When you have a new hire in your firm, chances are they want to hit the ground running. But working in a wealth management firm often comes with a steep learning curve, even for experienced back-office employees and advisors.
To set new hires up for success, start with workflows and processes. When new employees know how business gets done and have an outline of these crucial steps, they can be more effective in their efforts to strengthen and grow the firm.
Here are five workflows new employees and advisors should learn.
1. Client Acquisition
Growing a firm requires a steady pipeline of potential leads and the nurturing of those prospects. An effective client acquisition workflow is scalable and repeatable, bringing in a consistent stream of ideal clients. By starting with this workflow for new hires, you can establish expectations without having to reinvent the wheel with every new prospect. Advisors know how to nurture the lead because it is clearly laid out in the workflow (with room for personalization).
The client acquisition workflow can include effective, proven marketing strategies, ideal client personas and timelines and processes for finding new leads, as well as how often to check in and move the lead down the pipeline.
2. New Client Onboarding
The first 90 days with a new client set the foundation for a strong relationship. When done right, onboarding dramatically impacts client satisfaction levels. But when onboarding takes too long or is too confusing, clients start to question their choice and even go to another firm. For this reason, new client onboarding is a crucial workflow for new hires to learn.
Onboarding includes signing the client, gathering information, assessing their financial needs and setting goals — and it all typically occurs within 90 days with strict compliance regulations.
To create a cohesive onboarding experience, firms and advisors need to use technology. Many CRM systems guide clients through onboarding steps to ensure no steps are missed and that accurate information is gathered. But each firm likely has slightly different timelines, expectations and sample scripts for new clients, so teaching the workflow is important.
3. Data Gathering
Before advisors can provide personalized portfolio recommendations, they have to get to know the client and gather their personal and financial information. In most cases, this requires a lot of paperwork and information sharing.
It used to be that information gathering was done by hand, with clients completing numerous repetitive forms. But that’s not the case for modern firms. Today’s advisors must leverage technology such as Docupace and PreciseFP to automate the information-gathering workflow. That means customizing digital forms and automatically flowing data across systems to achieve a faster, smoother and more accurate information-gathering process.
4. Financial Analysis and Plan Creation
Once information has been gathered, advisors can analyze a client’s financial status and goals and create a personalized plan. This is a step where personalization is essential (86% of advisors say personalized financial advice is important). But it also requires a smooth workflow.
When sharing this workflow with new hires, consider how to work these aspects into the analysis:
- Financial circumstances
- Cash flow
- Risk tolerance
- Goals
- Values and priorities
From there, the workflow needs to include how to actually create the plan, including what data to prioritize, what system to use and a timeline to pull it all together.
5. Ongoing Service and Monitoring
After the excitement and work of setting up new accounts and onboarding clients, maintaining and monitoring clients’ portfolios can often feel like an afterthought. And while the long-term client experience may not have as many boxes to check every day, all employees need to know the workflow of providing great service and strengthening client relationships.
Ongoing service and monitoring workflows include things like:
- Regular check-in cadence (monthly, quarterly or annually)
- Portfolio reviews
- Proactive communication
- Tailored, personalized touchpoints
- Adjustments based on clients’ life changes
- Referral requests
When clients feel valued through regular communication and personal interactions, they are more likely to stick with the firm and refer friends and family. Streamlined workflows create a consistent client experience and don’t leave things up to chance. A clear workflow ensures nothing falls through the cracks and gives employees and advisors the tools and process to deliver consistently high-quality service for years to come.
For every workflow, make Docupace a key partner. Our system integrates with dozens of leading platforms to create a single source of truth for data, documents and decision-making. Click here to learn more and schedule a discovery call.
