Practice Management TrendsettersFebruary 08, 2021  

Top 10 practice management strategies for remote teams 

 

I love watching sports top 10 plays of the week. Here is an article on the top ten strategies for remote financial advisory teams. If you'd like to watch the top 10 strategies join us this Wednesday, February 10th, for an exclusive webinar on Ideal client acquisition and practice management for #financialadvisors and #wealthmanagement

http://virtualfasummit.com/?utm_source=hicks  

Here are the top 10 practice management strategies for remote teams

  1. Time management

The average advisor spends 42% of the time on portfolio management research office administration and back-office operations, while the elite advisor spends 17%. That means elite advisors have 25% more time to focus on ideal client acquisition and service. They are not servicing everyone. They are delivering more value to fewer people. They are delegating office administration to their team, a challenge most advisors have. Get out of your own way. Elite advisors have invested the time to put key practice management processes in place. They have 450 more hours to grow their business or spend with their family, because they have chosen WHO to spend their time with, and trust the processes.  (source Advisor Benchmarking Inc Practice Made More Perfect Mark Tibergien and Rebecca Pomering Bloomberg press 2011)

  1. Technology

73% of financial professionals have no written service process for ideal clients and families. The financial advisors that have a process, earn 146% more than advisors who don’t have a process. (The Future of Practice Management, an inaugural study by the FPA Research and Practice Institute a program of the Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) -December 2013) Keep it simple. Do a process audit with your team and create a checklist of items for an ideal client meeting. This checklist can then turn into a workflow in your CRM system, or use technology processes such as www.monday.com , www.slack.com, or process street  https://www.process.st/ for the team to use. ( remember always check with compliance first) I always ask financial advisors this question. Tell me about your CRM and your PRM process. CRM is for your clients and PRM is for your prospects. Most CRM systems have a very poor PRM prospect relationship management process.  I highly encourage you to learn about inbound marketing and communication.

 It is 2021, so financial advisors should have an online calendar for clients and prospects to use. If you firm is not 100% digital signature, consider finding one that is, especially during a pandemic where technology is critical to your success. Your productivity and revenue will soar, as the financial professionals who use technology are finding how efficient client meetings are now in a virtual world. For a copy of our technology checklist for financial professionals click here https://technologychecklist.getresponsepages.com/

  1. Webinars

Webinars are about communication and booking appointments. While everyone stresses about the content and the delivery I stress about more communication to clients' prospects and centers of influence. The key is the phone calls before and the phone calls after each time you make those calls you can book a 15-minute virtual coffee meeting or conversation, therefore, booking more appointments with people who you would like to talk to you or who present opportunities for you and your firm. Your team should understand how to set up the webinar and all the communication that goes along with it and if you're doing webinars on a regular basis you're having a massive amount of communication and positioning yourself as an expert and thought leader. What do you want to be a thought leader in? This should be the focus of your webinars . for example I work with financial advisors who specialize in working with lawyers they deliver webinars to become a thought leader for lawyers in wealth management and comprehensive financial advice. communication and follow up keys to webinars.

  1. Human capital, investing in people management

Did you know that a typical advisor spends 4 hours a year training and guiding their staff? They think that that is their firm's responsibility. Elite advisors know to have three things to make human capital effective. First regular communication through zoom for remote teams. Secondly have clear job descriptions for their staff and have a quarterly bonus program that focuses on revenue first and additional targets 2nd. Financial advisors that implement these key practice management strategies for their team earn 129% more than advisers that don't.  Remember you can delegate everything except prospecting in the financial business. Your team should be able to segment your clients and tell you who your best clients are and make sure you focus your time and attention on ideal clients, ideal prospects,  ideal families, and ideal centers of influence. this is a distraction business and their job is to eliminate those distractions as much as possible. Remember your team is responsible for administration marketing technology and communications. What skills do they need to be trained on to deliver more in your practice in 2021? make a list and invest in your team to deliver more value to your practice. When I ask advisors how their team is going to deliver more value to your best clients, elite advisors tell me how they're investing and growing their team. If you can't explain what you did last year start to think about what you can do this year, then write it down and execute immediately.  

  1. Marketing

Do you have a marketing plan in writing and keep track of your goals for 2021? Did you know that 75% of financial advisors have no formal definition of an ideal client?   Even their staff don't know who their ideal clients are.  Consider two ideas to acquire more ideal clients this year. 1st work with ideal families and finding out more about family members that you are currently working with. You already have the trust and confidence of the family member, introducing you to the other family members such as parents grandparents were children is an easy way to build trust in the current environment. I teach advisers to ask key questions and find opportunities with other family members. The second idea is working with centers of influence. Do you have a network of professionals that you coordinate with your best clients? Start by asking one question. Do you know about our network of professionals? You will find your best centers of influence through your best clients. Once you have 10 or 20 such an influence do two things. First, treat him like an ideal client and 2nd bring them together on a regular basis in a group network professional meeting on your virtual platform such as zoom.

  1. Offers

 I think the biggest thing financial advisors discovered during the pandemic is they have to go back to making phone calls. They had to relearn prospecting and scripts and process are to acquire ideal clients. instead of relying on events to meet people we now have to be better on the phone and virtual meetings to engage people. do you have a script that you used to acquire ideal clients? Imagine if you showed up on Shark Tank ( ABC.com TV show Shark Tank) and you were not prepared.

  1. Value-added remotely

 I ask top advisers this question all the time. What is the value add that you want to deliver to your best clients this year? They usually look at me through a remote zoom meeting with a blank stare. The value you deliver is your conversations with your best clients and prospects. What are the names of your conversations that you have with people? Consider naming them as part of your process. What is the value to them? Using keywords will help you have better conversations. join our webinar to learn more about key language that engages wealthy people emotionally.

  1. Progress update process

I hate the word reviews, instead, call it your progress update process. Here is a simple strategy that will help you get more out of virtual meetings with clients' prospects and centers' influence. Have a PowerPoint that shows your process and that when people ask certain questions you have a slide or an example to explain it with them to clearly answer their questions. The slides have emotionally engaging pictures to tell the story. You can ask them what they like a copy of the presentation or illustrations and you could send them a PDF copy for their file.  The whole process from preparation to follow up can be managed by your team. Practice management is about three things process process process.  again always get compliance approval

  1. Value promise

We know that 43% of financial professionals do not have a unique value promise. The financial advisors that do deliver a unique value promise earn over 246% more than advisors that don't. put your value promise on a PowerPoint so that you can deliver it virtually to anyone. the key to a great value promise is to let prospects know what they don't know. my question to you is what are ideal prospects not currently getting? This forms the basis of your value promise. (Source Business Health Pty Limited, USA financial advisors 2018)

1.Calls to action

What are your offers to your ideal prospects? According to CEG Worldwide, ( CEG Worldwide ) 84% of the wealthy engage emotionally 1st and logic 2nd. most offers are logical, not emotional. All marketing and communications should be measurable through calls to action. Your calls to action and your offers are ideal questions. What are your ideal questions? In our webinar, I will discuss 6 gold bricks. six emotionally compelling offers that you can give to your best opportunities. One example is a fee audit. offering a fee audit is not about what they pay but what they get and value for what they pay. 

I hope you enjoyed our top 10 countdown and hope you can join us for our webinar to watch on February 10th.  I will be one of the 15 Top Financial Advisors & Coaches, who will Share Their Secrets on How They Are Getting New Clients Virtually, RIGHT NOW #webinar for #financialadvisors

http://virtualfasummit.com/?utm_source=hicks  

 Advisor Practice Management’s goal 

“ Helping Financial Advisors take action, to create 10,000 comprehensive financial and investment plans for their clients”.  Ask your clients and prospects this question " What does a comprehensive financial and investment plan mean to you?  

Let’s work on your business together. Email us for your copy of our "Exclusive prospecting strategy checklist, or fee audit guide" to acquiring more ideal clients. Email grant@ghicks.com  

Enthusiastically yours,


Grant Hicks, CIM, President
Advisor Practice Management
www.advisorpracticemanagement.com

Suite 1625-246 Stewart Green, SW
Calgary, Alberta  T3H 3C8
Cell 403 970 8895
Email grant@ghicks.com   

PS Where do you want to be in 3 years?

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Grant Hicks
Advisor Practice Management