Advisers need to be more like Beyoncé and spend the majority of their time in front of their audience, rather than backstage.
At a My Dealer Services event in Sydney on Thursday, financial adviser Adele Martin said only 16 to 17 per cent of adviser’s time is spent in front of clients, as they spend the majority of their time doing back-office and administrative tasks.
She likened it a star performer spending more time backstage rather than onstage in front of the audience.
“We want advisers to be Beyoncé, we want you front stage singing,” Martin said.
“Imagine if Beyoncé had to set up all of her equipment and roadshow and everything, but by the time she actually got to sing, she’d be pretty exhausted.
“That’s what we see with adviser. When they try to do all the back-office stuff, the product comparisons and all that, [by the] time they get to what they actually love in front of clients, they can be exhausted.”
As an example of some of these inefficient tasks keeping advisers “backstage”, ASO Wealth director and financial adviser Julien Renard reflected on launching his own advice business 18 months ago and said the data capturing and new client onboarding process was extremely inefficient.
Renard said they used to either send out a PDF, Word document, email or just write all the required data down during a client meetings.
As a result, he and his business partner found they were sometimes missing information, or the client just doesn’t get back to you.
“The biggest thing that we found was just a use of a really good client portal, which solved many issues,” Renard said.
“That was one huge inefficiency that we had, and with the right technology partner, we solved that problem really well.”
Martin said while a client portal was not the easiest solution to implement, there are huge benefits from having one.
“I think [a portal] could be that client communication tool, like that adviser in your pocket, so you can just feel like they’re there. You can have consistency in your process by using like video onboarding, which you can do in a client portal.”
Martin said videos via a client portal can ensure the client is better educated when they see their adviser.
The panel also heard AI can be used for automation and saving time and stress for advisers.
Martin said advisers could save 10 hours a week on file notes alone, which frees up space to take on more clients or get other things such as marketing done.
“Solving that frees up [capacity] massively, not just on the time, but also mentally as well.”
Renard said as his business has evolved very quickly, which means he needs to constantly review his processes and tech stacks.
He said his firm identifies three main criteria when making decisions about tech products: whether the team is proficient at using the technology, whether it is gaining time efficiencies and if it is more cost effective.
Martin also recommends “theming” your days to reduce stress and make sure advisers have time to work on the business and drive efficiency.
“When you can control your diary and have a day that’s for new clients, for sales, a day for reviews, a day for working on the business, you just get more done,” she said.
AI is being slowly but surely adopted across the advice profession, with the vast majority of businesses using some form of AI.
On Wednesday, outsourcing specialists Vital Business Partners and integrated financial advice firm Yarra Lane launched a Robotic Process Automation consulting service, which utilises AI to assist advisers in streamlining their processes and ensuring a consistent client experience.
Yarra Lane chief executive Nick Perrett presented to a Professional Planner roundtable earlier this month about how this emerging tech has reshaped his business.
