This article outlines a case study for a financial planning firm that we worked with on a process improvement project and increased efficiency and productivity.
FYI, Adviser Wealth is an alias for a firm that would rather remain anonymous!
Adviser Wealth – Case Study
About Process Improvement
Adviser Wealth is a leading financial practice based in Hampshire. The Adviser Wealth team is made up of 3 advisers, 4 administrators/junior paraplanners, and 2 paraplanners.
Adviser Wealth puts its people at the centre of everything they do. The team’s excellent principles and values are why Adviser Wealth has successfully provided clients with excellent financial planning outcomes for over 35 years. In particular, providing bespoke solutions to help clients meet their objectives.
process Improvement Challenges
Adviser Wealth has successfully supported the development of two paraplanners into advisers. This has left a serious lack of experience within the paraplanning team and means that the firm is beginning to fall behind when it comes to preparing the 25 annual reviews required each month.
Adviser Wealth was quick to address the need for additional paraplanners to support their existing ones and decided to outsource some of the paraplanning, as this would offer a flexible solution to assist in-house paraplanners when periods are busy and be able to switch off in those months when things are quiet.
After reaching out to 3 different paraplanning firms and having chats with all it was decided that We Complement would make a great fit as their company values mirrored their own.
Process Improvement Solutions
After going through a smooth onboarding process with our process consulting team, we completed a process map. This helped us to identify the specific areas where Adviser Wealth needed support and helped us see where we fit in in terms of their bigger picture.
This process improvement project also helped We Complement to make strategic suggestions as to where small changes could be made to existing internal processes, which would then further improve efficiency and productivity.
We identified that the in-house paraplanners were unsure as to what needed to be included in a suitability letter and what information could be left on the client file. Meaning some of the existing Suitability report templates were over 30 pages long. Not only were they uninspiring to look at, but they were also written for compliance people and not the client!
We Complement senior analysts worked with the inhouse paraplanners to create a suite of slimmed-down templates, which were bespoke to Adviser Wealth and are consumer duty ready. These fully functional templates use a snippets system that really optimises efficiencies in producing the report, meaning an annual review that previously would take a paraplanner on average 5 hours to complete could be completed by a junior paraplanner in 3 hours. The inhouse paraplanners and junior paraplanners were all trained on best practice in using these templates, and We Complement provided weekly check-ins to ensure they continued to be used efficiently and could be called upon to provide overflow paraplanning support as required.
We Complement is now looking at the Adviser Wealth technology overall, to ensure all licenses are being used to their maximum capability, but more on that later!
Give us a call to discuss what you would like to get out of working with us on a process improvement journey with We Complement. Contact us online or call on 01472 728 030.