While many financial advisors may have focused primarily on portfolio management at one time, the evolution of the financial planning profession has opened up an ever-growing number of services that advisors now offer to their clients on a regular basis. While this shift has allowed advisors to charge a premium fee for high-quality service, it has also resulted in increased workloads, especially as the number of clients that advisors serve (and the types of issues that are brought to the table) grows. But instead of tackling each task that comes to light, as if playing a game of ‘whack-a-mole’, advisors can take a more standardized and systematized approach to create their client service models while still offering high-quality and personalized service – and doing it efficiently to free up time in their own schedule!

First, when it comes to assessing the services that are offered to clients, advisors can distinguish between low-value ‘factory work’ (generally consisting of necessary activities that don’t necessarily require the advisor’s expertise to complete) and high-value ‘focus work’ (activities that require the advisor’s attention, talents, and unique insights). Factory-work activities are prime candidates for automation; for instance, instead of spending time during a client meeting asking a client to review their beneficiary designations, advisors could instead use a standardized email template generated by their CRM system, automatically populating each client’s information and offering options to either confirm current designations or schedule a call to discuss any necessary changes.

After assessing their client service tasks, advisors can better see how their services –not their clients – can be categorized into three basic tiers: standard, special, and personal. The first ‘standard’ tier represents client service tasks that are predominantly ‘factory work’ tasks, applicable to all of a firm’s clients (e.g., reviewing insurance coverage), and can often be standardized and systematized through the advisor’s tech stack tools. Second is the ‘special’ tier, where advisors identify specific and specialized needs that arise in response to systematic processes in the standard tier, but that still consists of ‘factory-work’ tasks that can be addressed with the help of the advisor’s support staff. The last tier is the ‘personal’ tier, which consists of immediate client needs that often involve focus work, requiring more of the advisor’s time and attention. The personal tier involves all of the client’s needs that can’t be standardized or systematized in the standard or special tiers, and helps the advisor ensure that their clients’ personal needs are covered during client meetings and conversations.

Ultimately, the key point is that standardization and systemization can help advisors improve efficiency and support firm growth while still delivering a high-quality client service experience. In fact, creating a client service model that leverages automated processes so that the advisor’s time and energy are focused on high-value tasks not only frees up significant amounts of time for the advisor, but also ensures that clients receive the planning services that match all of their unique needs!

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The choice of an advisory firm’s custodial affiliation is easily one of its most important business decisions. The advisory firm is the front end of the client relationship, but it entrusts client assets, and key aspects of their service, to a custodian that safeguards the money and provides the underlying platform. And given the logistical challenges of switching between custodians, inertia often leads firms to stick with the same custodian for years or decades, even when a better fit might exist.

Many firms have chosen to work with the largest players in the RIA custodial space, benefiting from their size and scale. But the impending merger of Schwab Advisor Services and TD Ameritrade Institutional will reduce the number of options available for RIAs and force firms currently on TD’s platform either to be subsumed into Schwab’s platform or to switch to an alternative custodian. And while RIAs that take no action might face the specter of being relocated to a custodial platform they didn’t choose, other firms might take a more active approach in considering whether a move to one of a growing number of custodial options might be in their best interest.

In this guest post, industry commentator Bob Veres explores the range of considerations for firms thinking about moving on from “Schwabitrade” or from their current custodian, offering profiles of seven alternative platforms and reviews from advisors currently using them.

As a starting point, advisory firms can evaluate custodians on several levels based on their specific needs, from the cultural fit to their technological capabilities to the customer service a firm can expect to receive by determining whether the platform has a tiered structure where the largest firms get the best levels of service. An additional consideration is whether the custodian has a retail presence, as those without one won’t be competing directly with advisors in the marketplace (and the custodian’s management will be focused on the needs of advisors on the platform rather than spending much of their time trying to bring in more retail business).

Another differentiator between custodial platforms is their pricing structures. While some of the largest platforms may (nominally) offer their service for ‘free’, they still need to bring in revenue somehow (often in the form of below-market-rate cash sweep accounts). Other custodians offer a range of fee options, from ticket charges to flat subscription fees. This optionality can give fee-conscious advisors (and their clients) the ability to choose what makes the most sense for them.

Ultimately, the key point is that a growing number of custodial platform options are available for advisory firms, and the range of unique service cultures, technological capabilities, and pricing structures offers firms the opportunity to find the one that best suits their (and their clients’) specific needs!

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