How has your business focus changed?

My initial clients were senior executives of newspaper and magazine publishers, doctors, teachers and lawyers. Now I have shifted to mature business owners and to senior managers of large e-commerce companies.

Why did you make the shift?

With China’s rapid economic growth during the past two decades, the demand for wealth management and risk planning has exploded. The elites in hot tech sectors like new energy, new infrastructure and artificial intelligence don’t have time to manage their wealth. I find that many HNW clients were born after 1995 and trust our profession very much. When we demonstrate enough professionalism, they will comply with our advice.

How do you adjust your approach for these two groups?

Many mature business owners had insurance policies and family inheritance plans but did not foresee changes coming in the future. They want to focus on making legal arrangements in advance, especially before the second generation takes over the business or gets married. I offer a comprehensive and complete consideration of what they need for a protection program like an annuity plan for example. New technology elites have a lot of cash on hand, so I focus with them on wealth preservation, security, long-term planning and succession.

What should be an advisor’s core strategy?

First, we need to communicate and establish long-term partnerships. Having a long-term mindset is the most important attribute that I learned from almost 30 years in the profession. Second, we need to let clients realize that wealth should be allocated into partitions and hierarchies that are assigned different goals. Because the goals are different, the financial allocation strategies also will be different.

Zhenting Yang is a 15-year MDRT member from Guangzhou, China. Contact her at yyjj29@vip.163.com.

Q&A: Zhenting Yang and targeting HNW clients in China