PROBLEM:
This firm had 3 locations, 44 staff, $1.9 billion AUM, and they had just lost their largest client. They struggled with clarity on being an investment or planning-centric firm, had very low profitability, and lacked effective communication among staff and executives. They had also committed to implementing one of the most labor intensive migrations without having project and vendor management experience, an industry-bred COO, a culture open to change, and expertise in cloud-based technology.
Most of all, there was no business manager. All of the executives preferred business development and client service and not business management.
RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS:
We started the improvements below with discussions of the time and cost-saving they would experience in the future.
- Power trained on Salesforce Sales and Client Servicing reporting
- Removed unnecessary Salesforce fields and layouts to reduce scrolling and eye exhaustion
- Implemented Salesforce bulk cleanup tool and eliminated duplicate data and reduced storage costs by $10,000+ a year
- Hired Orion expert to migrate from Advent Axys to Orion in less than 1 year
- Redesigned Salesforce permissions, with no additional cost, to give staff full access to the SF tools they needed.
- Trained manager on running productive, accountability-driven team and executive meetings
- Eliminated data entry by implementing time-saving data flows among email, calendar and task systems
- Dropped marketing company due to lack of expertise in service branding ($100,000+ cost savings)
- Designed and implemented specific data flows among Salesforce, Orion, Pershing, and Quovo to eliminate time-consuming work and avoid duplication of data flows (See below)
- Implemented Laser App Group form filling with Salesforce integration
- Instituted eMoney Select and Money Guide Pro to self-train staff on planning analysis, eliminate data entry work, and collect data efficiently
- Power trained on best use of email, dictations, tasks, investment systems to eliminate toggling among 5-7 software programs during a given hour.
- Recalibrated staff to more defined roles and responsibilities
- Designed and implemented efficient workflows to reduce the workload, increase communication, improve quality servicing, and maximize the use of the tech and integrations.
- Trained Assistant COO on systems, industry, process creation and pre-sell techniques
SUCCESS:
This engagement was a massive undertaking and the impact of the improvements are still sinking in years later. Change management and realization of the owners’ true passions was very difficult. It took us, a strong, determined staff manager, and equity partner to push forward and change the culture to embrace continuous improvements.
A year from the start date, this firm was more lean with 2 offices and 14 less staff. The loss of clients stopped and they attracted $30 million AUM. The client experience and marketing increased trust and referrals starting to pour in. Profitability had improved, workload had decreased, and efficient communication among staff became the norm.
Two years later, this firm has 40 staff, 4 offices, and $800 million more in AUM. While the partners still haven’t chosen someone to manage the business and staff, the business operations is humming and growth continues. It is just a matter of time for the owners to choose a President and we hope that happens soon.
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