In the vast sea of business decisions today, it’s like fishing with a modern twist. Fishermen relied on gut instincts and tales passed down. But now, it’s all about using sonar to spot the big catches beneath the surface. Financial advisors, like seasoned anglers, should rely on their technology software as their sonar. It’s true that an advisor should spend time hitting the field, prospecting, bringing in more business, and expanding on current relationships. However, having access to data reporting and analytics is crucial for making informed business decisions. Are you spending the bulk of your time effectively? Is there room for improvement? Are there new regulations to navigate? How do we want to scale and grow in this ever-changing landscape? These are the questions that a savvy advisor armed with the right tools can answer to navigate the currents of success.
Level Up With Personalized Service
Technology-driven efforts serve your firm and the client. For one, consumers today are more likely to recognize and appreciate your value due to the personalized approach. This can engender loyalty and satisfaction, both of which bode well for referrals, organizational health, and longevity.
A data-informed approach means advisors can eschew a surface-level approach and present more meaningful insights to help clients feel more in control of their financial destiny. Through data analytics, RIAs can better understand a person or couple’s financial health and offer more relevant advice for their situation and goals by distilling information from multiple sources — such as account statements, spending habits, and other third-party sources — into a dashboard. This data can indicate where clients can use your expertise and insights to tackle such areas as debt management, saving, and spending.
RIAs stand to benefit directly from data analytics when it comes to vetting potential clients. By looking at revenue from each household, you can make more intentional decisions about how and where to spend your time and energy. Similarly, you can use tools to calculate a potential customer’s lifetime value and determine if they fit your goals and ideal profile.
Increase Efficiency
Practically speaking, data analytics can help advisors and firms work smarter. For instance, insights derived from data analytics might reveal that you spend several hours a week on cumbersome tasks that don’t bring in revenue. If client-related paperwork takes up 20% of your workday, it’s a good indicator that it may be time to automate your processes. You might need to research solutions that help reduce the time devoted to non-revenue-producing activities.
In working with offices, the number one bottleneck often revolves around the quality of data, as every software and relationship depends on it. With PreciseFP, advisors can streamline data gathering, maintenance, and sharing across platforms, allowing them to focus more on managing relationships and building robust financial plans. The impact is significant, with advisors reporting savings of over 40% in time, translating to substantial gains in practice management dollars and thousands of financial planning hours saved in a single year.
Deepening Client Connections
Many clients value regular communication and hands-on advisors. As mentioned above, you can leverage tools to produce client-specific reports that present clients’ progress and how developments fit into the bigger picture of their investment strategy. Regular communication keeps you top of mind; that’s always good for service-based professionals who rely on relevancy to maintain and increase their business in a crowded marketplace.
Data can also help RIAs produce marketing campaigns that reach the right audience with the right message at the right time. By using the correct tools, you and your team can develop relevant marketing tactics that reflect trends and preferences. Segmentation can help you determine what’s working and what’s not — and where the growth potential might lie in terms of certain demographics or markets.
In short, data analytics can open doors you might not be able to access without the insights. However, keeping the client at the center of interaction is still necessary, and certain hallmarks of a client experience cannot — nor should not — be replaced by technology. Adding a human touch to every client interaction can lead to more predictable revenue streams and sustainability.
For more information on how PreciseFP achieves ultimate efficiency by eliminating data entry, bad data, copy/pasting, and human error, sign up for a free trial today. With PreciseFP, you’ll have the power to make business decisions based on data like never before.
