Last November, I watched a $5.2M advisor do something that would make most branch managers reach for their blood pressure medication. A prospect walked into his office with $4.3 million in liquid assets—qualified, ready to move, checkbook practically levitating off the table. The advisor listened for exactly 18 minutes, then said the words that separate the elite from the exhausted: “I don’t think we’re the right fit for you.”
The prospect left. The advisor’s staff looked at him like he’d just set money on fire. But here’s what happened next: his profit margin that quarter jumped 7.2%, his average client size increased by $340,000, and three months later, that same rejected prospect referred him a $12M client who was an actual perfect fit.
Some would say that this is the most counterintuitive strategy in wealth management, but its the one that elite advisors guard like their mother’s lasagna recipe.
The Conventional Wisdom That’s Killing Your Practice
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