In the world of wealth advisory, delivering advice to clients regularly, accurately and with consistency is the central service delivery aspect that clients rate advisors on. This last stage in the delivery of the advice service is the last-mile in the advice process. However, many advisors struggle to offer the final service delivery despite working hard for their clients in the entire advice journey up to that point.
The Pain
The service advisors provide is not perceived as well as it deserves. While advisors work diligently for their clients, they often struggle to deliver the same levels at the last mile. Imagine getting an incredible deal on a Bluetooth headset you have ordered from an e-commerce site, only to discover that they delivered the headset without a charging cable or one of the earphones. Even if the headset, as a product, is good and you feel like you still got a good price when all of it landed, it would leave a poor taste in your mouth. This is the same with the last-mile delivery of advice services. Advisors can plan and manage a client’s assets well, even providing excellent returns, but unless a reflection of that service is delivered to the client regularly in an easy-to-consume way, the service appears poor.
Last-mile advice delivery is difficult because it can demand too much time from the advisor if the preparation for that service is not streamlined. To assemble a regular reports for the client takes long, and adding market context or context relating to the client’s goals makes the process even longer. Without this context, however, clients are left with questions that have to be answered through in-person meetings, phone calls or emails. In other words, without the efficient preparation of last-mile service, even more admin burden is placed upon the advisor.
The Solution
Regular and meaningful touch-points with clients are needed to deliver good service. Some advisors can build a back office that delivers the right information at the last mile. But, without technology to assist, this solution doesn’t scale. Advisors need a service that allows them to put in the same effort for 3 clients as they would need for 300 clients. This is achievable through investing in wealth technology that streamlines back-office operations while increasing valuable touch points with clients without an increased time burden. Clients perceive regular, contextual engagement driven by the advisor technology backbone as a good level of service.
The Impact
Advisors run efficient back offices, but changes to those workflows when implementing technology mean a disruption to the staff in that back office. While some of the back office team might increase friction to the technology to avoid interference. Some disruption is acceptable when considering that the improved service will lead to more business and further improve efficiencies in the long run. Advisors should explore technology solutions that can seamlessly integrate with their various providers. Tools that connect clients’ investments to specific personal goals have been shown to enhance engagement. Additionally, tools that offer regular feedback on clients’ investments can further improve performance in the final stages, leading to increased client involvement. This is the marker for successful last-mile service delivery.
The Future
With increased last-mile delivery, advisors will see an increase in their inflows and happier clients. Happier clients always refer other clients, creating a re-enforcing growth loop for advisors, generating a prosperous future for their company.
