Sanctuary Wealth’s leadership changes early in 2023 have not slowed down its recruitment efforts among the ranks of the elite wirehouses. Since Adam Malamed, former Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Board Director of Ladenburg Thalmann, took over as CEO of Sanctuary in February, and since then, the firm has welcomed seven new significant breakaway practices.
And from September 26 to 28, the expanded ranks of the firm’s advisors will gather in Las Vegas for its annual Oasis national conference, the first under the new leadership. The event will focus on the evolution of the advisory business during this period of continued wirehouse defections and ongoing consolidation in the RIA space.
Yet it isn’t all about numbers, as much of the three-day conference will focus on how Sanctuary has developed a culture and community that enables advisors to grow efficiently, while gauging the satisfaction of its advisors and employees. This balance is not often discussed in the bottom-line obsessed elite advisory space. The event’s pre-conference workshop – How to Build a High Growth, High Profit, and High Happiness Advisory Practice – provides a deep dive into this theme, supported by other speakers and events throughout.
Wealth Solutions Report spoke with Sanctuary Co-President Vince Fertitta and two affiliated firm leaders to get a better understanding of what they are hoping to get out this conference.
WSR: What are the firm’s goals for this year’s Oasis event?
Fertitta: The best advisors never stop learning from each other. That’s why events like Oasis are so important. At its core, this event is about creating connections and fostering collaboration in an evolving industry.
Not only is it an opportunity to gather our partner firms for a few days to engage in workshops, thought-provoking discussions and interactive sessions, but it’s also a chance to spend quality time networking, exchanging ideas, forging new relationships and tapping into the wealth of knowledge across Sanctuary.
Beyond that, we will discuss what we call the “Sanctuary Difference,” which is the community itself, along with the support and solutions developed to help them capitalize on opportunities they had to forgo while working for a wirehouse. The conference also allows our executives and staff to meet and learn from our advisors in person. We must earn their business daily, so it’s important to hear how we are doing in our continuous effort to live up to our commitment to providing them exceptional service.
WSR: In a time of heightened competition, increased regulatory scrutiny and changing client demands, why is independence the right business model for you and your clients?
Kelly Milligan, Managing Partner at Quorum Private Wealth: Clients want you to work with them on their terms and provide bespoke, unencumbered advice across their entire financial lives. This has become harder and harder to do as an employee of a large bank or brokerage firm which must restrict their platform down to the lowest common denominator.
The well-being of our clients is my firm’s primary concern, and as independent financial advisors, we can truly put their best interests ahead of everything else. There are no sales quotas, no proprietary products and no pressure to push one solution over another.
Sanctuary gives us the resources we need to serve our clients as well as the freedom and flexibility to run our own business and allows us to do so through their regulated entities rather than establishing our own RIA or broker-dealer. This frees us up to focus our attention on our clients. They have built out a solution set tailored to tenured, credentialed and successful financial advisors and their clients. Sanctuary has high-quality, unbiased research and lets us decide what’s best for our clients’ unique situations.
If you are always focused on doing right by clients, the shifting regulatory environment is easy to navigate – but this is much easier to do with a partner we can trust. My clients trust us and show that loyalty by referring business our way. Providing an exceptional service experience is how you stay ahead of the competition and succeed.
WSR: After COVID and the rise of remote work, what is the value of attending in person conferences like Oasis?
Gerry Spitzer, Founding Partner at Questar Capital Partners: COVID changed many aspects of how we conduct business. We’ve seen it in our own practice. For clients who prefer remote meetings and are comfortable with technology, it’s been great. It lets us scale our efforts and schedule more appointments each week. The downside is that we do loose a bit of the personal connection.
I feel the same way about conferences. Livestream conferences filled a void when it was impossible or risky to travel and gather in large groups. But I missed the personal connections. I am fortunate to be part of an elite network at Sanctuary.
When meeting with existing clients, we like an in-person experience if possible. When establishing rapport with prospects, I think it’s very beneficial to meet with them in person. The video conference is not enough, in my opinion, to build trust and rapport with new clients and prospects.
Michael Madden, Contributing Editor and Research Analyst at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at mmadden@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
