2. Provide tailored investment solutions. You can use technology to offer more customized portfolios that are better suited to client needs. A robust investment platform, for example, can help give your small accounts the same quality of investment selection and level of service that your large accounts receive. These can also enable you to customize investment models using your trading philosophy and customized strategies.
3. Utilize account aggregation software. The consolidated account information, provided by account aggregation tools, can help improve client onboarding and make it easier for advisors to spot new planning opportunities to proactively present to your clients. In this day and age, your clients have access to an overabundance of information, regarding their finances and beyond. Account aggregation tools will streamline that information for clients, ultimately making their lives a bit easier. In fact, according to another Salesforce study, 78 percent of investors say the ability to receive a holistic view of their financial situation and history is an important consideration when selecting a financial advisor.
4. Use technology to increase efficiency in your client interactions. According to TimeTrade’s comprehensive research, 92 percent of buyers looking for financial services, strongly endorse the importance of live meetings and appointments. However, with their busy lives, many clients don’t have the time or patience to keep exchanging phone calls or emails with their advisor in an effort to set up meetings.
Online schedulers like Calendly, Doodle, Acuity and Gigabook can help ensure spending time with clients is more efficient for everyone. This technology can be used to help clients easily choose appointment times, which can significantly boost client satisfaction and retention levels.
In fact, we’ve seen advisors have success with leveraging their CRM to guide the cadence of their client meetings. By setting up automatic reminder emails for say two weeks prior to quarter-end asking clients to schedule their in-person meeting, advisors see a dramatic increase in the number of meetings on their calendars. This puts the client in control and the advisor with more face time.
By putting clients at the center of your business model you are able to not only differentiate your firm, but also create long-lasting client relationships. As you strive to become a more client-centric advisory firm, think about how you can use technology to improve the client experience at each point throughout the prospect-to-client journey.
Mike Lover is vice president of strategic business development at E*TRADE Advisor Services.