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In today’s hyper-connected society where consumers have unlimited information at their fingertips, client expectations have skyrocketed. While I was listening to a recent CRM Unlocked podcast featuring Edward Jones’ head of client experience, Ilan Davidovici, I was struck by a point he made that echoed this sentiment from a financial advisor’s perspective when dealing with clients:
They expect that we know who they are, that we can help guide them in their process, which assumes that we know where they are in their process – either before an investing relationship, in the middle of one or deeply connected, or perhaps partnering with external partners around estate planning or life insurance or mortgages or any other of the associated benefits of a financial advice firm – and that we can help guide them along that. And that’s easier said than done.
Every time we hold a smartphone, scroll through feeds, or strike a few keys and get something delivered in mere days, our belief that everything in life should be that way is reinforced.
When life inevitably isn’t that way, we get annoyed.
Everyone from the client to the advisor and all those in between will tell you that the financial services client experience has not evolved at the same level of ease and comfort as in the world of retail, where innovations like omnichannel delivery of goods have been a true gamechanger.
One area that needs an investment of time and resources to improve the client experience is the onboarding process, wrought with paperwork. It’s critical that the first impression a client has with an advisor is positive and rewarding; otherwise, like in the retail world, they will move on to a competitor. The convenience of offering electronic signature services comes to mind, particularly if a family comes into a branch office to open multiple accounts all at once.
Another area that needs an experienced improvement is the advisor transition process. Similar to client onboarding, this is a multi-step activity that can delay account openings and create migraines depending on how it’s done.
“Journey mapping” the client experience while ensuring that all technology integrations are best serving the client in a consistent manner is critical. There will be various reasons for misunderstandings – perhaps a part of the firm’s technology stack is degrading the client experience. Or perhaps you don't have the right staff in the right place at the right time, making it impossible to provide a seamless experience.
Evaluate your processes and how they impact each other; adjustments can be made, resulting in a happier client and an extraordinary experience.
Discovering ways to create streamlined and sleek experiences that are also compliant will delight your clients and have them raving about you and your firm.
There are firms, including ours, that are working on solutions for onboarding and advisor transitions. We as a profession will see improvement in these areas in the near future. Some of that technology may even be on display at this week’s Future Proof Festival.
Marc Butler is president and chief operating officer of Skience.
Read more articles by Marc Butler
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
