The PTA Plan

I agree with Robert Franks, whom JLM quoted below, on the coming storm in providing finacial services to the affluent. Here's the rest of Franks' thought:

It is no wonder that multifamily offices and wealth-management boutiques are thriving. In the coming months, wealthy clients are going to be on a rampage because of the poor performances of many of their investments. Many will rightly blame the conflicts of interest between in-house product manufacturing and distribution to wealthy clients. The wealthy have plenty of choices when it comes to their business.

We believe that trust departments, especially mid-tier trust departments not affiliated with a mega bank, are uniquely situation to capture this business in the coming year. They are local, they are conservative, and most important, they are fiduciaries and proud of it. We are already getting anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon. Trust departments could telescope several years of new business acquisition into the next several months as the financial services landscape is reshaped.

We'd like to help it along. When the going gets tough, the tough start advertising, we like to say. But to undertake a marketing campaign takes too long and it takes too much money and you don't know at the beginning what it will look like at the end. Except that with Merrill Anderson's trust marketing products, none of these objections has any merit.

We'd like to bundle several of our products to sell as an affluent market penetration and realignment package (AMPRP). But I don't care for that acronym. How about the PTA Plan, or Promote Trust Alternatives Plan? Three elements: 1) expansion of in-bank marketing and referral training (our 21 Ways to Spot a Trust Prospect and Contact electronic referral programs); 2) promotion to the public with Trust & Investment Services for You and Your Familiy, 2009 Edition; and 3) outreach to centers of influence, who are being asked right now, "Who should I have handling my investments?" (we offer Estate Planning Studies and Briefs and Estate Planning Report for reaching these key advisors).

Got a better idea for naming the package?