5 steps advisors can't miss

How are top advisors managing and refining their practices? It's a critical question to ensure your business not only survives our current environment, but thrives in the years to come. With no magic bullet, it's important to revisit the foundational elements of what makes a great advisory practice. Below are 5 things I previously wrote about in the WealthManagement.com 2021 Market Outlook Report that advisors can't miss.

1. Conduct a holistic view of your practice that incorporates feedback from all team members.

While business assessments come in different styles and formats, it's important for all team members to take stock of your practice's gaps and opportunities individually before collectively determining next steps. This helps ensure the assessment is as dynamic as your team and represents challenges faced at every level of your organization. Diagnostics reviews are foundational to boosting meaningful consulting conversations and aligning the team's goals. Engage someone external to your team to conduct this analysis to get an objective perspective.

2. Focus on the number one advocacy driver and team capacity stealer: managing the client experience in scale.

Ensure your client management model is designed efficiently and focused on being more proactive than reactive. Top teams often conduct a segmentation analysis- analyzing time spent and service offerings to help identify potential efficiencies and client base tiers. We find most teams lose precious hours determining what's next for a client, versus letting workflows and CRM systems drive next steps in the client experience. This step has been a crucial best practice for many top teams, with advisors reporting an increase in team productivity, value to clients and generated client referrals within 18 months after taking this step.

3. Enrich your wealth management offering.

With evolving client expectations and regulatory environment changes requiring more, top teams are asking: How do my investment and financial planning services make me uniquely qualified to serve my target market? From discovery and re-discovery conversations to various financial planning strategies, your processes and tools need to be regularly utilized and documented to ensure your energy in client conversations are focused on asking meaningful questions and finding opportunities to better serve them. By implementing tools and processes consistently, you and your team will think more creatively about how to add value and engage industry experts and centers of influence.

4. Ensure your brand and process promote your team's value when you're not in the room.

For the first time in history, due to the pandemic, all generations have been forced to adopt virtual components into their daily lives, and more clients are consuming online content and attending virtual meetings and events than ever before. How well do your website, social media and virtual engagements speak directly to your target market? Revisit your client and prospect touch points to ensure they're consistent, meaningful, and focused on value your team can bring to their lives.

5. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Engage accountability partners.

After speaking with hundreds of advisors, there is one

thing thriving practitioners have in common: accountability partners. The steps above require changes in behavior, process, and mindset. Team members can serve as accountability partners, in their collective pursuit to improve the business, in addition to hiring business coaches and consultants for expertise and accountability. Talent carries you far in the business; however, accountability partners will help push you to make the behavioral, process, and mindset changes needed for your team to thrive.