How one top adviser plans to capitalize on 2010 growth opportunities
Making databases seamless is job one
2 min read- RegentAtlantic prioritizes growth in 2010, aiming to surpass its pre-recession AUM peak.
- Firm increases outbound phone calls and hired a second business development specialist.
- Integration of databases and CRM software will automate client communication about portfolio changes.
Here’s a number that rankles Christopher Cordaro: $1.7 billion.
Though it’s a level of AUM that 99% of his peers would envy, Cordaro can’t ignore the fact that the $1.7 billion is not $1.8 billion, which was the high water mark his Chatham, N.J.-based firm attained in 2008.
“We were so used to growing 25% for 10 years,” says Cordaro, who is CEO of his company. “It’s a new management challenge to get back to even. Our goal is to get back to even and resume normal robust growth.”
While many advisors are making less ambitious resolutions for 2010 (Read:Top resolutions for RIAs: Get out of cash and unleash the rainmakers ), Cordaro is focused on growth. RegentAtlantic, which has a reputation among peers as an innovator, is already racheting up its business development to counter the growing threat from wirehouse brokers who may have been re-energized by big retention bonuses.
Top resolutions for RIAs: Get out of cash and unleash the rainmakers
The opportunity costs of passivity in these markets could be high, according to Cordaro. “Everyone will look back and say: could I have done better?” he says.
Outbound phone calls
Among other things, RegentAtlantic is taking its efforts at making outbound phone calls up two notches.
Story Timeline
RegentAtlantic hired a second business development specialist in December. The decision was informed by its success in hiring its first business development specialist in 2008.
How the market downturn affected 870 Schwab RIAs in 2009 and how they are reacting to it in 2010
Cordaro has rejected at least one other popular way of driving growth: the recruitment of breakaway brokers from wirehouses.
“That’s a tough cultural fit,” he says. “We’ve explored that but decided to pass.”
RegentAtlantic’s biggest initiative is on the technological front, Cordaro says. The company aims to get all of its databases speaking to each other. He hopes that will enable its CRM software to integrate with the firm’s other applications.
For instance, Cordaro’s firm is working to import information about trades from iRebal – a portfolio rebalancing program – into its CRM software. The result would be an automatically generated e-mail to clients that explains why the securities were bought or sold in their portfolio.
“That’s something we’ll do in 2010,” Cordaro says.
RegentAtlantic also plans to begin using social media more effectively in its marketing plan and to improve client communications.
Rely on RIABiz? Tell Google.
Naming us a preferred source puts our reporting first in your Top Stories and AI Overviews. Takes one click, and only you see the difference.