Transition your advisor practice from typical to exceptional

Saturday, October 19th, 2019 and is filed under AI Insight News

Put your focus on non-delegable tasks and pass on the rest to help you create a leading advisory practice.    

A typical financial advisor works an average of 43 hours per week, yet spends only 19% of their time meeting with clients according to a recent study conducted by Kitces.com. The study shows that only an additional 17% of time is spent on prospecting, leaving a significant gap of time spent on tasks that they should consider delegating to help improve their business results.

 

What should my practice look like?

The 80/15/5 Rule For Financial Advisors by Forbes suggests the Kitces study is a “wake-up call” for advisors noting that their practice should be treated as any small business. To increase the potential for success, an advisor should focus 80% of their time on their expertise – meeting with clients and prospecting. For the remaining time, they suggested that advisors focus 15% on “learning and expanding spheres of knowledge and influence, and 5% with staff or team-building”.

What efficiencies can help improve my practice?

The Kitces study calls out that “a combination of technology and delegation of tasks” outside of an advisor’s expertise such as administration, human resources, marketing and meeting preparation can help an advisor transition to spending a much larger percentage of time face-to-face with clients.

The Forbes article notes that while there are additional costs incurred with outsourcing, the cost is actually greater when the advisor spends time doing delegable tasks rather than leaving it to an expert or creating efficiencies using technology tools.

3 steps to start your advisory practice transition

  • Make a list of your recurring tasks that could be delegated such as calling to set appointments, posting on social media to promote your business, investment research, or inputting data for your financial plans.
  • Gather references to connect with people who have expertise to help fill your gaps, such as a freelance marketer or a financial support professional.
  • Look at tasks that can be done more efficiently through technology such as managing clients with a reliable CRM or implementing financial planning software.

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