Findings from the 2021 Fidelity RIA Benchmarking Study show “outsourcing is becoming an increasingly attractive option” for registered investment advisory firms. No financial advisor wants to think about the possibility of failure, but it is important to be realistic and understand that growing your business does not come easy. Many factors can impede growth, and one of the most common is a failure to act in key areas such as customer service.
To provide excellent customer service while finding the time to grow, more advisory firms are outsourcing their operations. By doing so, advisors and their staff can focus on their core strengths and leave the rest to the experts. With the right outsourcing partner in place, advisors can mitigate the pains that come with trying to scale their business, while maintaining an elevated level of quality and service clients have come to expect.
In today’s A Day in The Life of an Advisor Services, we cover the outsourcing of CRM work for tasks such as:
Migrating to a new CRM system
Customization of data fields
Creating system reports
Establishing integrations
Entering new client information
Creating marketing campaigns
Creating automation/workflows
And more
Can I Outsource this? CRM Work
Maintaining CRM software is a daily task often lumped in with other tasks such as handling client requests, reviewing outside accounts through account aggregation, and recurring compliance documentation. CRM is the hub in which advisors do all this work, including tracking, organizing, and documenting. CRM maintains a level of organization in a firm, allows for workflow management, and provides granular insight into each client’s interaction with your firm.
Why advisors do not think to outsource CRM work:
When it comes to CRM, a number of advisors are content with simply using the platform to manage customer data, reminders, and notes, and do not leverage the power of workflows and documentation within the CRM system. And for those that do utilize the full suite of features provided by a CRM, the cost benefits and improved efficiencies gained through outsourcing the management of CRM software are simply not understood.
A more direct reason why advisors do not consider outsourcing the management of their CRM software is a concern that the outsourcing team will not follow firm policies.
Ask yourself - Can someone do these tasks as well as me?
When considering outsourcing a task, there are two questions an advisor should consider:
“Can someone else do this task at least 80% as well as me?”
If the answer is yes, then outsourcing is a good decision. And for CRM Work, the answer is yes (learn more about why in the next section, “Can I Outsource This Task?”).
AllBackoffice has situational knowledge of the wealth management industry and has spent the past 12+ years helping advisors with admin operations. AllBackoffice operates with a high level of service and due care extended to each customer, and we provide professional administrators to manage daily tasks in the most widely used CRM system systems.
“If I didn’t have to do this task, would I be able to spend more time on a task that directly impacts revenue growth?”
AllBackoffice’s Advisor Solutions Onboarding and Team Lead estimated that the amount of time outsourcing CRM Work would save an Advisor depends on how heavily they utilize their CRM. On average, outsourcing this task would save an advisor 3-4 hours a month.
Can I outsource this task?
Yes. Outsourcing is a great option for financial advisors. Outsourcing the management of CRM work allows financial advisors to save on infrastructure costs, eliminate the burdensome task of manually entering customer information, free-up time for your client services team, and improve production and efficiency as your and your staff focus on other important high-value tasks.
Contact us to learn how our team of administrators can help you with managing and maintaining your CRM software.