Technology, platforms and competing in today’s marketplace

Clients have become better educated about the principles of investing and the qualities they expect from their advisors, so the need to learn about new tools and processes to meet clients’ demands will only increase in the future.

This makes it necessary for advisors to understand which tools and processes are available, and the amount of time needed to learn and implement them.

New planning, contact management, communication and information management tools are always being developed. As these tools mature and successfully integrate with one another, the ability to effectively and efficiently deliver a consistent, engaging and customized client experience improves.

Basically it is about doing business in a smarter way. In a nutshell, this means making full use of available technology to add value, reduce waste and continuously improve by:

• identifying and implementing business process changes that will make the maximum positive impact on clients and your team;

• automating basic manual processes;

• consolidating and cleaning up your stored data;

• thoughtfully analyzing your client base to focus cross-sales efforts; and

• increasing your responsiveness and providing excellent ongoing client service and support.

Given that advisor success depends so heavily on relationships, the philosophy behind any financial services practice needs to be customer-centric. Managing clients adds value to the practice, but evaluation of your clients’ experiences to provide tailored responses, based on what you’ve learned from them, adds value to your relationships. Consider investing in a contact management software solution to facilitate this.

Proper use of contact management software facilitates interactions by allowing your team to organize and centralize client contact information. Mail merge and e-mail options can improve communication with your clients and prospects. The software can also prioritize tasks and appointments, forecast and track sales opportunities, export client information to handheld devices and laptops, and allow you to co-ordinate with other team members.

There are a number of steps you can take to focus your search for the most suitable solution:

• Analyze your business goals and objectives.

• Look at how you currently manage your customer relationships.

• Anticipate how your business will change and grow.

• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of available solutions to the needs of your practice, along with your training requirements and those of team to properly implement each solution.

More Cindy Jenner-Cowan columns:

• Surround yourself with talented team members • Understand process, and thrive • Autopilot not an option

Succession planning:

1. Build your retirement plans 2. Transitioning best practices 3. Knowing what you want 4. What is your practice worth? 5. Reaching qualified buyers 6. Doing your due diligence 7. Bidding and final negotiations 8. Documenting the deal 9. Closing up shop

At the very least, a viable solution should:

• be scalable and flexible;

• support existing business processes and provide the capability to improve them;

• be easy to customize without requiring extensive vendor involvement;

• have intuitive user interfaces;

• provide reporting, analytical, and forecasting capabilities; and

• integrate with your existing systems.

Effectively using the capabilities of a technology solution is a significant challenge — training the right team members properly is essential to realizing the benefits. On-site training, online tutorials and web seminars, are three of the most effective technology products training methods.

Simply setting aside a few hours and committing to participate in an online tutorial or webinar can result in increased efficiency and effectiveness, and benefit your financial services practice for many years.

Thorough research is needed to successfully choose a contact management solution. Analyzing the needs of your practice and building a comprehensive list of must-have and wish list items will help you evaluate the different options. It is important to note that spending time to research, purchase and install computer hardware or software eats up a considerable amount of time or “billable hours.” With that in mind, you may want to consider contracting an experienced technology professional to have these tasks done more efficiently and effectively.

A thorough analysis of current and future business needs and a one-to-one comparison of available options can make the difference between a solution that succeeds and one that fails. There are different solutions in the marketplace, with functionality targeted to all business sizes. One size truly does not fit all. Inadequate focus on business objectives or allowing the technology itself to drive client-facing processes, are two major reasons a contact management solution can ultimately fail to meet initial expectations.

To be competitive, you need to continue doing what you do best, but you also need to get better and more efficient at it, and reduce the cost of doing it, by getting smarter about how you do business.

Cindy Jenner-Cowan is chief operating officer at Worldsource Financial Management. With more than 17 years of experience in the financial services industry, the expert in relationship management and value-added coaching recently developed FRAMEWORKS, a training program for Worldsource advisors, focusing on advisory practice life cycles. For more information please visit www.partnerwithWFM.com. You can also contact Cindy directly at (604) 376-9119 or cjennercowan@worldsourcewealth.com.

(12/01/08)