CASE STORY: How unifying all partners of this Family Office with the Surefire Method™ increased their ability to niche and grow.

Legacy Family Office – Aligning All Partners with a Shared Vision & Set of Strategic Tools to Set The Path Forward

Legacy Family Office had been on a steady growth path for several years. Initially starting with two partners, the firm expanded to six partners. Up to this point, the firm’s purpose, vision and direction had been carried by, and only verbally communicated, by the two founding partners. As the team delved into building their succession plan, they realized that not having these critical strategic elements clearly defined on paper created several challenges. First, the partners weren’t communicating a consistent message to clients and COIs, diluting their brand and reputation. Second, it was difficult for the newer planners to identify ideal prospective clients. Third, the team wasn’t effectively communicating what set Legacy Family Office apart and the benefits of choosing their firm over their competitors. Fourth, the newest partners lacked the clarity and direction they would need to succeed and meet the expectations set out for them by the senior partners.

This also manifested into more significant problems – the planning team wasn’t clear who their ideal clients were and what a right-fit client was. Taking on clients who weren’t ideal would spread their time and resources thin and detract from their ability to build a strong reputation for serving right-fit clients. In addition, the junior partners didn’t feel confident communicating with prospective clients and trust their ability to turn ideal prospects into clients. They relied on senior partners to close new clients, which added time, energy and effort to the sales process.

All of Legacy’s partners agreed that getting on the same page with who they were, a concise vision for the future, their ideal clients, what set the firm apart, and the unique value Legacy Family Office delivers was critical for building an effective succession plan as well as achieving their aggressive growth goals. The team contacted BIG BOLD BRAND based on a referral from another planning team from the Assante Vancouver Centre office. It put the Legacy Family Office partners at ease knowing that The Danielson Team had experienced similar challenges and had seen results and ROI from investing in BIG BOLD BRAND’s Surefire Method™ to generate the critical strategic tools needed to align all partners, develop a clear vision, strong brand, differentiated positioning and concise messaging.

PROBLEMS & CHALLENGES:

  • The firm’s fundamental beliefs and truths – purpose, vision, values and character – were not clearly documented and accessible to all partners and team members

  • Legacy Family Office’s core positioning and messaging – what they do, how they do it, what sets them apart, and the unique value they deliver – needed evolving to align with the firm’s current world view and purpose

  • The initial vision for the firm had been achieved, and it was time to develop a collective vision shared by all of the partners

  • Legacy Family Office lacked a clear definition of their right-fit clients diluting their ability to develop a strong niche and clear differentiation

  • The lack of a concise list of benefits and differentiators and strong value proposition (UVP) was making it difficult to differentiate the firm amongst their competitors

  • It had become a challenge to build an impactful website, marketing tools and communications strategy to attract right-fit clients without a clear purpose, vision and core strategic positioning and branding tools in place

  • The firm needed a strategic marketing plan but could not move ahead with this without a clear business and brand strategy in place that was agreed upon by the partners

PROJECT SCOPE:

  • Engage all partners in a project to evolve and collectively define the firm’s  brand positioning and differentiation strategy

  • Develop Legacy Family Office’s fundamental beliefs and truths – the firm’s purpose, vision, values and character

  • Evaluate their book of clients and identify who they were best at serving and where the firm could deliver the most value

  • Build the firm’s ideal client profiles in alignment with what a right-fit client looks like for Legacy Family Office, as well as their ideal COI profiles

  • Define the firm’s benefits and differentiators and the unique value propositions (UVPs) for each of their ideal clients

  • Establish the firm’s brand promise and brand story

  • Develop clear and authentic core messaging that all team members could easily leverage

“Our whole team is now aligned with an understanding of why we do what we do, and where we’re going. Everybody is rowing in the right direction and at the right speed thanks to the work we did with Karley.”

Paul Lermitte, Senior Wealth Advisor, Legacy Family Office

Approach & Solution:

BIG BOLD BRAND’s Lead Strategist led the Legacy Family Office’s partners through the facilitated process enabling every partner to contribute to forming the firm’s fundamental beliefs and truths and the evolution of the brand, differentiated positioning, and messaging. Legacy’s business coach was also included in the process to provide input, insights and feedback to ensure that everyone contributing to the firm’s growth was involved, given that the ultimate purpose and result of the Surefire Method™ is to align everyone and everything in the business.

Legacy Family Office’s partners committed to investing the time, energy and effort into developing their full Surefire Toolkit™ – the firm’s purpose, values, vision, character, benefits & differentiators, value proposition, brand promise and brand story.

Once the strategic toolkit was complete, the firm’s core messaging was developed and packaged in a copy-and-pasteable format for marketing, communications and sales use. The final step was integrating all of the tools and messaging into their Surefire Guide – a reference guide that put all of these strategic tools at everyone’s fingertips to steer the direction of all other strategies so that everyone and everything in the firm remains aligned as growth accelerates.

Impact:

Working together through this project unified and aligned Legacy Family Office’s partners around a shared purpose and vision for the firm. Everyone was empowered by the clarity of vision and direction, with all partners confidently able to communicate with prospects, clients and COIs.

The strategic clarity enabled the firm to establish a niche and focus, “Taking care of families in business and the business of family.” further differentiating them in the competitive Vancouver landscape and within the Assante Vancouver Centre office. In addition, all partners reported an increased ability to identify right-fit clients early in the sales process, walk ideal prospects through the sales process, and close the deal – shortening their new client acquisition timeline and saving time and energy. 

The whole team at the Legacy Family office now finds it significantly easier to attract right-fit clients, team members and COIs – people who believe what they believe and are excited about the firm’s vision and goals. In addition, they saw an increase in the number of right-fit referrals they receive on an ongoing basis.

Five years later, Legacy Family Office’s planning team shared with BIG BOLD BRAND that investing in the development of their Surefire Strategy™ & Toolkit™ contributed to their achieving their growth goals.

ROI:

  • All partners report feeling more aligned around the firm’s fundamental beliefs and truths – their purpose, values, vision, what they do and what they stand for.

  • Confidently identifying ideal clients has increased the firm’s ability to attract the right-fit clients and partners to quickly vet them, shortening the sales cycle. “We now say no to more clients than we say yes to because our clients must be the right fit for our future.”

  • It’s become easier to attract A-players and hire staff and consultants as they are clear as to how each person can help move them forward in the right ways.

  • The ability to build stronger relationships with right-fit COIs has increased and resulted in an increase in referrals to ideal clients. 

  • With their strategic direction and positioning in place, Legacy was able to engage a consultant to build a growth plan and improve their sales plan and skills.

  • A long-term working relationship with BIG BOLD BRAND has been established and we continue to work with Legacy’s partners on maintaining a clear strategic direction and brand continuity to accelerate the achievement of their growth goals.

“Karley’s very personal and knowledgeable. She understands our industry, as well as the challenges that business owners face. Our whole team felt comfortable working with her. Beyond this project, our planners have networked with her network – we feel a synergy with the people she works with.”

Paul Lermitte, Senior Wealth Advisor, Legacy Family Office