Last week I had an interesting health experience. On Monday night I thought I was having a heart attack. We called 911 and were transported to our local emergency room. I was screened and a heart attack was ruled out. But, I was admitted and sent to the cardiac floor for further tests on Tuesday.
After extensive testing, the cardiac people determined that I didn’t have any heart or blockage problems. (the good news) At the same time, they had no interest in discussing or understanding why the symptoms I displayed happened. Their only comment was to go back to my GP and let him work on it.
I started to think about how this experience related to the work we do in the wealth management process. Often our Clients go to a specialist, but that specialist never really tells the Client that they don’t work and don’t understand all the areas the Client should be concerned with. In our world, the specialists often think their specialty can solve all of the Clients problems.
In reality our Clients need someone who is like the good old family GP, but with a much higher level of competency. Someone who has a good understanding of all of the wealth management activities our Clients could participate in and how the different wealth management activities can affect our Clients.
This brings me to the concept of need Dr. House in our industry. Our Clients need a clinician who not only understands, but can also diagnose and implement with specialists the solution that will give our Clients the outcome they desire. The person who coordinates the process needs to understand the roles and what actions the specialists can bring to the table. At the same time, the clinician can communicate with the Client how all of the different strategies and specialists are necessary in providing an outcome that our Clients desire.
If we as comprehensive wealth managers concentrate on the end result, we will help our Clients have a different experience than I had last Monday and Tuesday. Instead, our Clients will achieve the outcomes they desire without the confusion that comes from wandering from specialist to specialist without anyone coordinating the final outcome.
Josh Patrick
Filed under: Ethics, For Business Advisors, For Business Owners, Value Creation | Tagged: comprehensive wealth management, diagnosis
I see you’re liking my ideas
Josh – outstanding analogy and articulation of the problem. For years I’ve been put off from going to yet another generic GP who just runs his limited set of tests and referrals to their little personal network of ’specialists’ only to send you home in the end with nothing (except “better diet and excersize” or some other waste basket diagnosis/conclusion).
Any luck finding any resources or getting a bead on someone like you describe?