Our goal is to use the newest and best technology that we can find, but to use it to free up our time so we can spend more time in front of our clients and less time in front of a computer monitor. To us, the proper implementation of a technology is when it gives our clients more access to their advisor, not less.

How many times have you called your financial advisor only to be sent through endless menus, got screened out, told to call back, or left a message and your call was never returned?

Whether it is their direct office phone number, cell phone, or email address, our clients always have a direct communication to their financial advisor. In many industries, to save time or money, it may make sense to pass clients off to a customer service agent or administrative person. Since our clients wealth is such a personal value to them, we don’t feel that this is proper conduct. In addition, in almost every case, it is much more efficient for the client to speak directly with the advisor and get the issue solved in that one call. If anything needs to be delegated to another advisor, or an administrative staff member, our advisor handles that themselves, behind the scenes, for the client. It is very common for our clients never to need to speak to another individual in our office. They speak with their advisor, and the advisor takes care of it. Having a single point of contact that knows the client’s situation intimately, and can be held accountable, to us is the right way to do business.

Another example of this is in the way that we communicate. We use our website heavily to update our clients on what is going on in the market, and what is happening with their accounts. To let them know that there is new information available, we have started using RSS feeds and other short messaging services. These tools allow our clients to get the basics on an updated link or article, and decide whether nor not it is relevant to them before visiting and reading. This saves much time for our clients, and makes it easier to sift through information.

We also use email a bit differently than other companies. One of the major problems that our clients have with email is that they get so many spam messages, newsletters, and other things from the vendors that they work with, it becomes extremely difficult for them to sort it all. It also becomes frustrating to get bombarded by email after email that is not relevant to the them. Our policy with respect to email is this; if it is not specifically relevant to the client, we don’t send it. The three types of emails we send our clients are, personal messages, our Weekly Market Commentary that goes out on Monday afternoons, and invitations to our online seminars when we have them. We do not want to make your situation with email worse by filling your email with useless messages. This way you know that when we send something, it is not a waste of your time.

We are also aggressive at implementing any technology that we can in our office, This helps us to reduce the number of staff members required to accomplish our clients objectives, and allows us to do more in the same amount of time. This does two main things. First it gives us much more face time with clients. Use of technology in this fashion allows us to be more mobile, which means we can provide old fashioned one on one service out at a clients home or office, and maintain a more reasonable schedule for meeting times. Finally, this type of aggressive use of technology allows us to keep our overhead costs to a minimum and pass those savings on to our clients. Avoiding superfluous expenses means lower costs for clients.

Most importantly, we have one of the most advanced online financial planning systems that exists today. The system that we use today called, WealthVision, allows us to do many things that the average broker website does not. You can learn more about this tool by clicking here.

There are many other ways that we use technology to increase our clients access to their advisor. Our goal is always to use technology to provide a better experience for the client, not put another layer in between us.