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When it comes to delivering top-notch services to clients, duplicating your efforts isn’t in your best interest – or theirs.
Managing clients’ assets requires time, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done efficiently.
With more clients and higher AUM, inefficiencies reveal themselves in a myriad of ways. Duplicative work, such as manually updating CRMs, reporting platforms, and spreadsheets with the same information, burns resources and eats into the time you spend providing meaningful guidance to your clients.
It’s also worth noting that as more advisory firms embrace automation and AI, pricing is likely to become more competitive.
What are the risks of not optimizing technology to help us do a better job for our clients?
- Routine tasks slipping through the cracks;
- Wasted time and duplicated effort;
- Higher risk of errors;
- Less trust from clients;
- Fewer referrals; and
- Less income.
Automation tools, including cloud solutions and mobile apps, offer financial advisory firms the opportunity to streamline services and spend more time with clients. At the same time, they can reduce administrative costs and increase profits.
Bain suggests reframing process changes as Business Process Reengineering, a method that focuses on revamping workflows to maximize efficiency and value. The goal is to identify areas where improvements can be made, particularly in meeting client needs more effectively and with fewer resources.
Through this lens, advisory firms can rethink processes by:
- Eliminating low-value work;
- Automating repetitive tasks;
- Standardizing complex tasks and assignments;
- Leveraging technology to reduce human workloads; and
- Limiting outsourcing to where it makes the most impact.
It’s a mindset that can streamline every client interaction, opening the door to more quality time and potential value.
The path to greater efficiency
Michael Kitces spoke with Charesse Spiller of Level Best, an operations and consulting firm in Houston, about system process reengineering and how to do it efficiently. She focused on three key areas: streamlining, automation, and delegation.
Streamlining involves identifying low-value and repetitive work, with an eye toward eliminating what’s not needed and taking a ground-up approach to reevaluating and reassigning repetitive tasks. You’ll find ways to stop using valuable resources for tasks that don’t deliver value in return.
Automation is a natural continuation of streamlining. Simplified tasks are easier to automate than complex ones, but even complex processes can be automated with the right tools.
An advisory firm might automate client check-ins by using an automated scheduling tool like Calendly, which syncs directly with your CRM and sends reminders. This not only saves time for advisors but also ensures no client falls through the cracks when it comes to regular touchpoints.
Delegation isn’t simply passing work to someone else. It’s a more deliberate, strategic action – decide what to delegate, when to delegate it, and who should be on the receiving end.
- What work do advisors need to do on behalf of their clients?
- Of what’s left, what can be delegated to another team member?
- How much more time can advisors spend with their clients if they delegate effectively?
For instance, preparing financial reports could be handed off to junior advisors or specialized staff, leveraging reporting software to streamline the task. Meanwhile, the senior advisor can focus on the interpretation and presentation of these reports during meetings.
Let’s look at another broader example. An advisory firm has sent out a client survey and identified that a key problem is frustration at how long it takes for client inquiries to receive responses. The firm is committed to responding within one business day, but clients are demanding faster response times.
They conduct a review of the process of responding to client queries. They identify friction points and design an email bot to triage incoming requests.
Routine requests are automated. More complex requests are automated with the addition of human interaction using assisted Robotic Process Animation. After the change, some clients receive keyword-triggered responses when it’s appropriate. Requests are routed to advisors more quickly, and most clients now receive responses within a few hours, if not within minutes.
At the same time, there’s a review of repetitive processes. The firm uses automation tools to eliminate duplication of effort at every level of client service, from onboarding to portfolio review. Now, advisors can spend more of their time handling high-touch client requests, and clients receive more timely responses.
Small changes, p big potential results
These are relatively simple changes, but the result can be dramatic – improved client retention rates and satisfaction. Advisors can also feel more satisfaction in their jobs because they’re spending more time doing the things that made them want to be advisors in the first place.
Another example might be a firm that wants to expand by attracting new clients in emerging demographics. Their process might start with rethinking their fee structure to waive AUM minimums or break out fees for individual services.
They use automation to streamline onboarding and to provide rapid responses to queries, increasing their profit margin for lower-rate services.
Reengineering processes through automation, streamlining, and delegation enables financial advisors to provide greater value while spending more quality time with clients. In turn, this strengthens client relationships, improves retention, and drives higher profitability by creating a firm that can scale its services without sacrificing quality.
Matt Reiner is a CFA, CFP®, and partner at Capital Investment Advisors, a $2.8+ billion RIA in Atlanta. Reiner is also CEO of Wela Strategies, a sister company to Capital Investment Advisors, and is the founder and CEO of Benjamin™. Benjamin is an AI technology created by Reiner after seeing the gaps in technology used in his own firm. Reiner’s true passion is using his vast experience to coach other advisors across the country, helping them evaluate their firms’ practices and find the best strategies for future success. To reach Matt Reiner, visit www.MattReiner.com.
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