Last week we held the first Caroline’s Club Committee meeting to hear what some of our members had to say with regard to the services we provide and how to improve them.
I was joined by Joe Field of Pillsbury in New York, Glen Atchison senior partner of Harbottle Lewis, Charles Garland of Claremont Services, Karen O’Hanlon of JTC in Jersey, and the meeting was chaired by Martin Territt of Territt Associates in Ireland
Martin set out the background and purpose of the Club before opening it up to our Committee Members for their comments.
Caroline’s Club was spawned a year ago in response to the pandemic. Digital technology has changed the way we work, and Caroline’s Club sees this as an opportunity.
For example, Zoom is now worth $117 billion, and we all use it, but we are also familiar with podcasts which have been trending and webinars. Flight travel is down 60%, face to face meetings down 80% and productivity up 54%.
The private client industry is keen to get back to normal, but can it justify the costs of face-to-face meetings, travelling and networking events to the board?
We have already seen tech disrupting many businesses such as Air BNB in the hospitality sector now worth $80 billion and Spotify to the music business now worth $67 billion. Surely it is now time for a tech disruption in the private client industry?
The draft mission statement of Caroline’s Club is ‘to use digital technology; webinars, podcasts, zoom and a digital directory to match Private Client Professionals across the globe in a more meaningful way and provide the industry with a platform and the instruments they need to build trust with clients and win business’.
The Private Client Industry as defined by businesses which serve wealthy individuals and families is huge; accountants, lawyers, passion investment providers, wealth managers, bankers, and insurance as well reputation managers, security advisers, health and lifestyle and on and on it goes,
The success of STEP which has 20,000 members as a networking club is because it serves a range of disciplines but, is in essence an industry body which serves trust and estates practitioners. The idea behind Caroline’s Club is to form a Club using digital technology which spans all businesses which serve the HNW community not just the few that surround the trust and estate practitioners.
Martin then asked the Committee for their comments
Jo Field said that wealthy families needed different services in different jurisdictions, but the need for security services were certainly on the rise. He also saw that families were on the move to new jurisdictions and would need to find new service providers in different jurisdictions. He welcomed the Caroline’s Club initiative
Karen O’Hanlon said that she had enjoyed being a member of the Club and had met some great people, although, as yet, had not monetised any connections – although she knew that other members had. She pointed out that most of the members were ambassadors of their firm and already had a well-established network, but that the less senior professionals who would now be restricted in meeting other professionals post lock down may also welcome a platform to make new connections and a network.
Filippo Noseda enjoyed the podcast interview he had with Caroline. He said that Caroline brought out the human element in the work of professionals which he welcomed. Although as a lawyer he was skilled in resolving legal issues he said he was a person dealing with people. Many other networking organisations are educational such as STEP or they prey on our egos with awards and prizes, but what is missing in much of the other networking organisations is the focus on the human element which is why Client Stories are so enjoyable. Of course, Client Stories are not unique to Caroline’s Club other organisations incorporate Client Stories into their mix of education but not to the same extent.
Glen Atchison said he was new to the Club but was keen to find out more about what differentiated this Club from the multitude of other organizations eager to connect professionals and educate its members so they could better serve their clients and build trust. He found the meeting informative and looked forward to learning more about the initiative and contributing further to the ongoing work of the Committee
Charlie Garland said the obvious goal of the Club was to save time and win business with a good ROI. To make it easier he would like to see within the directory a list of needs and requirements to his clients such as legal and tax needs. Caroline responded to say that as part of the upscaling she would want to incorporate sophisticated AI to map out such interests as members scoured the directory for suitable professionals to serve their clients.
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