Podcast | 08.06.24

BISA Portfolio Podcast — The Voice of Wealth: Developing a Successful Delivery Model

by: BISA Staff

In this episode of the BISA Portfolio Podcast series “The Voice of Wealth,” BISA’s Wealth Committee Chair Jacinda Norvell, wealth broker and sales execution director at Truist Wealth, talks about developing successful delivery models with Rebecca Robinson, director of wealth management at Zions Bancorporation. They discuss how Zions takes a collaborative approach to wealth management, tailoring their teams and services to each client's unique needs and complexity. Listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts. Key takeaways of this episode include: 

• The importance of flexibility and emotional intelligence in wealth advisory, to truly understand client goals and challenges
• Strategies for fostering professional development in wealth management teams, such as hands-on training, mentorship and feedback sessions
• How a collaborative, planning-based culture can enhance the client experience and help advisors grow with their clients over time

Episode Transcript

Jacinda Norvell  
Hello everyone, I am Jacinda Norvell, wealth broker and sales execution director for Truist Wealth and also serve on BISA's Board of Directors. Today I am hosting a conversation with Rebecca Robinson, director of wealth management at Zions Bancorporation. As part of BISA's podcast series on a topic we are all delving into right now: wealth management. In this episode, we will be talking about delivery models and the skills needed to enact them. I also want to remind everyone listening to please subscribe to the podcast and share with your network if you find it a valuable resource. So let's get started. First of all, thank you for joining me to discuss this topic today, Rebecca.

Rebecca Robinson  
Thank you, Jacinda, it's wonderful to be here with you. And I've really enjoyed getting to know you as part of the BISA board.

Jacinda Norvell  
Well, I have enjoyed that as well. I'm glad we're getting to do this today. So let's get going with questions. Can you share on how you got your start in the industry and how it has led to your current role as wealth director?

Rebecca Robinson  
Absolutely, I came into the industry in a more non-traditional way. I actually started my career with PwC as a tax accountant doing tax and planning for high-net-worth individuals, and about 10 years into that I made a switch over into banking. But I've really spent most of my career coming up through the planning side. And then over time, I took over a trust company, and then eventually wealth management, which also includes our broker dealer, our institutional business as well. So I made my way into the asset management side from the planning side.

Jacinda Norvell  
Well, I definitely think you're well qualified to be here with us having this conversation today. That's a very wealth anchored background. So thank you. Now, we both know, there are so many different ways to organize wealth management teams. Your organization takes a collaborative approach. And I know this can affect client expectations. Can you share a little bit about how your clients react when working with a collaborative wealth team? Do you think this approach is universally applicable? 

Rebecca Robinson  
I think the important thing is to think about is one size doesn't fit all. So it's very important to start always with "who is your client?" And then "how complex are they?" and "what are their needs?" So at Zions Bancorporation, we have clients from a very small size all the way up to really ultra high net worth individuals. But in every case, we build a team for them. We know if you're early in life, that team might include a banker and an advisor, you may have some pretty basic planning needs. But you probably also have banking needs and mortgage needs, things like that. But over time, as your complexity grows, if you're a business owner, it's important that you have people who understand succession planning, who may understand how the capital markets work. So I think what's helpful is it allows us to grow with our clients. But it also helps them know that you may not be the source of all information, but you are the source of getting to information, and that we will always bring the right experts in to work with you as your situation changes and your complexity changes.

Jacinda Norvell  
Well, we know collaboration offers benefits, it's clear. However, I know any model can bring challenges. What challenges have you seen arise through this model? And how have you navigated them successfully?

Rebecca Robinson  
Yeah, I've really seen the challenges come in a couple of buckets. I think the first one is maybe if the advisor themself is not as used to working with the team. So they're used to being kind of the expert on everything. And that can be a hard transition to a team because it's understanding what your role is. And understanding that the role as a coordinator, and the person who brings a relationship together is every bit as important as the role of being the expert in everything on that team. The other thing is, it does take more time; it's a lot more communication. It's a lot more communication internally -- who owns that follow up with the client, who is coordinating things? So if you're used to running fast and running alone, that can be a difficult change. But I have seen if you see it work really well and you're committed to it, the client experience is so much better that I think it makes everybody's job more fulfilling as well.

Jacinda Norvell  
Well, I know you and I have had that conversation about that it is challenging to figure out if you are new to the team model, you know, who is the relationship manager if you are bringing in different partners. So I think it is very interesting that you've seen people have to be able to have some give and take and find their role on the team. So that is one thing that we're having to evolve as we're seeing these wealth teams develop. So you've mentioned that a wealth client's unique needs require a flexible approach. Can you expand on how this need for flexibility shapes and influences your overall advisory approach? 

Rebecca Robinson  
Yeah, absolutely. So I think where we may, sometimes as advisors, even if we worked with someone for a good period of time, we start to make assumptions about knowing what they need or assuming that they have everything they need. And one thing I find with engaging a team, engaging a team on your pre call, engaging teams on client reviews, is to talk about what you know about that client and their balance sheet, and what might be happening. And I can give you a couple examples. We may not be inclined to talk to a 50-year-old business owner about succession planning, or we may say they're not in a position to sell. But in the last few years, we've seen a lot of capital markets activities where a company who wasn't for sale suddenly sells, and it sells because they will receive a great offer. We need to always make sure we're having those conversations and letting someone know we can help you with that. If you're contemplating a business sale, we can help you look at the cash flow implications, we can bring in people to help talk through the tax implications and work with your outside advisors. I think the other piece is we oftentimes on the upper end of clients will say their plans are in place, their estate plan is done, things are done. Engaging with our advanced planners also helps people see that maybe everything isn't done, that maybe it hasn't been maintained, or it's out of date. So when I think about the client, understanding where they are now and building the right team, but also always checking in, and making sure you're letting them know the other things that you can do, because there's nothing worse then when you find out someone went and did something somewhere else that you could do for them. And maybe it wasn't even done well. But it's because we didn't ask we just assumed that we knew or we assumed something wasn't on the table.

Jacinda Norvell  
Yes, we really focus on the concept of listening to our clients, asking the right questions, because you're exactly right. You don't want someone going somewhere else, because they didn't know that you could do that or that we never asked them about that. Or we made assumptions about their plans. And we didn't check back in because plans change. So I do think it's critically important to stay really relevant with the client and really in tune with that client. Now we've talked about the core of wealth management, the delivery model, but in order to enact a model, you must have a skilled team. What skills do you think are the most essential for advisors working with complex clients?

Rebecca Robinson  
I think one of the most essential, and also maybe one where we as an industry could do a lot better in training people, is really in the emotional intelligence side. The reality is, money is emotional -- decisions about your family, decisions about your legacy, decisions about when you retire, and what you do with your life. Those are all emotional. And I have sat in meetings where technically we're doing and saying all the right things. And we may not be reading that someone with a liquidity event is having a very stressful moment, not picking up when someone asks you a new question and just kind of going back to your old script. So the emotional intelligence to me is really, really critical. The other is the ability to issue spot. Everyone on the team needs to be able to look at issues and maintain that network, both with what you do, but also with people who can help. When I say when we get into really complex family dynamics, I'm not great at that. But there is a network of people out there who are and so let's help our clients get to the right place.

Jacinda Norvell  
Well I do think that is really important. Some of the things we've noticed is that, you know, who are the emotional intelligence, and who are the decision makers, when you have clients in the room. Some people, you make assumptions about who the decision makers are, and really the underlying needs for those decisions. So I think that that's a really good point. Now, the skills we've discussed are important, but we both know, it can be difficult to hire someone that's an expert in all of these off the bat or even some of these, so how do you actively foster the professional development of your wealth advisors within your team?

Rebecca Robinson  
We believe in a planning-based culture, and it's one thing to have a belief in it, but it's another thing to execute, and to hold people accountable. So we spend a lot of time doing advisory-based planning types of training. And then we go back and we don't just train and then let everyone leave, we check in on training modules. We like to look at plans, we have advisors present plans to each other, because that gives you an opportunity to take a plan and then really be able to say, what does that look like? I think another really important piece that we've put in place is a capstone program. So for all different types of clients, there is a program that you go through. And the last piece is a simulated client meeting where two people play the client, and they're going to take you through this and then we really give a lot of feedback. And then finally, I think there's nothing better than on-the-ground training. So it is critical that you implement and really follow a pre-call plan. Who's doing what, what is your role in that meeting? Who is taking notes? Talk about what happened in the meeting. But then the most important one, and the one that I think gets forgotten the most is the post-call. And the post-call isn't just "you did a great job." Here's what went, well, here's what didn't go, well, here are the follow-up items I have. And then when you go to that next meeting, pull those notes out again, and remind ourselves so we can always do better and improve. So I think pairing people up and letting younger people learn from older people. I think letting our experienced advisors really mentor goes a long way as well. But then being willing to give really friendly but honest and direct feedback. 

Jacinda Norvell  
I do think that's critically important. And I love your capstone program. I've also seen where we have had advisors need to present plans in front of managers and leaders, because there is a difference between, you know, just being able to kind of see it on paper and getting practice and that's what is also valuable about working with a team, is being able to have that sort of really collaborative experience to learn and and to share that back with the client. Rebecca, I've really appreciated our conversation today and know our listeners will appreciate your perspective. Thank you for coming on and sharing your experience. 

Rebecca Robinson  
Thank you for having me. 

Jacinda Norvell  
Well, again, everyone, I want to encourage our listeners to subscribe on the podcast platform you're listening to so you don't miss an upload and share the episode with your network. We hope you have a great day.

 

About Rebecca Robinson
Rebecca Robinson, CPA, CFP®, is the executive director of wealth management at Zions Bancorp, where she serves on the company's Executive Management Committee. As the head of wealth management, Rebecca leads a multi-state team of professionals who provide tailored investment management, wealth and business succession planning, philanthropic and fiduciary services
to high-net-worth families, business owners  and corporate clients. She provides the strategic vision for the firm’s planning centric approach to client service. In addition to her wealth management responsibilities, she serves as the executive in charge of bank’s affluent customer strategic initiative, chairs the benefits investment committee and is a member of the board of directors for the Zions Bancorp Foundation. Rebecca also serves on the Board of Directors for BISA.