Organic Growth Through Client Service

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Investment Advisor Association Annual Leadership Conference in Palm Beach, where I thoroughly enjoyed meeting event hosts, fellow vendors and a variety of registered investment advisors.  A common theme throughout the sessions—and discussed among the advisors— was the emphasis on superior service.

It’s no wonder firms are constantly striving to improve service levels. It is what sets great firms apart from good firms. Clients and prospects have many options for managing their investments—discount brokerage services, ETF platforms and automated investment firms, to name a few—but they come to you for the service. Delivering on that promise is not just a competitive advantage. It’s the key to organic growth—and it’s an operational necessity.

So, what stands in the way of delivering the type of superior client service that spurs organic growth? Advisor productivity.

Take a moment to think about how you divide your time throughout the various areas of your practice.  If you spend the majority of your time working on back-office operations when you could be servicing clients, you are not alone.

Capgemini analyzed how the challenges of the current investment environment—from the changing behaviors and demands of clients to increasing regulatory pressures—are impacting advisor productivity. They found that advisors spend nearly 30% of their time on operational activities—with 24% of this on administrative activities, such as back-office operations, investment research and client reporting, and the rest on compliance-related activities.

The good news is that much of the time spent on operational activities can be drastically reduced by integrating and automating processes through technology. Technology can help free your time an allow you to better focus on the revenue-producing areas of your practice—your clients.

Time is valuable, to both you and your clients. Wouldn’t you rather spend more time in front of them?  Servicing? Nurturing?  Networking? Building client relationships allows you to be proactive—rather than reactive—in meeting their needs. This improves satisfaction and leads to referrals, which is the fastest path to organic growth.  Is your technology leading you down that path or throwing you off course?

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