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End-of-year planning meetings give financial professionals the chance to help clients review their long-term financial goals and make any needed adjustments to stay on track. These discussions are valuable because, as part of their jobs, advisors provide objective insights, helping clients reflect on past decisions and consider changes to improve future outcomes. They are already in the proper mindset. This intentional year-end review often leads to more meaningful conversations about goals and planning.
Often, we find that when it comes to their own business and long-term practice planning, financial professionals struggle to find the same objectivity and coaching support they offer their clients to help stay on track.
While planning for a strong start to 2025 for themselves and their practices, we believe there is value in advisors leveraging practice analysis reviews to help them achieve their long-term business goals, whether that means growing the client pipeline, achieving scalability through increased capacity, or empowering their team structure. Regardless of which specific aspect of their business they want to improve, these assessments can deliver to an advisor the ultimate gift: more available time in their day.
How practice analyses drive practice growth
There are many different ways to conduct analysis reviews, but programs typically aim to help financial professionals gain a detailed understanding of their business through the guidance of an objective third-party coach. At Touchstone, our Practice Management Consulting Program offers a unique approach called Practice Analysis Review (PAR).
In the program, our practice management coaches work with financial professionals to identify their current and future goals, then conduct a thorough audit to pinpoint areas for improvement. The output is a personalized action plan tailored to your clients’ needs, broken down into manageable steps. We continue to coach advisors throughout the process, helping them stay on track toward achieving meaningful practice improvements.
This process also involves a tailored plan and dashboard to track progress in real time, because monitoring results is key to success. We've seen how these tools have significantly improved outcomes for the financial professionals we work with.
Based on the insights of over 5,000 engagements in 2023 alone, the PAR approach helped advisors increase assets by an average of 14%, and improve advisory efficiency by 15%. It also helped them save an average of 13 hours that would have been spent on due diligence – valuable time that can now be better spent supporting clients.
The business goals PAR supports
While every practice is unique, there are some trends in the challenges and opportunities that financial professionals commonly face. As advisors reflect on their practice’s performance in 2024 and plan for 2025, they will likely identify areas of focus they want to improve in the year ahead. Do they want to strengthen client relationships? Are they considering shifting from a traditional brokerage model to an advisory one? Or is increasing efficiency and cutting unnecessary costs the main focus?
One of the most common challenges financial professionals face are time constraints. As an example, we recently worked with a financial professional who struggled to balance increasing client demands and a growing number of meetings, leaving little time to review their portfolio investments.
We supported them by conducting a comprehensive review of their book of business, which helped identify potential risks that are often overlooked when time is tight. After the review, we provided a diagnostic dashboard highlighting the number of investments and any "orphan" investments, where only one client holds the asset. We then offered actionable recommendations to create a manageable plan for improvement. With this clear roadmap, the financial professional reduced their number of unique investments by 40% and freed up over 50 hours annually – time that can now be better spent serving clients instead of handling paperwork.
Considerations for choosing the right partner
Just as you would carefully choose a fitness coach or a tutor for your children, financial professionals should thoughtfully select the right team for their PARs. The best results come from building long-term relationships, where coaches serve as accountability partners, working closely to make gradual improvements tailored to each practice's needs. While some may opt for a one-time solution, we believe in the power of ongoing collaboration to drive lasting change.
When choosing a practice management coach, it's important to ask about their areas of specialization, previous experience with proven results, and current offerings. Requesting samples of actionable plans they've developed can also help. Being thorough will help financial professionals choose the right coach for their business needs and make informed decisions that lead to long-term improvements in their practices.
Mary Mock is Senior Vice President and Head of Distribution for Touchstone Investments. In this role she is responsible for developing and executing on Touchstone’s overall sales strategies and directing all external sales activities.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.