Welcome everybody! Welcome to the 393rd episode of the Monetary Advisor Success Podcast!
My visitor on at the moment’s podcast is Alex Lewis. Alex is the proprietor of Blackbridge Monetary, a hybrid advisory agency primarily based in Irmo, South Carolina, that oversees roughly $330 million in property below administration for 415 shopper households.
What’s distinctive about Alex, although, is how, at age 29, he took on a multi-million-dollar mortgage to buy the agency from its founder as his successor, and, within the 4 years since, has made adjustments to all the things from the employees to the know-how to the service construction to make the enterprise what he wished it to be… and within the course of, practically doubled the agency’s AUM.
On this episode, we speak in-depth about how Alex gained the belief of his agency’s founder and its shoppers by steadily growing his client-facing obligations over a span of 4 years upfront of a possible succession, how Alex and the agency’s founder negotiated a valuation and transaction phrases with a seller-financed word with protecting covenants that met the wants of each events, and the way Alex obtained comfy with a purchase order whose first month-to-month mortgage cost was greater than his whole annual wage the yr earlier than the acquisition and resulted in a internet revenue of simply $11 within the 1st yr after the deal (however finally grew sufficient that he was in a position to refinance his succession mortgage to make the previous proprietor entire and scale back the month-to-month cost).
We additionally speak about how Alex’s agency now segments shoppers into 5 service tiers primarily based on their property below administration and income (and the precise variations in providers the agency supplies to shoppers at every degree), how Alex tracks his shoppers’ particular person preferences to create what he calls “Wow Components”, such having their favourite soda on the desk once they arrive for a gathering, which strengthens the connection between shoppers and the advisory group, and the way Alex, shortly after taking on the agency, made the choice to rent 2 new advisors and assist them by getting their CFP marks to have the ability to proceed to supply high-touch providers for his quickly rising shopper base and guarantee they keep below 150 shoppers per advisor.
And make sure to take heed to the tip, the place Alex discusses how he first entered the monetary planning business, transitioning from the world of public accounting to hunt higher work-life steadiness however taking a more-than-50% pay lower to get his foot within the door, how Alex managed to not lose a single shopper after being pressured to name all 400 shoppers to allow them to know he needed to elevate their charges after a service supplier dramatically elevated its personal pricing to Alex’s agency… solely to cancel the payment enhance after the service supplier reversed course (and the way that motion in flip constructed much more belief along with his shoppers), and the way Alex dug right into a sequence of enterprise books to determine greatest practices to systematize his personal agency’s operations, from Gino Wickman’s “Traction” to Matthew Jarvis’ “Delivering Huge Worth”, as he continues to evolve the enterprise he purchased from its prior proprietor into the one which he desires it to be for himself.
So, whether or not you are involved in studying about navigating an inside succession plan, dealing with the monetary realities of taking over debt to buy the agency, or making a plan to develop the agency and its employees after taking on, then we hope you take pleasure in this episode of the Monetary Advisor Success podcast, with Alex Lewis.
