Page & associates has a single-minded focus: it wants to convert prospects into clients who will be so enthusiastic that they become advocates for the firm, providing referrals to keep the company growing strongly.

By focusing on this goal, John Page has turned the small financial planning advisory practice he started in 1978 into a firm with 15 employees, including sons Rick, 37, and Don, 41. The firm now has $500 million in assets under management. Five P&A financial advisors each look after 80 to 120 clients, each of whom yields an annual recurring income of $8,000-$12,000. There are three assistant advisors, two account managers, three administrators and two support staff members.

The proprietary eight-step Wealth Enhancement Process Page developed along the way is now the guiding principle and operating wisdom for the company. And it is taught at the firm’s Wealth Enhancement Academy (www.wealthenhancement.ca) to financial planners outside the company.

The senior Page began his career in financial services as an insurance agent in the mid-70s, when the financial services industry was more product-centred.

Recognizing that all aspects of a person’s financial life are linked, Page started a financial planning firm in 1978, at the age of 32.

The main office for the family-run P&A is a restored pre-Confederation farmhouse, complete with gingerbread trim, that sits at a busy intersection in Thornhill, Ont., just north of Toronto.

The quaint-looking office building belies the well-organized, tightly focused and technologically sophisticated enterprise inside. The back-office functions are directly linked to its affiliate, Worldsource Financial Management Ltd. , which executes its trades. This information is integrated with the firm’s financial planning software, which, in turn, is connected with the customer relationship management program that automates the advisors’ communications with their individual clients and tracks the clients’ needs.

In addition, there are electronic pricing feeds through Worldsource to update the value of clients’ securities and other instruments not held in-house. Consequently, each morning, P&A advisors can see the real-time, net worth of all their client accounts. More important, that information is pushed out on to the Web, through which clients can get secure access to their own account information.

“It’s all very efficient,” Page says, “because the data is entered into the system only once, as all the systems are linked to each other. Before, like most other firms, we had to key it in several different times because the different systems were not connected. That took a lot of time and labour.”

The technology provides support for the wealth-enhancement program. Its eight stages are: targeting and approaching; qualifying and engagement; discovering; preparing reports; presenting solutions; implementing; overseeing an action plan; and building loyalty and referrals.

The key that unlocks the opportunity is one of the steps in the process — qualifying and engagement. “That’s when we take the time to talk to potential clients to find out who they are, what their values and objectives are,” Page says. “Then we outline our three levels of services and our transparent fee structure: hourly fees, fee-based advice or commission-based transactions.”

The Page family has found the process delivers results. “After reviewing the year’s performance with my clients at the end of each year,” says Rick, “I ask them to refer their friends and relatives to me. As a result, during each of the past five years, my annual volume in terms of assets under management has increased by 25%. Some years, it is more, but never less.”

In addition, such performance offers other rewards. “For me,” says Rick, “the absolute best feeling I get comes from someone telling me that ‘so-and-so recommended you to me to help with my financial planning.’ That a client believes I have done such a great job that he or she would go out and tell a friend is extremely satisfying.”

Before joining the family business, Don spent 12 years in the personal risk-management sector, accompanying CEOs and their families as they travelled. “Away from the office, these executives were open and genuine,” he says, “unlike the way the public perceives them. I remember saying something about a senior executive to one of his associates, who told me had never seen that part of him.

“But after 12 years, I began looking for a career change. I was attracted to the idea of working with Dad, but I had no idea how it would pan out,” he says. “Then he stepped forward with the recruitment offer. Even though it resulted in a cut in pay at the time, I accepted.”

@page_break@“I was always aware that Don was a ‘people person’,” says John. “He always notices small details about people and their behaviour, which he then uses to establish a solid rapport with them. That’s extremely valuable in the financial services business because you need to relate to people quickly — or there is no exchange of information.”

Rick also took another career path before joining the family business. “Between high school and university,” he says, “I ran my own landscaping business for several years. When I eventually began studying economics at the University of Toronto, I was also pretty much holding down a full-time job with the family firm as well.”

“Rick’s skill set is different,” says John. “He loves to tear numbers apart.”

Both sons were trained by the firm’s most demanding account executive, who made them feel as if they were attending boot camp. The winner of numerous industry awards, she now works at the firm’s satellite office in Markham, Ont.

“I knew that if they could survive the training,” John says, “they would be well prepared to work as financial advisors.”

Like everyone at the firm, Don and Rick must follow the Wealth Enhancement Process — with no room for deviation. All three family members have room to express their individuality, however, when it comes to their client preferences.

Don prefers clients who have retired. “I enjoy dealing with them,” he says. “They have had very successful careers and have nothing left to prove. And of one of the things I enjoy is meeting their grown children — the next generation.”

Rick’s target client group is young executives and professionals, while John focuses on retired clients with at least $2 million in investible assets whose major concern is maximizing their estate.

John is both a registered financial planner and a certified financial planner. Don and Rick plan to have their CFP accreditation by the end of this year.

To spread the word about the Wealth Enhancement Process, John set up the Wealth Enhancement Academy in 2003. It delivers two services — a bimonthly series of 2.5-day workshops and a biweekly coaching session conducted by phone or the Web. Since its inception, several hundred participants have taken part, mostly from southern Ontario, although one financial advisor came up from Houston for the course.

Now that John has set up a succession plan, he is able to devote more time to academy affairs. “There is an agreement in place for Don and Rick and two others to buy the business from me,” he says. “And with the Wealth Enhancement Process and other systems in place, I am sure everything will continue smoothly.”

But that hasn’t stopped John from planning the next big step for the business: he plans to set up a family office division. The idea was inspired by the practice of some ultra-affluent families to go to offices that have dedicated in-house professionals — including a lawyer, an accountant, a financial advisor or even health-care practitioners — to look after their personal needs.

The concept closely resembles the extensive service offerings that superstar professional athletes’ agents provide to their player-clients. The new division will expand P&A’s potential client base by widening its service base beyond financial planning and targeting the new offerings at an underserved market of higher net-worth individuals.

That’s a true 21st-century business concept coming from a 19th-century farmhouse. IE



Wealth is much more than money



The eight-step Wealth Enhancement Process is what makes Page & Associates tick. Each Page family member uses the process in an individual way.

“To me, wealth is not just money; it’s what people truly value in their lives,” John Page says. “By looking after their financial affairs, I try to provide more balance to my clients’ lives so they can pay more attention to those things that are more important to them.”

“Since almost all of my clients are retired,” Don Page says, “I want to be sure I take the time to listen to their aspirations —whether it’s travel, downsizing their homes — or to explain estate planning or other financial concepts in a relaxed atmosphere, such as their own homes.”

“I want to be personally involved in all the different areas of my clients’ holdings,” Rick Page says, “because everything is interrelated so that a change in one area will probably have an impact on another. And if I am not on top of everything, I can’t be of any help.”