The investment world is full of agents pushing products. At Trois Investments, we do things differently. We never push, only pull—meaning we act only when the client has a need. This blog explores why a consultative, client-first approach builds better outcomes, stronger relationships, and lasting value.
In the world of high-net-worth advisory services, there’s a fundamental divide between two philosophies: those who sell what they have, and those who solve what you need. At Trois Investments, we’ve built our entire practice around the latter—a principle we call the “pull-based advisory model.”
This isn’t just a marketing concept. It’s a structural commitment that shapes everything from how we compensate our team to how we select our partnerships. Let’s explore why this approach creates superior outcomes for our clients and why it matters more than ever in today’s complex investment landscape.
What Is the Pull-Based Advisory Model?
The pull-based model is deceptively simple: we act only when pulled by genuine client need, never when pushed by our own inventory or sales targets.
In practical terms, this means our first conversation is never about what we’re selling—it’s about understanding your strategic objectives. Are you seeking enhanced global mobility? Planning for generational wealth transfer? Looking to diversify geopolitical risk? Optimizing tax efficiency across multiple jurisdictions?
Only after we’ve thoroughly mapped your goals, constraints, and preferences do we begin architecting solutions. This might involve European real estate opportunities, citizenship by investment programs, private equity access, or a combination of strategies. Critically, if our assessment concludes that you don’t need what we offer, we’ll tell you exactly that.
This approach requires patience and genuine expertise. It also requires a compensation structure that rewards long-term client success over short-term transaction volume—more on that later.
Why Most Sales-Driven Firms Miss the Mark?
The traditional advisory model operates on a push basis: firms develop products, set sales targets, and compensate advisors based on transaction volume. This creates a structural misalignment between advisor incentives and client outcomes.
Consider the typical scenario: a wealthy family approaches a residency-by-investment firm seeking “options for a second passport.” In a push-based model, the advisor immediately begins presenting available programs, focusing on features, timelines, and pricing. The conversation centers on which product to buy, not whether the family actually needs what’s being sold.
This approach fails for several reasons:
Incomplete Discovery: Rush to present solutions before fully understanding the client’s situation often leads to suboptimal recommendations. A family concerned about political stability might receive the same pitch as one seeking tax optimization—despite requiring completely different strategies.
Product Bias: When advisors are compensated based on specific product sales, they naturally gravitate toward solutions that maximize their commission rather than client benefit. A €500,000 real estate investment that pays higher fees might be recommended over a €2 million option that better serves the client’s needs.
Short-Term Thinking: Transaction-focused models prioritize immediate deals over long-term relationships. Clients become one-time purchasers rather than strategic partners whose evolving needs create ongoing advisory opportunities.
Limited Accountability: Once the transaction closes, the relationship often ends. There’s little incentive to ensure the solution actually delivers the promised outcomes or adapts to changing circumstances.
Case Studies: Solving vs. Selling
The Tech Entrepreneur
The Push Approach: A successful technology entrepreneur approaches a traditional firm seeking EU residency. The advisor immediately presents three popular programs, emphasizing processing speed and investment thresholds. The client selects Portugal’s Golden Visa based on the lowest investment requirement and fastest timeline.
The Pull Approach: At Trois, our initial consultation revealed that the entrepreneur’s primary concern wasn’t residency itself, but protecting his family’s ability to access world-class healthcare and education amid growing instability in his home country. His business required frequent travel to the US, and he was concerned about potential visa restrictions.
Our recommendation: A Cyprus citizenship by investment program that provides visa-free access to the US and EU, combined with a diversified European real estate portfolio. While the investment was larger and timeline longer, it addressed his core concerns about family security and business continuity—not just residency status.
Outcome: The client’s family gained strategic flexibility that proved invaluable during subsequent geopolitical tensions. His business expanded into European markets using Cyprus as a hub, creating value far beyond the initial investment.
The Family Office
The Push Approach: A multi-generational family office inquires about citizenship options for the next generation. A traditional advisor presents a menu of Caribbean programs, focusing on cost efficiency and processing speed for multiple family members.
The Pull Approach: Our discovery process revealed that the family’s wealth was concentrated in a single jurisdiction facing increasing regulatory scrutiny. The younger generation wanted global mobility, but the senior generation prioritized wealth preservation and tax efficiency.
Our recommendation: A phased strategy combining Malta’s citizenship program for the senior generation (providing EU tax planning opportunities) with Canadian investor visas for the younger members (offering North American education and business opportunities). We also restructured their real estate holdings across multiple European jurisdictions to optimize both tax efficiency and political risk distribution.
Outcome: The family achieved multi-jurisdictional flexibility while significantly reducing their regulatory risk exposure. The younger generation successfully established businesses in Canada, while the senior generation optimized their tax structure through Malta’s non-domicile provisions.
How Trois Structures Compensation to Remain Unbiased
Our commitment to unbiased advice requires a compensation structure that aligns our success with yours. Here’s how we’ve designed our model:
Fixed Professional Fees: We charge transparent professional fees based on the scope and complexity of your case, disclosed upfront before engagement begins. This fee covers our strategic advisory, due diligence, coordination, and ongoing support—regardless of which solution you ultimately choose.
No Hidden Commissions: We do not accept commissions from government programs, real estate developers, or investment funds. This eliminates the financial incentive to recommend higher-commission options over optimal solutions.
Success-Based Alignment: For complex, multi-year strategies, we may include success-based components tied to achieving your stated objectives—not transaction completion. This ensures our compensation reflects actual value creation, not just process execution.
Partner Transparency: When our recommendations involve third-party specialists (legal counsel, tax advisors, real estate partners), we disclose any referral relationships upfront. Our partner network is selected based on expertise and track record, not financial arrangements.
Long-Term Thinking: We structure our client relationships for ongoing advisory, not one-time transactions. This creates natural incentives to recommend solutions that will serve your evolving needs over time, generating recurring advisory opportunities through genuine value creation.
The Trois Difference: Advisory as Architecture
The pull-based model isn’t just about avoiding sales pressure—it’s about fundamentally reimagining the advisor-client relationship. We see ourselves as strategic architects, not product distributors.
This means:
- Deep Discovery: We invest significant time understanding your complete financial, personal, and strategic landscape before proposing any solutions.
- Holistic Integration: Our recommendations consider how each element integrates with your existing structure, tax situation, and long-term plans.
- Ongoing Adaptation: As your circumstances evolve, we adapt your strategy rather than selling you additional products.
- Measured Success: We measure our success by your outcomes, not our transaction volume.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
In today’s rapidly changing global environment, high-net-worth families face unprecedented complexity. Geopolitical tensions, evolving tax regulations, and shifting mobility requirements demand sophisticated, adaptive strategies—not off-the-shelf products.
The pull-based advisory model provides the framework for building these strategies. By prioritizing your objectives over our inventory, we create solutions that evolve with your needs rather than becoming obsolete with changing circumstances.
At Trois Investments, we believe that true advisory excellence comes from the discipline to solve rather than sell. It’s a more demanding approach that requires deeper expertise, patient capital, and genuine commitment to client success.
But for families seeking strategic partners rather than product vendors, it’s the only approach that delivers lasting value.
Ready to experience advisory that starts with your goals? Contact Trois Investments for a confidential consultation where we’ll explore your objectives before discussing any solutions.