How to save over 100 hours of time each year as a financial advisor

 Capacity is the number one challenge for #financialadvisors and wealth management. There are only 168 hours in a week, and that is the one thing that is not changing. How can you build more capacity in 2021? Here are some technology strategies that I have helped advisors implement to save them time, and you can too.

Online meetings 

One advisor I worked with saved 75 to 100 hours of travel time by offering all clients an online meeting, especially during the pandemic. Imagine having very few face to face meetings next year? The advisor. Instead, decided to offer online meetings instead of a phone call or face to face meeting. Not only did it save time, but the clients also enjoyed it more because the advisor prepared their whole review using PowerPoint. It then became an emotionally engaging conversation. Check with your firm, branch manager, or compliance officer before proceeding, as your firm may already have it set up for their advisors. ( full disclosure I do not get any compensation from software firms recommended in this post, I just like using it) For a copy of our latest technology checklist click here https://technologychecklist.getresponsepages.com/  In this 18-page technology checklist, you will learn how to become a "Future Ready Financial Advisor". Replace expensive time-consuming processes with cost-effective technology to build more capacity.

Online calendar

Have you ever played a phone or email tag with a client or prospect to find a mutual meeting time, only to get a follow-up email that they want to change it because the time doesn’t work? Then you start the process over again and it takes months to see ideal clients and prospects because they are busy people. Sound familiar. I work with some of the busiest and successful advisors and I can book appointments with them and their teams using an online calendar scheduler. It is a simple but effective tool for you and your staff to book appointments. Check out time trade ( I Use ) or Calendly or others. Check with your CRM system as all CRM systems should have this built-in. This will save you and your staff hours per month on emails and the phone. 

Paraplanning

Do you think your accountant puts the data into their software system and prepares your personal and corporate returns? Or do they have an assistant that is trained on the software to prepare everything for the accountant, so they can review and confirm it for their clients? You should be delegating as much as possible on your goals-based planning software to your admin or team members. This will free up 10 hours per new client and if you acquire 10 new clients this year there are another 100 hours saved. Paraplanning refers to the administrative duties of a financial planner carried out by junior members of a financial planning group. The function of a paraplanner was created to allow financial planners to focus on working closely with clients and identify their investment needs. Paraplanning includes analyzing clients' needs and researching and recommending suitable advice aligned to those needs. ( according to invesopedia.com )

What is your time worth?

If your time is worth $500 per hour then saving 100 hours this year is worth $50,000. This article then can provide great value to your practice, only if you implement it. The challenge is investing time to implement software and train staff. You can also hire this out as well. That is one of the things we do in our Capacity program, help you implement. Remember to check with your firm, branch manager, or compliance officer before proceeding, as your firm may already software set up for their advisors.  

Common segmentation mistakes that take away time 

Segmenting whom you are going to spend your time with and how much time can be a valuable but stressful process. The most common mistake is financial advisors underestimate the number of hours they will spend with clients in a year. The typical advisor works 1800-2000 hours in a year. Yet when they add up the number of clients and the number of hours, they forget that they don't spend 2000 hours face to face, it is usually 50% of their time. You only have 1000 hours for facetime with clients. Do the math and see if you are past capacity in servicing all of your clients with your current service schedule. Another common segmentation mistake I see is is creating clients as A, B,C, and D categories. Not only do you confuse staff, you deliver too much service to your non-ideal clients. Hundreds of hours in fact spent with the wrong clients, not ideal families. Have you ever felt guilty as a financial advisor NOT servicing your ideal families enough? The elite advisors have two groups, ideal families and everyone else. The ideal families know they are ideal and so do the staff. Do not segment by clients, but by ideal wealthy families, as the whole family represents comprehensive planning challenges. Next year target getting more ideal families, not just clients.  

Time management - 5 strategies

Segment, Technology, People, Processes, Time management tools. To manage your time better in 2021, think about 5 areas. Segmenting your clients annually can help you save time and focus on the most important. (Email us for our segmentation guide) Technology can save you and your team time. People, your human capital investment can save you time. Processes. Every elite advisory team I work with is always working on their processes, for better efficiency. The best teams have more processes than the average team. What processes do you need to work on? Time management tools and tactics. There are always great ideas shared by financial advisors on time management such as time blocking color-coding and more. But the best idea ever was to take more time off. Yes, you heard me correct, take more time off. The elite advisors I work with take more time off. plan your 8 weeks off next year, as elite advisors do.  

Questioning your ideal capacity?  

Imagine if you were to save 100 hours in 2021? What would that do for you personally and professionally, while taking 8+ weeks off in 2021? Contact us to help implement these strategies and more, that can save you hours of time this year by contacting grant at [email protected] or click on the link to set up a no-obligation 20-minute discussion https://my.timetrade.com/book/JMTNJ regardless if we work together, let’s have a chat to help you build your ideal capacity. 

How about your goals for your practice in 2021? Practice management checklist 

While each financial advisor's practice may have a different approach, advisors need to understand where their practice needs help, and will they get the right help for the right part of their practice. What areas does your practice need help with? Get a copy of our comprehensive practice management checklist by going to our website https://www.advisorpracticemanagement.com/about-us or clicking here https://practicemanagement.getresponsepages.com/

 Grant Hicks, CIM, is President of Advisor Practice Management and co-author of “Guerrilla Marketing For Financial Advisors” 1st and 2nd edition. www.advisorpracticemanagement.com for speaking, workshops or coaching, contact Grant at [email protected]  Grants combined financial advisor clients manage over 4 billion AUM , and earn over $40 million dollars combined!