PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
Take advantage of technology to meet client expectations and efficiently grow and run your practice.
From client communication to data security, technology can help manage the behind-the-scenes efforts of your practice.
Consumers used to doing business digitally, like shopping and banking online, expect a similar experience when working with their financial professional. If you’re not taking advantage of technology to meet client expectations, you may be jeopardizing their loyalty and also missing out on advances that could help you efficiently grow and run your practice.
Advances in technology have given Americans more options than ever for accessing financial advice and investment management services.
Is your practice keeping pace?
Today’s best financial practice tools help you automate day-to-day processes including prospecting for new clients, developing and implementing investment strategies and keeping up with compliance responsibilities.
The technological tools featured here could help you grow your business faster while simultaneously leaving you more time to give your clients one-on-one attention. Ignore technology, and you may risk losing business to forward-thinking competitors.
At a high level, these technologies fall into three broad categories: communication, investment management and data security and compliance.
It is difficult to manage a growing financial practice efficiently without relying on client relationship management (CRM) software. If you are familiar with Microsoft Outlook, the widely used personal information manager that includes an email application, calendar and other simple tools, you can think of CRM software as something like that—but on steroids.
CRM programs function as a central repository of contact information about your clients. They let you track all office interactions with clients, alert you to calendar appointments, and help you track your sales pipeline, or potential new business opportunities.
They also allow you to segment and report on your clients and their activities by any number of characteristics, so you can accurately target communications and services to them. The best CRM programs integrate easily with other popular applications to eliminate redundant data entry and include advanced features such as workflows, which guide you through and, in some cases, automate common tasks. According to a 2023 survey of more than 3,300 financial professionals, 96.46% use some form of CRM software. Among the most popular programs are Redtail and Wealthbox, and AdvisorEngine, which are all specifically designed for financial professionals and the wealth management industry.1
The COVID-19 pandemic popularized virtual meetings. Videoconferencing programs, such as Zoom, Skype, Webex and Microsoft Teams, provide a good way for financial professionals to connect with clients or to reach out to multiple clients simultaneously.
A range of other communication tools may also be useful. Email capture programs like OptinMonster and Sumo can collect emails from opt-in forms completed by visitors to your website. This can be helpful in building out your email list and reaching a broader swath of prospective clients.
If you are using emails to prospect—or to stay in touch with clients—you might also want to take advantage of email marketing automation software, which can send a predetermined sequence of emails to every subscriber on your email list on a schedule you establish. These programs also let you set up rules to adapt the sequence of emails to individual clients or prospects based on actions they take, such as scheduling appointments or failing to respond to an inquiry. It is important to make sure that these systems also retain copies of emails and keep track of subscribe and unsubscribe requests. Popular email marketing programs include Mailchimp, Hubspot Marketing Hub, Drip and Constant Contact.
In a similar vein, social media automation tools like Hootsuite and Buffer allow you to load social media posts in advance, send them out at predetermined times and approve and retain posts for compliance purposes. You also might want to consider using an online scheduler like Calendly or Acuity Scheduling, which will let you include a link to an online calendar on your website or in your emails. Clients and prospects can then use it to schedule appointments without the time-consuming back and forth of phone calls and emails.
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The core value that you bring to your clients is your ability to help them define their financial goals and challenges, craft and implement a strategy for achieving those goals, and keep them on course during the inevitable ups and downs in the economy and the financial markets. There’s no software application that can replicate or automate all those capabilities, but there are tools that can help with many of them.
When providing financial advice or crafting an asset allocation strategy, for example, it’s important to understand a client’s complete financial picture. Data aggregation tools such as Morningstar’s ByAllAccounts can collect your clients’ account information, including holdings and balances, from thousands of financial institutions. That can save you time and potentially fill in any gaps that might be missed when collecting data manually.
When you’re ready to build a financial plan, financial planning software—currently used by 83.68% of financial professionals1—can help you pull it together and deliver it in a consistent format for clients. Popular examples include MoneyGuide Elite and eMoney. Portfolio management software, meanwhile, can help you devise an asset allocation strategy for each client, populate that strategy with appropriate investment selections and generate performance reports.
Portfolio management software is used by 64% of financial professionals. Among the most used portfolio management programs are Orion Advisor Solutions, Pershing Albridge Wealth Reporting and Envestnet | Tamarac.1
Your clients share some of their most valuable information with you, not only about their personal lives but also about their financial accounts. They expect you to protect that information. Cybersecurity software can help by functioning like a checkpoint to protect your website and software systems, controlling access to the applications and sensitive client information they contain. Companies like Norton and McAfee offer software that can act as a digital firewall between your systems and potential intruders and also protect against computer viruses.
Of course, clients aren’t the only stakeholders who care about how you conduct your business. So do regulatory authorities. Depending upon how your practice is structured, failing to adhere to the regulations governing your operations can land you in hot water with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Securities & Exchange Commission, the Department of Labor or your state government.
Compliance software such as Smartria Pro can help you keep pace with the ever-changing regulatory landscape by helping you perform, track and document compliance tasks and archive documents. Even if you work with a compliance consultant, compliance software can help you streamline your compliance activities. Overall, financial professionals should always use software that has compliance functions built in, including email and social media tools that retain copies of activities.
As a financial professional, you likely wear many hats: salesperson, marketer, financial planner, investment advisor, customer service manager, data security and compliance officer and maybe even office manager. Even if you’re running a larger practice with multiple producers and support staff, the time and resources needed to meet your office’s many demands are significant. By taking advantage of technology, you can keep pace with those demands, grow your business and serve your clients more effectively.
1 Bob Veres and Joel Bruckenstein. “2023 T3/Inside Information Advisor Software Survey.” Inc. March 2023. https://t3technologyhub.com/the-2023-t3-inside-information-software-survey-is-now-available/. March 12, 2024.
Specific software companies mentioned in this article are not recommended or endorsed by Thrivent. Be sure to check with your firm for approved software options and available technology as well as complete your due diligence before utilizing any software.
This article refers to specific securities which Thrivent Mutual Funds may own. A complete listing of the holdings for each of the Thrivent Mutual Funds is available on thriventfunds.com.
