A growing breakaway RIA consultant tapped an insurance firm to guide its network on how best to adapt the expanding shelf of fee-only products into their practices.
Tru Independence is teaming up with The Blueprint Insurance Services to provide what the firms are calling a “tru-BluePrint” to help
Matt Meyer, co-founder of The Blueprint and tru Managing Partner Doug Nichols met through a mutual client, Nichols says. Both firms share a commitment to helping advisors deliver “a comprehensive client experience that goes beyond selling insurance,” he wrote in an email.
The marketing organization is nearly doubling its RIA clients to almost three dozen under the strategic partnership, making it
Fee-only insurance shows promise and room for further gains.
“We listened to our advisor teams [about] what gaps in services they were concerned would be exposed in the independent space,” Nichols says. “We also see the world of investing and financial advice evolving where clients want a comprehensive experience.”
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Sales of the fee-only products have expanded in a major way, but they have yet to win over advisors.
October 17 -
Revenue from FIAs surged to well over the existing mark in the second quarter, while VAs stabilized after 17 straight quarterly declines.
August 24 -
The former J.P. Morgan Securities team includes an industry veteran with 33 years experience.
October 12
The ongoing shift away from commissionable products is driving major changes in the space.
The Blueprint’s approach begins with a meeting between Meyer’s team and the RIA to get a sense of the practice’s business model and clientele, he says. Then the firm provides everything from coaching on the conversations with clients to back-office support on the various products for RIAs.
“We think that our ability to communicate in their language and not in the insurance language is a complete differentiator,” Meyer says.
In addition to The Blueprint guiding the conversation and offering RIAs their support infrastructure, the partnership will also create educational sessions and co-branded marketing materials, Nichols says. Advisors can reach out to their The Blueprint relationship managers directly or work through tru’s team.
“A lot of our focus is, how do we make this process more efficient with these advisors and RIAs that have typically not distributed insurance products?” says Meyer. “Tru Independence is a firm that’s going to continue to grow, and the RIAs that they’re bringing on certainly indicate that. But the hard work starts now.”
