The $100 million case for sending a woman to the pitch

Karen Glassman, an ultra-high-net-worth advisor and managing director at NewEdge Wealth, closed a $100 million account for the Stamford, Conn.-based firm after presenting to the family. She told Financial Advisor Magazine that NewEdge sending a woman to make the pitch was a significant factor in the family's decision.

'Women who are coming into money or who are selling their own businesses want someone who has experiences similar to them,' Glassman told the magazine. 'Firms in this male-dominated industry have to get their heads around that fact.' She was equally struck that none of the competing firms sent a woman to talk with the family.

Women are more likely to put planning over performance, Glassman said. Firms that don't recognize that difference — or that some clients value it — will miss out on the wealth transfer. That transfer is already underway: women are the majority inheritors of it, the magazine reports.

The industry's gender imbalance is easy to quantify. Census data puts the share of female advisors at about 31%, though estimates vary. Zippia, a jobs-research firm, says the percentage has stayed between 26% and 28% for a decade. It closed 2021 at 27.8%. Women make up about 51% of the U.S. population.

This flatness held even as more firms added diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The gap between the census and Zippia numbers says more about how the industry defines an advisor than about the trend. Either way, the profession remains far from representative of the population.

Survey data points the other way. A 2020 Spectrum study found 89% of women don't care about an advisor's gender. The men surveyed felt the same, at 88%. The same study found 31% of investors care about political affiliation. Clients can care about traits that have nothing to do with credentials.

NewEdge, which focuses on high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients, is betting the segment that does care is worth serving. Glassman mentors other women at the firm, and clients have told her they want to work with a firm with strong female leadership.

These findings aren't necessarily at odds. Most clients say they don't require a woman in the meeting. But enough do that the firm that sent one landed a $100 million account. The Spectrum study measures stated preference. The NewEdge win measures revealed preference. When a family with $100 million on the line chooses the firm that sent a woman, the decision outweighs the survey.

For a firm chasing the wealth transfer, the cost of testing this approach is modest. Bring a senior woman to the pitch, lead with the plan, and let the prospect decide. If Glassman is right, the pitch to a female prospect coming into money should start with goals, cash flow and legacy — not a five-year performance chart. The difference shows up in the first meeting. A performance-led pitch begins with the benchmark. A planning-led pitch begins with the household's situation: a business sale, an inheritance, a tax bill.

The Zippia numbers should worry any firm that expects the problem to solve itself. The share of women advisors sat between 26% and 28% for a decade, even as DEI programs multiplied. That flatness points to hiring and retention. Firms that want women on their pitch teams in ten years should start building that bench now, not when a $100 million prospect asks for one.

NewEdge's competitors may never know what that family's decision cost them. The firms that can answer that question a decade from now are the ones hiring women into advisory roles today.