by Frank W. Fisher III, CFP®

While providing quality advice is tantamount to our profession, planners must also ensure they have an adequate system in place to properly maintain their relationships on an ongoing basis. This article summarizes the steps we have successfully employed to bring our team closer to our clients, therefore fulfilling our obligation as fiduciaries.

Whether we call ourselves "financial planner," "investment adviser" or "stockbroker," all of us in the industry of providing financial advice will likely be held to a higher standard of care in the near future. That standard will apply not only to the advice we give but also the service we provide in return for the fees or commissions we charge, both at the beginning of an engagement and on an ongoing basis. Our industry has been very adept at the former, but unfortunately often falls short on the latter.

My team's experience shows the following seven steps are critical in preparing a practice for the evolving accountability to which we will be held.

Understand Your Client Base
Before implementing a fiduciary-driven service model, you must first fully understand the client base you serve. I suggest a system that requires each of your team members (client associates included) to "score" every client based on criteria such as:

• Revenue
• Future potential
• Loyalty
• Propensity to follow guidance/advice
• Willingness to refer
• Complexity of needs
• Likeability
• Longevity/sustainability of relationship

Note that some criteria are objective, while others are subjective; hence the necessity to include all team members. Consider a high-revenue client who, unbeknownst to you, spends an hour per day with one of your associates. Is he really as profitable as you thought? Also note some criteria listed relate to the compliance of the client, while others relate to his or her profitability. Weight each of the criteria based on your team's values and compile the scores in a simple spreadsheet, looking for break points of where an A, B and C client should fall.

Define What Should Be Delivered
What services does your practice feel an A, B or C client should receive? How often should they receive those services? What should an A client receive to keep him satisfied and loyal, and more importantly provide him with the necessary guidance to progress financially? What should be provided to B and C clients? Now assume you are a fiduciary. What minimal level of service must be delivered to each and every client no matter his or her profitability? What is that current level for your practice? An honest assessment is critical.

Assess the Ability to Deliver
Calculate, in detail, how many in-person meetings, telephone calls, birthday cards, etc. this model requires each year. Convert that to a weekly figure (accounting for holidays, vacations and conferences). Is this level of activity achievable? Be honest, realistic and most importantly seek feedback from staff. Assess the calendar and activities over the last year to see how close you were to hitting those marks.

Consider this example: Your ideal model requires meeting with A clients two times per year and B clients once per year. Is that possible with 300 As and 530 Bs? Such a model equates to 1,130 in-person meetings with existing clients over approximately 45 working weeks-about 24 per week-plus telephone calls, prospect meetings, etc. It might become clear that this is not sustainable.

Re-evaluate and Modify the Plan
If you or your staff does not like what you see, the plan must be modified. It might be time for tough decisions. If the hours in your day do not accommodate the model, then the service level must be reduced, the client base must be reduced or you have to work more hours. It is that simple.

This is the step where most of us fall short. The best-intentioned, most honorable advisers can become liable if they are not able to consistently deliver on the services for which they are charging, no matter the category of the client.

Put the System in Place
Set up the infrastructure to ensure all of the service activities or tasks that must take place actually do. This step offers much flexibility based on your contact management system, but a few things are required:

• The tasks must alert the responsible party. Whatever the servicing task might be, it needs to pop up at least initially to make the owner of the task aware of it. We have found that if it is buried in a spreadsheet or a to-do list, it often stays there. Make sure there is a reminder built into the system.
• They must create accountability. Whenever someone on your team is responsible for a client-servicing task, it should be viewable by all team members. This keeps everyone motivated to make sure the tasks, no matter how small, are getting done.
• They must have the ability to be delegated. When a task is assigned to a particular team member, there might be a situation where it could be better carried out by another. Be sure the system allows the owner to assign that task over to the other team member without losing the effectiveness of the first two bullet points.
• They must be evenly dispersed throughout the year. Account for how many tasks each person is responsible for on a monthly basis. This requires some diligence, but if not done properly, it can bottleneck the model. For example, if one team member is responsible for 120 in-person meetings per year, care must be given to allocate those meetings evenly throughout the year (ideally 10 per month) as opposed to lumping 35 in December. Without using such a measurement tool in advance, such overbooking may not be detected until it is too late.
• One team member is assigned the responsibility of air traffic controller. This person delegates tasks to each team member on a weekly and monthly basis. We consider this role the most important position in our system.

Talk About It
Fifteen-minute debriefings once per week are a necessity to make sure everyone is accountable for his or her part in the process. It also allows for a plea for help if someone has fallen behind on the tasks mentioned above. The air traffic controller conducts the meeting to keep everyone on task and the discussion brief.

Put It in Writing
Lastly, and most importantly, outline for your existing and prospective clients exactly what they can expect from you. This can be intimidating, because it creates accountability on the part of the planner and his or her team, not only in the beginning, but for the life of the relationship. Present it first to your closest clients and ask them if you are currently providing what is on the list. If they too often respond "no," go back to the re-evaluate step. This document should prove to be a key marketing piece, as it will not only let clients know what they should expect, but it will articulate for what, specifically, they are paying.

In summary, the evolving regulatory environment will inevitably hold to a higher standard those of us in the business of providing financial advice. The development of a clear, repeatable process for serving your clients will not only better position your practice in this environment but also make running your practice a more enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

Frank W. Fisher III, CFP®, is a financial adviser with RBC Wealth Management. He is a member of the Turner-Fisher Group, a four-person team that works with 200 households and focuses on retirement income planning, estate planning and asset management.