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Attracting and Retaining Top Advisors: What’s Technology’s Role?

By Rosa Atkinson

An RIA’s success is driven by the individual relationships that define its core value, focusing on personal connections rather than the size of its operations or resources. When your leading an RIA, staffing has to be top of mind at all times.  

Attracting the best available advisors to the firm and keeping them there are two high-level priorities for any business in the field. As for the best ways to approach these goals, technology has a major role to play. An RIA’s choice of tech tools can set a tone that will bring top advisors in and encourage them to remain for the long haul. 

Attracting New Advisors

When acquiring advisors, it’s no surprise that RIAs may not have the vast resources as larger firms, but they offer unique advantages that can be just as compelling. Whether you’re targeting entire firms for acquisition or hiring individual people, however, technology will play a role in getting results. 

When studying the differences between acquiring whole firms and hiring individuals, you’ll notice these two paths are actually similar. In both cases, the end goal is to not just bring top performers on board but create conditions that will make them want to stay. And in each case, one of the primary things these employees will want is useful technology that will not only make their jobs easier, but also set them up for success. 

Going the M&A Route

 When your RIA is exploring mergers with smaller firms or integrating individual advisors, what value can you offer to principals and their teams? If you’re using a centralized, purpose-built tech platform, that can be a great incentive. 

Bringing the whole acquired team aboard the new platform allows them to perform actions that may have been impossible with their previous technology. Every advisor and their support staff members are unified on a single platform, using a consistent set of data and efficient, effective workflows. 

Having access to better technology lets small and medium firms pursue some of their most deeply held goals: grow their operations strategically and manage clients’ assets in a more intelligent, data-driven manner. Joining your organization through M&A activity then becomes the quickest way to add these capabilities. 

Hiring Top Advisor Talent

The world of top financial advisor talent is relatively small and insular — competition for the best performers in the field is fierce. Firms should constantly be on the lookout for changes they can make to more effectively attract top talent. Here, too, technology has a part to play. 

The current talent pool for wealth management professionals is getting younger. As older advisors retire and new arrivals earn their credentials, norms and expectations are changing. 

Today, advisors will want access to effective technology, systems that “just work.” This is based on what they’ve seen in the business world and at home. Someone who has grown up with a powerful smartphone won’t settle for 20-year-old internally developed technology when it comes to the important work of managing their clients’ money and interacting with potential clients. 

These advisors sometimes choose to use “rogue” technology, paying for and using their own systems to get around weak company offerings. If you have a powerful, centralized tech platform that’s well-connected to other important tools, you can give them a better experience by default — this is a great incentive to join your firm instead of a competitor. 

Retaining Top Performers

Attracting high-performing advisors is one thing, retaining them for the long haul is another. Retention is essential because of the specific skill set required to become a top wealth management advisor. With a limited talent pool, holding onto the very best performers is your top chance to compete. 

While the promise of powerful technology can bring advisors to your firm, the actual experience of using those tech tools alongside continuous innovation and investment will be what makes them stay. This happens at a few different levels. 

Helping Firm Leaders Grow Their Business

Each RIA operates as its own independent business, which means they’re focused on the same priorities as any small business: growing their client base and delivering exceptional service to their existing clients. 

A strong tech stack underpinned by a robust CRM lets leaders reach these objectives. By equipping teams with efficient workflows and the types of data analytics capabilities that will let them reach new segments of their potential client base, you’re giving them the building blocks for success. 

The client experience is better at firms powered by a reliable and robust tech stack. With these capabilities at their disposal, principals and the advisors serving under them will be happy and willing to stay with your enterprise. 

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Turning Advisors Into Believers in the Platform

Individual advisors will react well to technologies that set them up for success. Too often, financial advisory firms employ technology that doesn’t give advisors the experience they’re looking for. 

For instance, an advisor who previously had to deal with an inadequate CRM may have missed out on opportunities to deepen client relationships and expand their book of business due to incomplete or delayed data. That’s the kind of issue an advisors won’t want to repeat. 

With the right technology, you can give the advisory teams effective workflows that make their everyday tasks more efficient. These come alongside data-driven features that will help them attract, assist and retain their clients.

Many advisors in the field today have felt obligated to purchase their own technology or have had a poorly functioning solution forced on them. As the value of a purpose-built and powerful platform starts to add up, these professionals will realize how much better off they are as part of your group than they were in their previous situation, or than they would be after joining a competitor. 

Making Technology a Trademark

Advisors and the owners of RIAs want to enter situations that will help them succeed now and in the future. Is a given company set up to provide them with efficient, effective processes? Will it help them provide great service and attract new clients? A firm that fits that description, that sets its advisors up for success, is better equipped to retain them. 

With the right technology, your organization can provide the experiences and efficiency that advisors are looking for if they are to remain for the long term. Continually investing in the innovation and evolution of this technology will then help you stay ahead of competitors and retain top talent. 

The right CRM can determine an organization’s place in the market, not to mention the talent market — making sure you have that solution in place should be a top priority. 

To learn more about acquiring such a platform for your business, contact Practifi today. 

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