Segmentation not tailored to clients: Perpetual
Traditional segmentation which focuses on a client's asset size is "blunt" and not tailored to suit the client's objectives, according to Perpetual's general manager for private client advice, Nick Langton.
Segmenting high net worth clients into predictors of their service offering has aligned Perpetual's advice service with its clients' needs and life stages, he said.
"The idea that because they're both $2 million clients they get a similar service is a bit incongruous because they've got fundamentally different advice needs, and it led us to think about the real predictor of a service offering, and the kind of service and segmentation we want to apply to our clients really is around source of wealth," Langton said.
He said Perpetual segments high net worth clients into the traditional retiree market, the professional market and the business owner market. Business owners align neatly with its acquisition of the Fordham Group - a tax advisory and wealth management business, Langton said.
Professionals and business owners represent approximately 53 per cent of the market and retirees represent a huge chunk of the high net wealth client base in Australia, according to Langton.
"It made sense that we already have a big base of those clients in our business … and we also know that our product suite, our advisory offering, our skill set doesn't lend itself to be as attractive to another market like the executives market," he said.
Langton said drawing on internal resources allowed Perpetual to conduct high quality research and gain innovative insights from different companies and operations in different countries.
He said recent research focused on profitability, staff engagement, client advocacy and staff development, and how to implement changes in those areas to Perpetual's business model to better service advice clients.
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