Zoe, a digital wealth management platform that connects clients with the best interest-aligned financial advisor for them, publicly shared today their ongoing partnership with Capasso Planning Partners. Instead of offering basic lead generation for financial advisors, Zoe works in partnership with RIAs through every stop of the client acquisition process. Thanks to the high-quality clients Capasso works with through the Zoe Platform, the advisory firm has significantly grown its assets under management (AUM) over the course of this partnership, now managing around $250 Million on behalf of their 300 clients.
What three years ago started as a solo-advisory firm based in Charleston, South Carolina, has now grown to a firm with 12+ employees, with advisors across the country in San Francisco, Chicago, and Austin, Texas, and with over 385 clients serviced. “Zoeʼs partnership has introduced us to dozens of clients with complex needs and has helped us attract top talent in order to service these clients successfully,” said Dan Callahan, CFA®, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Capasso Planning Partners. “Today, the team consists of CFP® professionals, CFA® charterholders, and additional associates for investment operations and paraplanning,” Callahan added.
Capasso Planning Partners was featured on Michael Kitcesʼ Financial Advisor Success Podcast. Callahan referred to Zoe as the firmʼs largest channel for growth. “As of right now, I’m personally the lead advisor for 68 relationships and I would say probably 80% of those were from Zoe.” He talked about how Zoeʼs guidance has helped them iterate more quickly to deliver an excellent client experience. “Zoe does a good job of asking the right line of questions. Itʼs pretty fascinating, they can pick up on those things, and then it gives us good ammo to go into those calls … it kind of takes the salesy-ness out of it. I don’t feel like I’m going on a cold call when I jump on my introductory call with a new prospect. I know their name, a full snapshot of their finances, I know exactly what they’re looking for, I may even have notes from the Zoe team … It almost feels like Zoe is a business development partner for us.”
The digital wealth management platform has enabled Capassoʼs growth through consistent feedback, which is pointed by Callahan as one of its greater differentiators: “Whatever it is, it’s just usually very helpful information for us and we can adapt our processes going forward based on it.”
Regarding Zoeʼs vetting process, Dan Callahan describes it as very selective and a good combination of human and technology. “You apply to get on the platform. It’s a pretty tough process, they grill you on financial planning, investment process, philosophy, etc. They do 100 interviews and 5 advisors get in from those interviews, so it is tough. Once you’re in the door there, they do a really good job, in my opinion, of combining the personal element of what we do with their technology so that it’s not just an algorithm that’s matching some prospect to some advisor because of certain keywords.”
Besides Zoe connecting Capasso Planning Partners with high-quality potential clients, Callahan referred to the wider reach and competitiveness they have seen since becoming part of the Network: “If we’re going up against a multibillion-dollar RIA, they probably have a chief marketing officer, multiple employees who are focused on business development and marketing and making the website look good and advertising and all these things … That’s certainly not my area of expertise, certainly not Charlie’s – we’re financial planners, we’re investment managers, we’re not marketing geniuses. So, I’m happy to hand that off and kind of let them do that for us as a partner, and then we just kind of get plugged in to do what we do best.”
“We provide best-in-class guidance for clients and growth for advisors. Working with Capasso Planning Partners to enable their ongoing success is clear evidence of where the industry is headed. We are proud to offer clients the opportunity to find, hire, and work with fiduciary advisors at Capasso Planning Partners,” said Andres Garcia-Amaya, CFA®, Founder & CEO of Zoe in relation to the partnership.
