Planners who consider using a wrap account to service clients should not promote the service itself but rather the benefits that it provides for clients according to Macquarie Portfolio Manager head of product and marketing associate director Matthew Rady.
Speaking at the recent CFP conference in Manly, Rady says how the benefits of the wrap are sold is important and planners should emphasis that it is an overall part of the business.
“Planners that are doing this don’t sell the wrap concept but include it as part of their business and state they run that business through an administration service,” Rady says.
Taking this approach allows planners to emphasis they have more time to spend with clients as they are not caught up in back office systems, Rady says, and turns the services offered by a wrap into a net result for the client.
However Rady says adopting a wrap account will also lead to changes on the practice management and client services side of a planning business.
He says while client contact will increase it will also mean staff have to be able to be retrained and reskilled as staff will need to know the service and how it works.
As clients also get to know the service through its online capabilities their own education levels will increase. Planners will then need to be able to manage client’s expectations and be able to provide more indepth answers.
“Wraps provide little support in terms of providing answers about investments and planners will need to maintain client contact and increase it, expanding the nature and the scope of the services they provide,” Rady says.
“It will also prompt them to think about their clients investments since as they may change their views, the planner should advise that their investments do the same.”
