There will always be industry pundits who believe adopting all the latest “bells and whistles” in tools and technology is the only way to raise the bar for how independent firms support their affiliated financial advisors. The reality, however, is that service excellence can be achieved based on the little things. By focusing on the intangible, day-to-day items that may not be glamorous, firms can generate results that cumulatively move the needle significantly when it comes to the advisor experience.
To draw from a sports example: In 2015, noted statistician Nate Silver declared the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team the most dominant program on earth. As anyone who follows sports can attest, it was hardly a bold claim. At the time, the Huskies were in the middle of a 111-game winning streak in which the average margin of victory approached 40 points and a run of six national titles in eight years.
How did UConn become so dominant? Sure, their coach, Geno Auriemma, is one of the all-time greats and the roster is stocked with high school all-Americans. But there’s more to it than that. After all, John Wooden’s UCLA teams of the 60s and 70s had similar advantages, and they didn’t overwhelm the competition, night in and night out, quite like UConn has.
One reason is that the Huskies are among the most fundamentally sound teams in the country. They make the extra pass, box out, shoot well from the free throw line and hustle for each ball. Or what coaches often refer to as the “little things.” In today’s ever-changing environment, where the expectations of advisors and their end clients have never been higher, firms should rip a page from the UConn playbook.
Applied to our industry, this means the latest bells and whistles are always great to have, but they are also increasingly commoditized and easy to obtain for most reasonably well-resourced firms. Service is what matters now.
That said, firms should be careful not to conflate more with better when it comes to providing advisors the support they need to serve their clients. Sometimes, less is indeed more, and the best way to achieve that dynamic is to do what UConn does: Focus on the little things.
Streamline And Empower
As the level of regulatory complexity has ballooned in recent years, so too have the administrative burdens placed on advisors. In response, some firms have attempted to beef up their call center support desks by both adding personnel and increasing the level of specialization. While these moves were well-intentioned, they have, in some instances, resulted in slow and fractured service, with advisors having first to navigate a cluttered, multi-layered phone tree and then bounce around from one person to another before ultimately reaching someone who is qualified to help.
Firms should provide streamlined phone-tree options and provide front-line service team members with the tools and education they need to further their professional development and take on more responsibility. That way, support and services issues will be resolved far more quickly and efficiently. Be sure to recognize and reward service team members who perform well.