The advisor may additionally be part of a cross-sell campaign list sent by marketing. Two engagement plans here can then be proposed. The first to reduce redemptions by sharing timely news and portfolio manager commentary via email and in a follow-up call. The second an up-sell can be positioned with value options with in-depth commentary by the research team and an invitation to a webinar to learn more. Together this meets the advisor’s needs while enabling the firm to retain and grow assets at the firm. It’s a win-win outcome.
Hortz: How do you categorize all this data into what you call “signals”?
Stevenson: ForwardLane has developed a signal library to automate analysis and meeting prep work for asset manager representatives. We work together with asset managers to blend off-the-shelf signals with custom signals that meet each firm’s requirements. A custom master algorithm is then configured based on experts and users in the firm, so that each it is entirely customized to each asset management firms thinking and best practices. We categorize signals based on whether or not they are going to help them grow and gather assets, help in cross-selling or upselling products and services, and aid in reducing redemptions by enhancing retention.
Hortz: How does your AI-based platform determine and offer recommendations on next-best-actions for asset managers with their advisor clients?
Stevenson: Next-best-actions (NBAs) in ForwardLane are powered by Signals. So, a Signal that shows an emerging markets fund mentioned in CRM notes, but not transacted, may have proposed NBAs of “Share product fact sheet and PM commentary”, “Invite to emerging markets webinar”, “Schedule follow-up call”. We aggregate, rank, and score user behavior and the algorithm will sort the NBAs based on those that are most popular with sales professionals at the firm – effectively surfacing best practices.
ForwardLane has new Flow automation coming for Salesforce, which will be a game-changer, effectively enabling NBAs to be linked to Flow Builder automations that run across the Salesforce ecosystem and can also tie into external systems with webhooks.
Hortz: Can you share some brief examples of how some of your asset management clients are developing advisor engagement and messaging strategies by working with the many different types of data from your centralized platform?
Stevenson: A key use case is enabling hybrid sales teams to prioritize which advisors to reach out to, analyzing all the data around each advisor every day, and then summarizing the findings and delivering this into Salesforce through our native component. This may entail surfacing data pack insights to see that there is a shift in flows to a strategy, a discussion in CRM around products in that category, and a marketing campaign with related collateral, all meshed together by ForwardLane.
An initial call to an advisor is made with the asset manager representative knowing there is a new fund allocation at that office, that discussions in CRM point to buying intent, and marketing identified them for a new campaign based on segmentation. A next best action might be to 1.) Share fund fact sheet and latest PM commentary 2.) Invite the advisor to a webinar and 3.) Provide an indication of interest back to Marketing, which can then automatically place the advisor into a digital re-marketing campaign. Positively and proactively surrounding the advisor with useful, relevant, timely, and interesting insights based on their specific needs.
Hortz: Any other thoughts or recommendations from your experience that you would like to share?
Stevenson: Shifting your mindset and looking at “data” differently creates tremendous opportunity. Automation is everywhere, and now this is possible in fund distribution by weaving together data from across the organization and activating it so that it is in the hands of asset manager representatives in a prioritized and focused way. These capabilities are available today and can be deployed inside of 3 months for cloud-based firms.
Moving to become an insight-based organization ensures you are always relevant, precisely focused, and highly productive thanks to AI-based automation and analysis. I invite asset managers to contact us to discuss your digital acquisition goals and learn more: https://www.forwardlane.com/asset-management.
The Institute for Innovation Development is an educational and business development catalyst for growth-oriented financial advisors and financial services firms determined to lead their businesses in an operating environment of accelerating business and cultural change. We position our members with the necessary ongoing innovation resources and best practices to drive and facilitate their next-generation growth, differentiation, and unique client/community engagement strategies. The institute was launched with the support and foresight of our founding sponsors — Ultimus Fund Solutions, NASDAQ, Pershing, Fidelity, Voya Financial, and Charter Financial Publishing (publisher of Financial Advisor magazine).