To our valued clients,

To all my clients,

An incredible thing has happened, and I have you to thank for it.

A major announcement came out from WealthManagement.com which is a leading industry source and national magazine, announcing that I won an award as one of the 'Fastest Growing Financial Advisors' in the entire country!

There are over 300,000 Financial Advisors in the U.S. and only the top 121 received this award. (that’s the 10% of the top 50% OF the top 1% in case you were curious.) Only 4 individual Advisors in Michigan received, and I was the only individual Advisor in Western Michigan to receive the award. It was encouraging because this award was purely a merit-based thing, not a pay-to-play like many lists are in my world.

So first off, let me say a heartfelt thank you to each of you. Growth doesn’t happen if people aren’t putting their trust in you, as each of you has with me.

Next, it is important to take a moment to explain what this means for your client experience. Ultimately, rapid growth is great for me but, I fully acknowledge that if poorly managed, it could lead to a lesser client experience for you.

Over the years, there have definitely been periods when I consciously felt the pressure of rapid growth making it harder to deliver a great experience to you (this award was based on 2016-2018). There were times when I/we had slower responses than we would have liked which bothered me. It is really, REALLY important to me that we deliver a great client experience for you, so we’ve worked hard to improve through the growth. In fact, well before I knew this award existed, I became convinced that we needed to revamp several processes or our service would suffer, which we did in mid-to-late 2019. I spent a lot of time early this year analyzing how to improve our operational efficiencies so that you get a better experience going forward, regardless of our growth.

I’d like to share with you a few of the improvements we’ve made recently to address why our continued growth will not impact your experience. After all, clients are the number one source for our new clients. Many of you continue to refer your friends or colleagues to me, and for that I am grateful (please keep doing so!).

Some of these improvements you will directly notice, while others are more behind the scenes but good for you to know:

• We continue to improve our staffing capabilities. Stephanie Hino has now fully taken over all account maintenance and money movement. So, when you need money, or to change address/beneficiary/or other account information, she will handle promptly (note - she will be on maternity leave until mid-January, 2020).

• 2019 recap party: At the beginning of 2019, we hosted two in-person events for our clients throughout West Michigan because of market volatility in Q4 2018. I have decided to turn that into an annual event going forward. In January, we will again host two, year-end recap parties with food, drinks, and information that is meant to be delivered in an entertaining, yet helpful manner. Expect invitations to arrive via e-mail during the week of December 16-20.

• We launched the Client Only Week schedule. This is the single largest change I have ever implemented in how we service clients. Here’s how this new system works:

  Every month of the calendar year, we have carved out a dedicated week that is only for client work. During these weeks, I only work for and with existing clients. Running a business, overseeing employees, attending conferences, meeting potential new clients, being involved in the community, and serving on boards, etc. are just some of the activities that grab at my time. To protect your experience, during client only weeks all other tasks and distractions get set to the side. Even my wife knows not to book us for something during one of these weeks if at all possible.

  During the client only week, several things are happening:

  • We are reviewing every client’s portfolio (including yours) to make sure we are comfortable with the risk level, holdings, performance, and for changes.

  • I am proactively contacting clients to let you know that we just looked at your situation, or we’re chatting about updates, or doing a review meeting. Some of you have already received a note in the last few months to let you know that I had just looked at your situation and you can expect those to continue.

  • This format also protects your scheduling ability. Please bookmark this link in case you ever want to see when our client only weeks are. You are welcome to book a call or schedule a meeting using this link. The availability updates in real time: https://calendly.com/benverwys/clientsonly

I’d like to conclude this letter by being redundant, and yet again saying thank you for being a part of our tremendous growth these last few years. Thank you for referring your friends, family, and colleagues. It is an incredible honor to win this award, primarily because it is a direct indicator that the work I love so dearly is making an impact and creating value for all of you.

Be well, and Merry (early) Christmas!

Ben VerWys