For advisors in wealth management, there never seems to be enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs doing. Prioritizing the most important part of their workday — time spent with clients — often falls to the wayside when essential but menial back-office tasks stand in the way.
Unfortunately, not allocating their time where it matters is a major problem for many advisors. A new J.D. Power survey found 28% of advisors simply don’t have enough time to spend with their clients. With so much at stake when client relationships turn sour, advisors need solutions to help them regain control of their time.
In this blog, we’ll break down further findings about time-strapped advisors, why spending time with clients matters, and how Docupace provides an innovative, back-office solution to give advisors back the time they desperately need.
The Challenge: Advisors Don’t Have Enough Time
When advisors are limited on time, they are inevitably hard-pressed to deliver the right experiences and relationships clients need. Unfortunately, it can become a downward spiral that’s harder and harder to get out of. Among the time-pressed advisors, the J.D. Power survey found they spend an average of 41% more time each month than their peers on tasks like administrative duties or compliance.
Unsurprisingly, the survey found these advisors also rank lower than their colleagues when it comes to their Net Promoter Score (NPS) on a -100 to 100 scale. Employee advisors struggling to find time with clients average an NPS 27 points lower than advisors who do have enough client time. Independent advisors average 30 points lower than advisors with enough client time.
Another wrench worsening things is changing advisor demographics. For example, one in five (20%) advisors anticipate being five years or less away from retirement, and the average age of U.S. financial advisors is 56 years old. Additionally, many advisors aren’t certain they’ll stay at their current firm. Rather than indicating they “definitely” will be at their current firm in the next one to two years, the survey found 30% of employee advisors say they “probably” will be at their current firm.
What does this mean for current wealth management leadership? They need to demonstrate strong leadership to improve existing advisor-client relationships, as well as give advisors a reason to stay at their firm for the long term. The survey found the following reasons for staying at a firm:
- Strong culture
- Company leadership
- Professional development support
- Training and technology
With so much set to shift in the coming years, firms that succeed in the long term must address these challenges as they come, especially as they affect client continuity between advisors
Why Time With Your Clients Matters
Clients don’t like it when advisors seem like they aren’t spending enough time with them. Finances are deeply personal, and unless your clients feel heard, understood, and informed, they’re unlikely to stick around for long. Advisors need to prioritize providing timely responses to questions and giving proactive updates about investments — things they can’t do very well if they’re pressed for the time to do it.
Not prioritizing client care is a huge mistake that can mark the beginning of the end for the client and advisor relationship. A recent survey found clients fire their advisor when they are unhappy with the following:
- Quality of financial advice/services (32%)
- Quality of relationship with their advisor (21%)
- Absence of quality communication (9%)
The things each of those has in common? They depend on time. Advisors and firms need robust internal resources and processes set in place to handle the back office work so they can return to the focus where it matters: providing quality services and communication to clients in service of their relationship.
Docupace Can Free Up Advisor Time
Docupace offers a real solution to help advisors in a time crunch. Not only does our software improve data entry and collection, but we can help advisors create workflows that cater to customer expectations, improving the client-advisor relationship.
Reducing manual processes helps advisors prioritize their time where it really counts: with their clients. Learn more about how Docupace can reduce compliance errors, streamline back office operations, and eliminate tedious paperwork.
