When choosing the best wealth management tools for your firm, it’s a bit like crafting a gourmet meal. You might be tempted to focus on the latest culinary gadgets or the trendiest ingredients, thinking that as long as you’re using the newest tools, your clients will be satisfied and keep coming back for more.
But just like a great dish isn’t just about having the flashiest kitchen equipment, your business isn’t solely defined by the latest tech trends or investment apps. The real recipe for success lies in how well you manage the essential processes—the speed at which you address client inquiries or the efficiency of your onboarding experience. These are the subtle, yet crucial, elements that ensure a smooth and delightful client experience.
Clients may not always see the behind-the-scenes tech that makes your operations run, but they definitely notice if the experience is less than stellar. Just like diners can sense if a meal is poorly prepared, they can feel if your service is slow or cumbersome. Even if they don’t give you direct feedback, inefficiencies can sour their experience and drive them to seek other advisors.
With the right technology, you can refine your processes, improve client interactions, and set your firm apart from the competition.
How can you tell if your processes are affecting client satisfaction? Here are four key indicators.
Awkward Pauses During Onboarding
When you take a long time to gather the information you need, your clients spend a lot of time waiting. Whether they sit idly while you type data into on-screen fields, wait to talk to an actual person while they’re on hold, or answer the same questions multiple times, you’re wasting their time. If you could improve your process, you could manage your time with clients more effectively.
“I’m sorry, my computer is extra slow today” is a line clients may expect from a government office, but they expect more when visiting a financial advisor. You could save your clients time with a document management system that eliminates unnecessary duplication and simplifies document retrieval.
Filling out Forms by Hand
Asking clients to fill out and sign stacks of paper is another way you’re wasting their time. This is especially true if multiple family members fill out the same information. There’s no need for your clients to give themselves paper cuts as they shuffle through reams of paper or even to fill out digital forms in your office multiple times. Instead, you could make your forms available online for clients to fill out and sign electronically. That way, they can fill out paperwork at a time that’s convenient for them and spend their time with you developing relationships instead.
No Time for Client Relationships
If you’ve spent your first few appointments with your clients gathering data and filling out forms, you may not have had time to get to know them on a personal level. Financial advising is about more than the numbers — it’s a relationship.
Do you understand your client’s hopes, dreams, and values? Do you know what matters to them and what legacy they want to create? Do you understand their hobbies and interests? And do you have a record of that information so you can provide communication that’s relevant to them? If you answer negatively because you’ve spent so much time filling out paperwork, you may want to reconsider your processes.
Moving Between Apps
It may not seem like it takes much time to move back and forth between different applications on your computer, but when you add it up, it may be more significant than you think. Using several platforms to perform basic functions costs a lot of time and money. It’s not just closing out one application and opening another — it’s also the time it takes to train yourself and your advisors to use each of them proficiently, especially if your platforms aren’t integrated with your CRM. Not only that but the more applications you need to accomplish basic advising tasks, the more potential you create for something to go wrong when the applications communicate with each other.
Although each of these four warning signs, including long silences during onboarding, excessive paperwork, under-developed client relationships, and app-switching, signal you’re in danger of losing clients to your less-than-efficient processes, the good news is that you can upgrade your technology to make your processes more efficient and effective than ever before.
Transforming your client management experience begins with simplifying the basics. Imagine saying goodbye to endless forms, welcoming clients with a seamless, award-winning onboarding process, and truly understanding their needs beyond just their financials. PreciseFP offers a powerful solution to make all this possible. We’ll partner with you directly to review your current processes and integrations, crafting a streamlined approach that works for you. Sign up today at PreciseFP.com.
