The Four Key Elements of Client Experience for Business Owner Clients
While anyone can benefit from sound financial guidance, business owners often face unique challenges that make achieving their financial goals especially difficult. As an advisor who’s interested in bringing more business owner clients to your firm, you must be able to stand out from the crowd and showcase your value by addressing their particular needs.
But what, exactly, can financial advisors do to attract business owners to their firm? There are four key elements your client experience should include:
Comprehensive Financial Planning
Business owners, especially those who are well-established, have a more complex financial landscape than traditional employees. This is because it’s common for a business owner’s personal wealth to be tied directly to the success of their business. Their business’s cash flow management is especially important because it dictates the owner’s overall financial well-being.
Business owners are incredibly hardworking, and their workweeks often extend beyond a typical 9-5, so they don’t want to spend their limited free time optimizing their wealth and preparing for retirement. To add further complexity to their financial lives, business owners don’t always have the same options for saving for retirement (such as a 401(k) with employer matching) as W-2 employees. The lack of opportunity to save in a dedicated retirement account can impact their ability to retire comfortably.
Because a business owner’s financial life looks different, it’s imperative that your firm offers comprehensive financial planning services tailored to their unique needs. Their wealth is tied to their business, which means their personal and business goals should be in alignment as well. Positioning yourself as someone who understands their situation gives you an advantage over other planners.
Specialized Business Valuation
There are a number of reasons your business owner clients need to know what their business is worth—and not just when they’re ready to sell. Having an accurate business valuation helps business owners ensure their business is properly insured, and it’s necessary information to know when pursuing additional funding. Not to mention, knowing what a business is worth can help your clients make more informed decisions by better understanding their business’s full potential.
Being able to help your clients through the business valuation process is a huge value-add for advisors. There are real-time valuation resources, like those offered through BizEquity, that enable advisors to better address their clients’ current concerns and future goals. Having access to an accurate and up-to-date valuation is key for advisors who wish to attract and retain business owners as clients.
Proactive Tax Planning
Business owners are financially prudent, and they’re not interested in paying a dollar more to the government than they have to. As their advisor, help them take proactive, year-round measures to prepare for tax time. The focus should be on minimizing their tax liability and maximizing their savings.
As an added value, consider coordinating directly with your client’s CPA. This can help ensure your tax planning efforts work together seamlessly to address all facets of your client’s business and personal wealth.
Succession and Exit Planning
It’s never too early for business owners to prepare an exit strategy. Transitioning away from the business (or at least from a leadership position within the business) is a big change for everyone involved—the owner, their family, their employees, and customers. There’s a tremendous amount of thought and planning that goes into creating a seamless transition.
As an advisor looking to enhance the business owner’s client experience, focus on how an exit will impact the business owner’s long-term goals, like retirement. Most business owners depend on the sale of their business or future revenue from the business to help fund the majority of their retirement. For that reason, business valuation plays an integral role in maximizing value upon the owner’s exit.
Business owners aren’t your average clients, and they appreciate having a trusted financial partner who can take the heavy lifting off their plate. Because a significant amount of their own wealth is tied to the success of the business, there are many moving parts that need to be considered carefully.
To learn more about how BizEquity helps financial advisors better serve business owners, click here!