Most of your cultures will create misery …

No matter if

You are a financial advisor with a part-time assistant
Or you are a tech founder with 100 employees.
Your own culture is happening to you.

Some of us will recognize it.
But few of us are intentional early on.
By the time we see the issues, it’s too late.

And eventually, things go wrong and team members talk.

A post yesterday from Brock Pierson had over 400 comments.
Another from April Little had over 200 comments.
There is venom toward employers.

How do you think these team members,
Perform for their customers?
How mission-oriented?

Exactly.

“We are a family” doesn’t exempt you.
It is too easy for good people to make a change.
But it’s so simple to set a different course.

An example.

April’s generous community liked up a storm
On a comment I made about my company.
It was merely enlightened self-interest.

But we’ve been intentional. And that makes ALL the difference.

Being intentional about your culture
→ policies
→ process
→ norms

Is as simple as asking a few questions.

For every process, policy, norm, etc in your company

Just ask:
1. What is the outcome we want?
2. How do we set the conditions?
3. Support our team?

Not,
→ How do I make them,
→ Work HOW I want,
→ The WAY I want.

If you stop focusing on controlling.
And focus on supporting.
Results will skyrocket.

Because your team is happy.

You know about compound interest.
This is compound interest,
On human capital.

How are you intentional about your culture?

The post If Your Firm is More Than You, You Have a Culture first appeared on Blueleaf.

I heard this and it stopped me in my tracks.

To me, it’s every advisor’s secret fear.

I recently had a conversation with a friend about his advisor who said

And what he said got me to pause.

It made me wonder how we show up in our clients’ lives.
Do they get what they need from us.
If not, where do they get it?

I think there’s a silver lining

I think you can fix it.

How are you communicating with your clients?

The post Every Advisor’s Biggest Fear first appeared on Blueleaf.

Introducing new technology to clients is a challenge.

Let’s face it, whether you are a technophile with all the latest gadgets or someone who has just started to hear about a new company called Instagram, most of us are not experts at consumer behavior with technology. So rolling out new systems for your clients may create a little apprehension.

Will they like it? Will they use it? Will it help my business? That’s a lot of questions to answer. So let’s take a look at how to incorporate new client facing technology and roll it out successfully to your clients.

What Your Clients “Want” Doesn’t Matter

When advisors are thinking about new client-facing technology, a common first instinct is to ask clients what they want.

Big mistake!

Getting clients involved in the process is critical, yes, but asking them will send you down the wrong path. As it turns out, we’re all terrible at knowing what we want if it’s not close to what we already have. Think Henry Ford “If I asked people what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse.” Essentially, you’re asking them to predict the future, which isn’t so easy. It’s one of the reasons that the best product companies on the planet (particularly in technology) never ask “What do you want?” or “Would you use this X product that you haven’t even tried yet?”.

Understanding Problems is the Key

Instead, ask clients about what their problems or challenges are. Focus on how they are currently handling the scenario you hope a new system will help them with. For a client portal it might be a series of questions like, “How challenging has it been for you to get a complete financial picture?” or “How much time do you spend gathering your financial information?”questions that identify problems and challenges are the magic questions to learn more about your clients.

People tend to be very specific and vividly aware of what is painful, time consuming or expensive for them. That specificity is golden. You may also want to include a few questions that may indicate the conditions that create the problem you’re trying to solve. In the client portal example, it might be a question like “How many institutions hold your assets?” The answer “a lot” indicates a potential need, “one” less so.

By getting clients to discuss their challenges and frustrations, you’ll be in a much better position to think clearly about what solutions can help solve these issues. Even if you’ve already picked a technology, starting this way allows you to frame what you’re doing in the context of the challenges they’ve just shared with you. e.g. “We’re about to roll out X and I think it might solve some of the challenges you just mentioned. What do you think?”

This approach will help make the conversation much less abstract and you may even learn something new about your clients. There is a lot more to say about how to offer new services and we’re planning to write a lot about it in other posts. For this post, we’ll focus on rolling out a new service, after you’ve done your homework and made the decision.

Aim Small, Miss Small

The simplest way to start is by picking a few clients to talk with. These clients should be representative of your base and be people you think will be able to give good feedback.

What is ‘good feedback‘? Good feedback is clear, specific, and focused on answering the question “Did we solve the problem we set out to solve?”, and “Have my changes made clients happier?”.

The key is to set yourself up to get feedback from actual client experience that is focused on solving a problem. With a client portal, you may be setting out to solve the problem of seeing everything in one place or more easily sharing information with you, or having clients feel a sense of clarity and transparency around their money. Whatever it is you set out to do, ask the clients about their related problems.

In general, actually rolling out a system is straight forward. The amount of work needed per client depends on the complexity of the system and that, in turn, governs how quickly you can roll out without an overwhelming amount of support requests. Even with the simplest systems and/or the handful that directly support clients on your behalf, like at Blueleaf, you’ll probably want to divide your client base and roll the system out in pieces. With easy-to-use systems, 20 clients per week per advisor is a reasonable roll out pace with minimal disruption.

Communicate and K.I.S.S.

A good roll out process starts with communicating clearly with clients; what you’re planning, why you’re doing it and why it benefits them. Focus on a handful of key benefits that solve the challenges your clients have. Good systems can do many things. Roll out isn’t the time to share a laundry list of all the features of the solution. Keep it simple. Make a list of 2 or 3 bullets (not paragraphs) and tell clients, “The system does A, B and C and lots more. It’s fantastic and we’re excited about how it will help you.” That’s it. Less is so much more.

In the roll out process, DO NOT anticipate concerns in your communications, another common mistake. Among advisors this is particularly true with the topic of security. In an effort to be thorough or save time, advisors frequently raise issues they think clients “should” or “probably” care about. STOP NOW. By doing this you are creating issues not solving them. If your clients have concerns, they will ask. Have answers ready, but don’t force the concerns of the few on the many. It merely complicates otherwise simple issues.

Eliminate as many sources of friction and client effort as possible. If you’ve written 3 paragraphs in an email, get it down to 3-4 sentences. If you’re thinking of a process with 3 steps, make it 2. However, and maybe counterintuitively, DO NOT do all the setup work for your clients. For client facing technology, client involvement in setup is critical for their future engagement.

If a client is unwilling to take an hour to do something, they may be too busy. If a client is unwilling to take 5 minutes (which is all that descent client technology should require), then that should be a signal about the value that this client sees in what you’re doing. Double down on your communication, clarify and try again.

Lastly, don’t expect 100% adoption of any system, no matter how good. Great systems see adoption around 50%. While better can happen, and I’m proud to say Blueleaf sees it often, focus on an achievable target. If you get 55% of your clients to adopt, you’ve done well and improved the lives of over 1/2 your client base.

The post How To Introduce New Technology To Your Clients first appeared on Blueleaf.

Rolling out account aggregation can be very straight forward.

The amount of work needed per client depends on the complexity of the system and that, in turn, governs how quickly you can roll out without an overwhelming amount of support requests. (Step #1 helps you avoid this.)

Ultimately a good roll out process is about communicating clearly with clients; what you’re planning, why you’re doing it and why it benefits them.

Communicating clearly is tricky, though, so make sure you prep well and execute with purpose.

PREP:

1.) Choose the right system.

This rest of this guide assumes you’ve chosen the best system – both for you and your client. If not, you may add complexity to your service, clients will sense that, and you’ll fight an uphill battle at each stage of the roll-out. To avoid this nightmare here’s a checklist with 15 Things to Look For + 9 Red Flags when shopping for account aggregation.

2.) Get out of your own way.

This is crucial.

You were mindful about choosing the best aggregation platform. Now, in the roll out process, DO NOT anticipate concerns. In an effort to be thorough or save time, advisors frequently raise issues they think clients “should” or “probably” care about. Stop now. By doing this you are creating issues not solving them. If your clients have concerns, they will ask. Have answers ready, but don’t force the concerns of the few on the many. It merely complicates otherwise simple issues. Next…

3.) Eliminate friction and unnecessary client effort.

If you’re thinking of a process with 3 steps, make it 2. If you’ve written 3 paragraphs in an email, get it down to 3-4 sentences. If you chose Blueleaf as your account aggregation platform, friction in during setup has already been reduced for you. Second, and maybe counterintuitively, DO NOT do all the setup work for your clients. For client facing technology, client involvement in setup is critical for their future engagement.

EXECUTE:

4.) Pick “the right” clients to start with.

The simplest way to start is by picking a few clients to talk with. These clients should be representative of your base and be people you think will be able to give good feedback. What is ‘good feedback’? Good feedback is clear, specific and focused on answering the question “Did we solve the problem we set out to solve?” and “Have my changes made clients happier?” That’s it.

Note: If a client is unwilling to take an hour to do something, they may be too busy. If a client is unwilling to take 5 minutes, then that should be a signal about the value that this client sees in what you’re doing. Double down on your communication, clarify and try again.

5.) Explain aggregation like a human.

Good aggregation platforms can do many things. Roll out isn’t the time to share a laundry list of all the features of the solution. Keep it simple. Here are 19 ways to describe aggregation in friendly terms. Make a list of 2 or 3 bullets (Not paragraphs) and tell clients “The system does A, B and C and lots more. It’s fantastic and we’re excited about how it will help you.” That’s it. Less is much much more.

6.) Show them what it looks like.

Ask your account aggregation provider for demo videos made specifically for clients. This allows clients to see the system before diving in, and get excited about it’s value. Here’s the friendly client video tour we provide to Blueleaf users.

7.) Invite them to the platform and to sync their own accounts.

This is where the power of account aggregation is kicked into high gear. Invite your clients, and empower them add their held-away accounts via their own portal. (On Blueleaf, this can be done with prospects too – no custodied accounts required!)

Now they’re in.

8.) Lastly, don’t expect 100% adoption of any system, no matter how good.

Great systems see adoption around 50%. While better can happen (and I’m proud to say Blueleaf sees it often), focus on an achievable target. If you get 55% of your clients to adopt, you’ve done well and improved the lives of over 1/2 your client base.

Questions?

Post them in the comments for direct help.

Related: Everything you need to know about Account Aggregation

Image source

The post How To Introduce Account Aggregation to Clients first appeared on Blueleaf.

Over the past two years, our business has added clients in several states around the country and kept clients who moved away. Beyond that, we also started having virtual meetings with clients who lived or worked just down the road (via Skype or other video calling service). Yes, we send a little more paperwork through the mail if we don’t meet in person, but that’s about the only thing that’s different.

Why meet virtually? Our clients are busy, so they appreciate the opportunity to cut out travel time. We’ve also found that in growing fashion clients will shoot us a quick email with a decision they face or other feedback request rather than waiting for a formal meeting (when it’s usually too late).

Now, I’m facing a geographical relocation of my own.

After much discussion (with mentors and other key relationships) about weighing the opportunity to expand our firm in Phoenix, AZ, we finally made the announcement to our clients that I would be moving my family away from Atlanta. And soon.

Five years ago, what we’re about to attempt would be virtually impossible. Now, it will be.

Utilizing virtual services like Facetime, Join.me, Skype, paperless office, Dropbox, Blueleaf aggregation, etc, we’ll maintain engagement with plans we’re working on and investments we’re managing as if I were just down the road.

Making The Announcement to Clients

Initially we wanted to preempt the challenge that the relationship with our clients might change or the level of due diligence and customized advice might be diminished. Clients have always had full access to both Brian and I, so we had to be clear how accessible we would be going forward. In fact, we took the proactive approach by promising a greater level of interaction through leverage of additional technology like screen sharing and outfitting our office for video conferencing. Additionally, Brian made a point to reassure our clients that he wasn’t going anywhere.

After personally talking with a few key clients to share the news, we put together about a three minute video (which you can see here on YouTube) and emailed it to our client base along with a transcript of the video.

We took a positive spin throughout and highlighted all that would stay the same along with improvements to our client interaction through technology.

Here’s the actual announcement we sent out:

Catalyst Wealth Management, Brian Pierce and Caleb Huftalin are excited to announce that we will have a presence in Phoenix, AZ, very soon! Caleb looks forward to the opportunity to expand our firm out West this summer. (Then we inserted the video.)

Not only does Phoenix promise tremendous opportunity to help families there make good financial decisions through transition, almost all of Caleb’s immediate family lives in the Phoenix metro area.

From Caleb:
While I may be physically moving to Phoenix, I’m not going anywhere! Both Brian and I will continue to work closely on every aspect of your plan regarding investment due diligence, performance evaluation, insurance planning, budget reviews, plan actions and next best steps. We will be available to answer questions and provide feedback as always and will strive to ensure that the level of service you are used to will not change in any way.

Currently we work with clients in more than five states from Georgia to Arizona. We plan to use this opportunity to leverage the most advanced virtual technology to be just as involved as ever, if not more. Through screen sharing and video services like Facetime, Skype, Google Hangouts and Join.me, we’ll continue to collaborate with our clients to make quality financial decisions.

There will be several occasions where I’ll be back in the Atlanta area, but even when I’m not here, utilizing these technologies will make our time and energy as we work together efficient.

Stacey and I couldn’t be more excited about raising Levi and Micah near grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins in Arizona. Our hope is that our relationships here in the Atlanta area will continue to grow. We will miss seeing you as often as we are currently able at social and client events, but rest assured, our team stands ready to provide the very best advice and assistance for our clients.

From Brian:
I will continue to have local meetings in or out of the Suwanee office, and we don’t anticipate anything changing from a business stand point. Caleb will still be involved in day to day efforts, and we will meet in person or virtually as often as we normally get together.

As always, we will continue to focus on families and individuals in transition who are expanding their family, growing their income, selling a business, changing jobs, and moving from accumulation to distribution.

If you have questions or would like to talk with us further about it, we’re certainly open to chatting and receiving any feedback from you.

Let’s make it a great year together!
Caleb Huftalin, CFP®
Brian Pierce

The Effect It Had

Feedback from clients started right away via email and continued through conversations on the phone and in meetings as they came up. The response was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, we received 100% positive comments from our clients. They understood the reason for the move and showed not an inkling of concern as we recapped our strategy to continue to serve them.

So far we’ve leveraged a suite of virtual services like Facetime, Skype, Google Hangouts, Join.me, Dropbox and our paperless document management system. Blueleaf aggregation has been the key tool in keeping us up to date on all the assets we manage as well as those held-away. Meeting preparation has been highly productive and truly a joy since we can be proactive about proposing a change in their strategy based on what we see in their 401K or bank account balances, all visible via Blueleaf.

For our clients, Blueleaf is a portal they can log into any time of day, from anywhere, to see “how things are going”. We’ve found both extremely detail oriented “engineer-type” AND high level “give me the bottom line” clients love that they can access their portfolio information via the Blueleaf portal. Just as I can access account information from anywhere, it’s even more important that clients can receive a weekly update email or login on their computer, tablet or even smart phone for up to date information. If you’re curious about this advisor-to-client engagement tool, check it out.

As we face the onslaught of highly systematized (yet de-personalized) competition, we believe our firm stands on the cutting edge thanks to the technology we can leverage and “be-anywhere” approach to interacting with clients.

And the overwhelmingly supportive feedback we received from clients during this cross-country move is a testament to that.

The post How I Announced a Move Across the Country With Only Positive Feedback from Clients first appeared on Blueleaf.

Hold on a minute people. I see all you poker players reaching for your chips… this isn’t a game of Hold’em. These are the words of a client when he’s found the advisor he can trust to manage ALL of his assets. When used in this context, these three words may as well come with sunshine, a beach and a margarita… because to most advisors, this is heaven.

Stop and think about this for a minute. If each of your clients were to come to you and say that they wanted you to manage their entire portfolio, do you have any idea how many additional assets that would bring you? Well, you should, because that’s some really low hanging fruit.

Unfortunately, the larger a client book an advisor manages, the less likely he or she is to know exactly how much additional AUM is left on the table. This isn’t the case for all advisors, but certainly the majority. Hmm… there seems to be a huge competitive advantage hidden in here.

Many advisers would say that they get a feel for the total assets held away by looking at hard copy statements brought in by clients at review time. A note might then be added to their CRM file, but that’s as far as it goes.

Never seeing everything in one place makes it hard to analyze client risk, allocate investments appropriately and overall, provide sound advice at a comprehensive level. And without such advice, clients may never feel comfortable enough to transfer all of their assets over to one advisor. In the end there is a huge impact on the bottom line if this lack of clarity exists in your business.

In the past, the reason was that the tools weren’t available. That excuse no longer holds any water with the advent of the various tools that exist today, such as data gathering account aggregation software, client portals for easy viewing of clients’ complete financial picture, integrated systems to allow for this data to be automatically pulled into financial planning software, etc.

So what’s the roadblock?

Where is the disconnect that prevents all advisors from being “the one” with their clients, the go-to investment manager?

With these tools now readily at the advisor’s disposal, most of which are not only affordable but end up paying for themselves (check out: Getting ROI from Account Aggregation), it certainly isn’t a lack of technology or budget that’s holding back the industry. And according to the recent article in Advisor IQ titled The Soft Sell Works Wonders With Held-Away Assets, it’s not investor confidence in the market either. Then what could it be?

Well, there are a few finer points that will seal the deal when it comes to clients consolidating their assets with one advisor:

1) Service the assets first before managing them directly, and
2) Adhere to a seamless process when it comes to interacting with clients using the tools mentioned above.

Clients aren’t looking for you to sell them on why you should be the one to manage their assets. They may be generally more comfortable with the uptick in the market in 2013, but they are still somewhat weary of the industry as a whole. In this case, actions definitely speak louder than words. Show them you care and the door swings wide open.

This stems from the concept of soft-selling and the old adage, “clients don’t care how much you know, until you know how much you care.” By utilizing these account aggregation and data gathering tools to cater to the individual needs of each client, it will soon be clear to the client whose interest you are looking out for.

Being curiously engaged in what the clients want and what they really care about is the first step in earning their trust. Interacting with them in this manner can go a long way in having them feel comfortable with you managing all of their assets. Combine these soft skills with a seamless system that pulls in all of their assets into one place, and you are well on your way to winning over each new client, and maybe even a few prospects too!

So now that the relationship is up to par, it’s time to figure out all that new technology to make sure your process is consistent, and you are comfortable using your newly implemented account aggregation, data gathering and performance reporting tools. If you want to make it easy, Blueleaf can help… the truth is that as powerful and sophisticated as these tools are, they’re pretty easy to master with a little support and the right setup.

The post Getting Clients to Go “All In” with Held-Away Assets first appeared on Blueleaf.