As a business owner, you spend a significant amount of time honing your processes to create an ideal client experience. You may have made adjustments to your operation based on client feedback in the past. Unfortunately, it’s rare that clients offer unsolicited advice or feedback to help you improve. So, how do you know if the hard work you’ve put into streamlining your services is still providing an exceptional client experience?
At Level Best, we encourage our clients to track several key metrics to ensure that their processes are still working – both for their financial planning clients and for their team. Let’s go over why you should be tracking metrics, what to keep track of, and how to store the data.
Why track metrics?
Your business has so many moving parts, and it can feel frustrating when you’re dumping energy into marketing, processes, team management, and more, but not seeing a clear positive impact. This is where tracking metrics can help you understand what efforts are working, and what still needs to be adjusted to improve your business.
When tracking metrics specifically about your client experience, you want to focus on a few things:
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Are your processes still working for your team? Is work being missed, or are tasks and responsibilities clear?
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Is your client experience moving forward as expected?
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Are your clients (or team members) feeling confused by any step in your process? Are there steps that are taking longer than planned?
This helps you track to see what is working and what’s not in your business. Developing a checklist of key metrics that answer these questions helps you to analyze your business, and not just make decisions on impulse. You can tie facts to your decisions, ensuring that you’re making the best choices for yourself, your team, and your clients.
What metrics count?
There are several metrics we recommend tracking consistently in your business. These metrics will help to make it clear whether or not there are weak points in your business processes that need improving.
Sales and Prospecting
Business growth is the #1 goal for most financial planners. Your prospecting and onboarding process can dramatically impact your ability to successfully convert and retain clients. Here are a few to look at:
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Prospects lost v. won over a set period of time (we recommend checking monthly or quarterly depending on your growth goals).
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Number of prospect meetings held.
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Number of prospects currently in your pipeline.
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Referral sources who have sent you prospects.
These metrics will allow you to see when your busy seasons are, and whether or not you’re successfully converting prospective clients. You can also use these metrics to see how and when new clients are coming to you, then focus your energy on those referral sources. For example, if events or webinars are part of your prospecting process, you can determine which event is the highest converting for you and your firm.
Client Metrics
Converting a prospect isn’t the end of their journey with your firm – far from it! You need to be tracking client metrics to ensure your processes are still serving them.
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Number of clients signed over a period of time.
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New assets brought in.
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Client retention rate.
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The number of clients who have deviated from your process (did a client need extra meetings? Take longer to onboard?).
This helps you see what type of packages sell the best, and whether or not your process appeals to your ideal client type and works seamlessly when it’s implemented.
Team
Keeping track of how your team is doing helps you provide an objective outlook on their performance.
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Track time spent on their standard job duties.
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Tasks completed.
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Productivity.
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Continuing education.
Ensure that you’re investing into team training that *actually* makes an impact by watching out for pain points and areas where productivity leaves something to be desired. For example, you can run reports in your CRM to see if tasks are being completed in a timely manner. If there’s an area where you or your team continually fall down, spend focused time working with them on a solution.
Where should these metrics be stored?
You can store your metrics in a few different areas, but we recommend finding a single place to input them when possible. For example, sales and prospecting metrics can be stored in a CRM. You can also track team productivity in your CRM, and organize client metrics in notes within the system.
Not sure what CRM to use? You can look at industry-focused CRMs like Wealthbox or Redtail, or you can look elsewhere like Pipedrive to track your sales. However, industry-facing CRMs will have set fields for advisors to track key metrics, and the option to create custom fields if you have more complex metrics that you need to keep tabs on.
Set a schedule for running reports on these metrics to analyze them. Quarterly tends to be a good rhythm for most advisors, as it helps give a big-picture view without losing track of what’s happening each season. Once you determine what metrics you want to track, make a plan with your team for analyzing and implementing changes. They should know what you’re keeping track of, and how it will impact their tasks and performance reviews. Improving your business is a team effort – so let them in on the practice!
Ready to learn more? Schedule a call with us today to learn how Level Best can help you streamline your processes, track metrics, and more.
