressure of Sullivan-Kreiss’s dedication to this imaginative and prescient all the time shined via. The profitable development of her agency could possibly be seen as emblematic of the depth with which Sullivan-Kreiss engages with purchasers. It additionally highlights her extremely environment friendly use of time. To offer the personalised concierge service that Sullivan-Kreiss believes makes her agency particular, she has change into a grasp of time administration. She has discovered the way to function effectively and collect the required sources to maintain development and construct economies of scale.
In case you’re seeking to go impartial or develop a longtime advisory enterprise, understanding the ability of Sullivan-Kreiss’s enterprise selections may show you how to chart the way in which towards optimizing your time and setting your agency up for long-term development.
Constructing One thing Particular
For Sullivan-Kreiss, constructing shopper relationships is all about specializing in the journey with every individual you serve. As a way to develop a top quality follow, it’s important to make every shopper really feel particular. Which will sound elementary, however it’s essential to maintain high of thoughts. As she says, “It’s being there for purchasers via on a regular basis moments, celebrating life’s main milestones, and serving to to offer assist, encouragement, and, hopefully, consolation throughout tough instances.”
A proactive service mannequin. Ideally, SullivanKreiss Monetary purchasers shouldn’t get voicemail once they name, and follow-up to requests and issues should be speedy and correct. However concierge service is greater than that: it’s being proactive versus responsive, going above and past what’s anticipated. Sullivan-Kreiss focuses on long-term, complete monetary planning; she isn’t interested by “merely being a cash supervisor.” This implies setting common opinions to maintain abreast of adjustments in purchasers’ lives and assembly each two weeks when creating a plan for a brand new shopper.
The outcome? Sullivan-Kreiss has constructed one thing particular: a extremely engaged neighborhood of long-term purchasers. For her, that’s what makes the advisory enterprise rewarding and enjoyable. And there’s icing on the cake: in keeping with Sullivan-Kreiss, “Nearly all of my agency’s new purchasers come from referrals from current purchasers.”
Spending Extra Time with Purchasers
As you possibly can see, Sullivan-Kreiss’s enterprise mannequin is immediately tied to her spending as a lot time as potential with purchasers. Notably, like a lot of her Commonwealth friends, Sullivan-Kreiss spends considerably extra time in shopper conferences than different trade advisors. That’s in keeping with a 2020–2021 examine carried out by Commonwealth in partnership with Cerulli Associates, which discovered that, on common, Commonwealth advisors spend 33 % extra time in shopper conferences than different advisors from each wirehouse and impartial corporations.
In reality, primarily based on additional evaluation of the info, Commonwealth’s Observe Administration staff decided that Sullivan-Kreiss ranked within the high decile of productiveness amongst Commonwealth advisors, primarily based on gross income, development fee, and period of time spent with purchasers. This statistic speaks to the essential work Sullivan-Kreiss undertakes day in and day trip with the people she serves.
Attaining Scale and Effectivity
So, how is Sullivan-Kreiss in a position to spend a lot time with purchasers? There are inherent difficulties in scaling a concierge mannequin. Nonetheless, as she labored via fixing them, Sullivan-Kreiss discovered that having the fitting workers and agency accomplice will help facilitate enterprise scale and effectivity.
The ability of your individuals. Sullivan-Kreiss delegates administrative, operational, and sure planning duties so she will be able to concentrate on client-facing work. With three full-time workers members (a director of shopper relations, a monetary analyst, and an operations supervisor), she is evident on their significance to her enterprise mannequin: “My staff is phenomenal. What they do behind the scenes permits me to be good at my job and spend as a lot time as I can with my purchasers. Their strengths enable the agency to ship top-tier concierge-level assist—the personal touch we dedicate to each shopper.”
In keeping with Sullivan-Kreiss, her regular development has been pushed by her staff’s stability of competencies. And that development has introduced the agency to an inflection level, the place further workers is important. To deal with the quantity of labor and preserve her productiveness excessive, Sullivan-Kreiss plans so as to add an funding supervisor and an extra advisor to the staff.
When requested about recommendation for advisors seeking to develop, she states, “Probably the most productive issues you are able to do is empower your individuals and provides them room to develop. It’s completely key to have the fitting individuals on workers, significantly those that have complementary abilities units to yours.”
The affect of your agency accomplice. Sullivan-Kreiss remembers her agency’s early years flying by in a blur, however she has all the time acknowledged the significance of a supportive agency accomplice. She explains, “Along with actually busting your derriere . . . it’s important to domesticate the fitting relationships with the fitting individuals. You should have a accomplice behind you that’s proactive and responsive.”
Like different impartial advisors, Sullivan-Kreiss seems to her agency accomplice for a wide selection of back-office sources and assist. As a result of her work is grounded in monetary planning, she appreciates having specialists, similar to Commonwealth’s Superior Planning staff, available to speak via a fancy planning or retirement downside.
As for funding administration, Sullivan-Kreiss acknowledges that this function is an ongoing problem for any impartial agency. She prefers customized portfolio administration and, with the help of her monetary analyst, does a substantial amount of her personal funding analysis. Nonetheless, if a shopper is in search of a particular funding technique, she desires to have the ability to depend on her agency accomplice for specialised data. She receives that assist from Commonwealth’s Funding Administration and Analysis staff.
In the end, Sullivan-Kreiss says that your agency accomplice should be capable of present a “phenomenal stage of assist” that’s tailor-made to your wants.
Cementing the Cornerstones of Success
Being an impartial advisor has allowed Sullivan-Kreiss to fully align her agency along with her values and purchasers’ finest pursuits. She’s been in a position to construct the agency she’s all the time dreamed
of, one primarily based on placing her purchasers’ wants first and powered by environment friendly time administration. Proper now, she’s centered on the thrill of the current and accelerating much more development sooner or later. Something is feasible along with her imaginative and prescient, a robust staff, and Commonwealth’s partnership at her again.
In case you’re an advisor eager to go impartial, Sullivan-Kreiss’s recommendation is to do it as quickly as you possibly can. As for contemplating a agency accomplice, be thorough about due diligence and align with a agency whose values mirror yours. Final, however actually not least, all the time understand that you wish to go the place you possibly can develop, even when it’s one step at a time.
FREE DOWNLOAD
The Affect Your Agency Associate Can Have on Effectivity
Discover how choosing the proper agency accomplice can put time again in your day.
