Coaches Corner: Free Your Time and Dazzle Your Clients

I can’t tell you how many times I speak to advisors and their teams about the unprecedented growth they are experiencing, yet their tone when telling me this news is anxious, unsure and sometimes even terrified. How can this be? How can an office be terrified of bringing in new business and experiencing growth? The answer usually revolves around one reason: they don’t have the systems and infrastructure in place to handle the growth and deliver an incredible client experience. 

Many advisors don’t realize the benefits of creating systems and putting processes in place around the office. By creating repeatable processes your team adheres to on a daily basis, your practice will experience increased productivity, you’ll save valuable time you can then allocate to other important activities and your clients will have the best possible experience. So here are several tips to creating and sustaining those processes. 

Tip 1: Train the ‘Bakers’

Often a practice will have systems in place but they aren’t being followed. Make sure you document, in writing, your systems and processes and encourage your team to follow them step by step. Here’s the ultimate test to assessing if your firm has sound repeatable processes: Can someone unfamiliar with a certain position look at a system and perform the task without outside instruction? Just like baking, all they should need are the ingredients and the directions. 

Tip 2: Set Up the Essential Three Systems 

There are three systems all advisors need to have established (but most don’t):

1. Client Communication Strategy
2. Client Event Follow-Up
3. Onboarding Process for New Clients 

The most important goal for any advisor is making sure their clients have the best experience possible. The client always comes first. Therefore, look at client-facing materials and systems first. Create a communication process and strategy by defining what is communicated to your clients, how it is communicated and how often. Before you start, first know what kind of client experience you want to provide. Always begin with the end in mind.

Second, know your clients. If you don’t truly know your clients, how can you know the most effective way of communicating with them? If you know your clients on a personal basis and you also know the kind of client experience you want to provide, you should be able to determine the best process for communicating with your clients. Whether through email, mail, social media, phone or another communications avenue, put a process in place that determines how you communicate with your clients, what is communicated and how often you communicate as it pertains to your clients and your desired client experience.  

Another important process every advisor should have in place is a Client Event Follow-Up Strategy. In order to “passion prospect” and grow your business in a way that connects your interests with those who share so much in common, you need to host events. The most important thing you can do to ensure you get the most out of these events is to have a specific system for following up.