Financial Advisors Need to Create a "Starbucks" Client Experience in Order to Drive Profitability and Growth
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Fox Financial Planning Network (FFPN) announced today the availability of a new industry white paper that highlights the urgency facing advisors to systematize their practices through automated workflows to create a consistent and outstanding client experience. The industry report, "The Rise of Automated Workflows in Financial Advisory Practices: Why Developing a "Starbucks" Client Experience is the Key to Sustainability, Profitability and Growth" provides insight into how advisors can design and automate client service workflows.
"Advisors today are challenged with systematizing their businesses so they are providing a consistent level of service to their clients," said Deborah Fox, CEO and founder of FFPN. "Many firms have built their businesses 'upside down' in that they have not put in place a foundation of well developed systems and operating procedures. As a result, advisors and their staff spend the majority of their day working reactively rather than proactively which leads to their clients experiencing an inconsistent and inefficient service experience."
The industry report documents how the independent advisor industry evolved from a start-up mentality that has led to many firms not developing the core systems, workflows and infrastructure necessary to efficiently provide a consistent level of service. This issue is leading to capacity constraints for advisors at exactly at the same time that macro-forces, such as baby-boomer retirement, are driving a growth curve their way. Other industry-wide issues that are driving the need for a more consistent and efficient operational foundation include changing compliance mandates, the growing urgency for succession planning and the current complex and more time-consuming operating environment for providing financial advice to clients.
According to the report, "The solution to these issues is to adopt systematized workflows for providing a high-level of service, similar to how industry leaders, such as Starbucks Coffee Company has done… and at the heart of that service experience is a detailed set of workflows and checklists that are consistently executed upon."
The report provides a detailed roadmap for how advisors can design workflows and automate them through their CRM systems, including several specific examples that are depicted in flow chart form. "We've taken the best ideas, systems and technology from our nearly 30 years in the business and are providing them to the profession as a resource," said Fox. "We strongly believe in giving back to the profession and FFPN has been specifically designed to help advisors take control of their businesses and build a strong foundation for future growth and profitability."
The report, first in a series of practice management resources from FFPN, is available on the www.FoxFinancialPlanningNetwork.com website and can be downloaded at no cost by clicking on the whitepaper download box on the home page.
About Fox Financial Planning Network
FFPN is transforming the way advisors operate by providing the tools, templates, workflows and consulting to systematize the delivery of financial advice. Based on the experiences of Deborah Fox, a 28-year veteran financial advisor, FFPN provides a comprehensive set of resources enabling advisors to increase profitability, ensure compliance, scale their practice, while growing their firms. FFPN is a network of financial advisors and best-in-class technology providers, consultants and other financial industry resource providers that together, are improving the lives of financial advisors, their staff and their clients by helping them evolve their financial advisory businesses. www.FoxFinancialPlanningNetwork.com
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