When it comes to client service, there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach.
Advisers contending with fee disruption, changing consumer expectations and the management of growth and succession often ask, "Is this the best solution, or is it just what we've always done?"
The same is true for the fintech firms that build the technology those advisers use.
Everything from the organization of service teams to the software they use to connect with adviser clients can benefit from feedback and new perspectives. For our part, we saw immediate benefits after updating Orion's client service model two years ago.
In Search of a Better Fit
The first step to improving your service is to ask yourself what happens when someone calls you for help. For a long time, our answer was to offer consistent points of contact for our adviser clients. If you talk to the same person, the reasoning goes, you can build a relationship with them and they grow to understand your firm's unique business model and value proposition.
But our growth meant points of contacts had to understand a bigger, more complex service. They ultimately end up becoming client service generalists. The problem with a jack-of-all-trades is they're a master of none, and often adviser clients need a master's help to solve their problems so they can get the answer they need quickly and easily and get to the business of serving their clients.
At this scale, single points of contact become unwieldy. No matter how strong an adviser's relationship is with a member of the support team, they will get tired of hearing, "Let me talk to the expert and get back to you."
(More: Getting to scale — the virtual solution)
Ways for Everyone to Win
In response, we created pools of subject matter experts assigned to different facets of our software. This model of service excels for sophisticated software platforms with several moving parts, allowing the experts to laser in on a client's particular issues.
With one area of focus, subject matter experts can become the master problem-solvers clients need. What's more, it's faster to train new hires on one specialty. One of the biggest advantages to this approach, we've found, is it puts our subject matter experts in a position to succeed.
If the service model of your practice gives your team the tools they need to "win" every day, solving more problems on the first call and closing the loop faster to everyone's satisfaction, you're on the right track.
Does It Actually Work?
Of course, it's rare to try new things without facing skepticism or resistance. Sometimes new clients hesitate, with understandable concerns they'll have to re-explain their unique business models and circumstances every time they reach out to the support team.
That said, it's hard for us to argue with the results. Since Orion transitioned to this system, we've closed cases 10% faster, even as the volume of cases grew 20%. In other words, our response time has improved even with greater volume and more clients. Still, we moved to address potential client misgivings by investing heavily in strategic consultants. They play a crucial role to consult with both onboarding and legacy clients so they can understand and configure our platform to its full potential.
Our service model is a continual work in progress. We have recently made further improvements by expanding the roles of strategic consultants, implementing artificial intelligence to aid in service requests, and above all listening to what our advisers tell us.
After all, the best tech stack in the world is no good to advisers if they can't understand how to use it — or can't reach the experts who do. By the same token, the best financial planning advice in the world is not much help to your clients if they must struggle to reach you when things go wrong.
(More: Solidify client relationships in volatile times by overcommunicating)
Randy Lambert is president of Orion Advisor Services. Follow him at @RandyLambertOAS. ?
