Tech every advisor needs – Part 3

Advisors love their technology so in the final article of our three part series, we’ll share 3 more pieces of technology that help us service our clients.

8. Excel (included with MS Office)

Excel is the workhorse of the office productivity suite and while some offices use Excel often, many have yet to take full advantage of its potential.

Excel can be used to organize large amounts of data, a job which it does very well and with ease. In our practice we also use Excel to organize data in a way that is easy for clients to understand. Excel allows us to provide clients with a comprehensive yet easy to understand financial plan update through our Client Dashboard™.

Our Client Dashboard™ takes full advantage of much of what Excel can do. For each of our clients’ goals (i.e. retirement, debt etc.) we show them where they are now compared to where we projected they would be in their plan. When clients are ahead of plan Excel shows the numbers in green and when they are behind schedule the numbers appear in red. This allows clients to easily see where they need to focus their attention.

For clients who understand concepts better when things are presented visually, Excel generates clear charts that show clients where they are relative to plan. Checkboxes allow us to show clients what risks are covered by their current insurance coverage and where their family may be at risk. And finally, formulas allow the Client Dashboard™ to complete behind the scenes calculations to show how much clients need to save each month to achieve each of their life goals.

Benefits: Organize data quickly and in a way that’s easy for clients to understand.

9. SurveyMonkey (Often free for smaller surveys)

At the end of every review meeting we ask clients how they feel about our service and whether there’s anything we could do better. The feedback is usually good but it’s always easier to be honest when you’re protected by anonymity. Five years ago we began using SurveyMonkey to allow clients to give us anonymous and constructive feedback on our service.

With SurveyMonkey you create a series of survey questions online and email the link to your clients to complete. You can choose from multiple choice and short answer questions, or ask clients to rate a particular service on a scale of 1 to 10. Afterwards SurveyMonkey tabulates and summarizes the results so that we can see where we excel (pun intended) and where we need to focus more of our time and effort.

A few years ago the survey told us that most clients wanted us to offer mortgages in house so we introduced the service the following year.

More recently, the survey confirmed that transitioning to fee-based was the right move as 82% of clients are happy that they can see our monthly fee (7% are indifferent and 12% still wish it was hidden).

Prior to the survey I was convinced that we were contacting clients too often but the survey confirmed that 98% felt our frequency of contact was “just right” – I guess I was way off! Without the survey I would have erroneously reduced the amount of communication I was sending out.

Benefits: Hear what clients really think about your service, proactively make adjustments based on their feedback.

10. Financial planning software – In Sync (Free from InvescoTrimark)

The most frequent question we receive is about what planning software we use.

No planning software is perfect and each has its critics. Too complicated! Too basic! Not enough features!

We use In Sync to complete retirement projections and life insurance needs analysis because it’s easy to use and we can update a client’s plan in about 10 minutes in most cases. We use a number of other calculators to complete the other parts of the plan.

In Sync is a great calculator and it produces beautifully simple charts that allow clients to visualize their plan. After running the numbers we use MS OneNote to copy only the key charts into our custom financial plan template.

Our template is written in a way that’s easy for clients to understand and allows us to use several different calculators while maintaining a consistent presentation for clients. We always include the detailed projections produced by In Sync in the appendix for future reference and for tracking progress at review meetings.

Benefits: Create financial plans efficiently and in a format that’s easy for clients to understand.

Mathieu Paradis, B.Comm., CFP, CLU, FMA is co-founder of AdvisorPractice.com which offers advisors practical solutions to transition to a financial planning practice and offers a 12-week training program. He is a financial advisor and offers his clients comprehensive life goals financial plans.