8 Steps Advisors Can Take to Improve the Client Experience

So digital client onboarding offers “efficiency for them when they can use that tool and also creates a better client experience,” she added.

3. Try to create repeatable processes.

“Many firms have made significant progress and have found a way to create repeatable processes,” Kerr told ThinkAdvisor.

But firms need to make a “real, concerted effort to make that change sticky and there has to be a real plan behind it,” she said, explaining: “It’s one thing to say ‘we’re going to adopt this technology’ but the framework of following through on that, measuring it, rewarding the behaviors, it’s classic change management.”

That, however, is the “part where it becomes the hardest because it’s changing human behavior to adapt to what the digital tool will provide for you,” she said. “Sometimes that can be met with some level of resistance.”

4. Invest in proof points.

Sometimes when a new process like these digital ones get “introduced, there’s fear that, because it’s unknown, it’s not as controllable,” she noted. “You don’t know exactly how it’s going to show up in reality.”

Therefore, “I think that’s a place where advisors have to think about how to invest in proof points that will show them exactly how the flow is, whether it’s through a digital marketing tool or work,” she said.

Sometimes, “demos or videos of how a process should look so that the people handling that can gain confidence in it and feel like they can get behind it,” she told ThinkAdvisor.

Smaller firms, however, are “adopting at a more rapid rate because they only have to convince themselves or maybe one other person,” she said, adding: “They can see right away the benefits it’s going to provide to them.”

5. Consider hiring people who focus on tech.

Some firms are investing in “their own data lakes [and] their own tech people who do nothing but data analytics and business intelligence,” Kerr said.

This is a “really big area of broken opportunity for the industry,” she noted.

6. Remain focused on your clients.

One thing that is crucial amid all these changes and market uncertainty is “making sure that we stay focused on our clients,” Kerr said. That is certainly the case with Schwab as it goes “through the integration and through the conversion” of TD Ameritrade broker-dealer activities that are slated for this year,” she noted.

“That is certainly an area where advisors want to make sure that we’re paying attention to all aspects of the business and all aspects of the custodial support,” she added.

7. Focus on providing value to clients.

“At a time when costs continue to rise, there continues to be a great focus on value and making sure that advisors are delivering the lowest cost alternative to their clients while still maintaining their fiduciary responsibility,” Kerr went on to say.

“I think that’s going to continue to be under pressure or under a lot of visibility given a lot of the market fluctuations that we’re seeing right now,” she said. “So I think advisors really have to stay the course on showing that value [proposition] and showing their fiduciary responsibility on low cost investment selections.”

8. Provide clients with more customization.

Customization is “obviously another big trend in the marketplace right now,” Kerr said.