Balancing Administrative Responsibilities and Relationship Building in Your Enterprise
by Founders Financial — You love helping people! It’s likely (and hopefully) one of the main reasons you love what you do and the advisory business you’ve created. However, along the way, the reality of running a successful practice – and all that entails – became your required focus and a distraction from growth and building relationships. As your practice grew, so did the administrative responsibilities involved. Let’s be honest; if you didn’t have a focus on those important business operations, your business wouldn’t be a business – it would be a hobby. What often gets lost as we continually run the proverbial hamster wheel that we call the day-to-day business operations is that the primary focus must always be centered on enhancing your relationships with your clients and growing new ones. As the old saying goes, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.”
It is a difficult balancing act that almost every independent advisor faces. Striking the correct balance between the two is a delicate and often time-consuming venture, with many advisors never finding that ideal mix. As a result, many advisors struggle to build and consistently find the joy they seek by pursuing what they love the most — growing and enhancing relationships.
Honestly, when it all comes together, you’ll find that the demands of the business operations and the joy of cultivating true relationships aren’t directly opposed to one another. If managed properly, they aren’t fighting for your attention — they have a symbiotic relationship but oftentimes just get out of sync. The highest-performing practices allow these demands to feed off one another like a flywheel in a constant state of perpetual motion. Efficient and well-managed business operations create time and scale, enabling you to focus on your relationships. And by focusing on your relationships, you grow your practice with more relationships, which adds revenue and increases your margin for services rendered, enabling you to reinvest in the business. This forces the need to revisit business operations based on that new demand. See where this is going?
Finding a Solution
You must figure out how to handle administrative responsibilities for your advisory practice so that it doesn’t involve you spending the majority of your time on them. If that is the case, you’ll naturally ask yourself, “How do I do it?” and “Where Do I Start?”
You could start by adding to the latest jobs report and going on a hiring spree, but that sounds expensive and exhaustive. Plus, you haven’t solved your problem of creating time for your relationships since now you must focus on hiring, training, payroll…and more.
What about outsourcing? It works for investment management. It works for other small businesses when they outsource things like payroll, finance, marketing, etc. Why wouldn’t it work for your practice’s daily administrative tasks? Let’s assess why it is hard to consider this as an opportunity:
- Loss of Control. By outsourcing, you are required to let go of the day-to-day work you’re accustomed to. Depending on the advisor, that may be difficult to accept.
- Too expensive. Outsourcing can often be viewed as prohibitively expensive — there’s no sugarcoating it. However, when considering the investment required to hire and manage necessary resources, and the opportunity cost of not focusing on relationships and other areas of the business, the cost of outsourcing may very well seem like a bargain.
- Doesn’t know me or my brand. The outsourced support team isn’t made up of your employees and, therefore, will never know your brand, culture, or values like you or your in-house staff does.
All of these are valid and worth your consideration when evaluating all potential options. But what if all are easily overcome? You can still maintain control. The cost is far less than hiring for the scale and efficiency you need. And the team is an extension of your team, so your brand, culture, and values remain intact and well-represented. Now, instead of asking, “How do I do it?” ask yourself, “Why wouldn’t I outsource?”
The Benefits of Outsourced Administrative Support
Please understand that not all outsourced levels of support are created equal. It is critical that your outsourced partner can help you elevate your practice and value proposition while ensuring that your mission and values are aligned — fully understanding the needs of your business. That is exactly how we do it at Founders!
When our community leverages the administrative support that Founders Financial provides, this is the impact we make and the most common benefits our members experience:
- More Time for Relationship Building
When an advisor outsources administrative tasks, they can focus on what they love the most and leave the rest to the administrative support team. They are empowered to spend more time with their clients to pursue their goals and dreams and build stronger relationships to help their enterprise grow.
- Cost Savings
Our partnered solution for outsourcing administrative tasks is a more cost-effective solution than hiring full-time staff. As a result, advisors save money on salaries, benefits, and other expenses associated with hiring additional employees.
- Expertise and Experience
You may be independent, but you’re not alone. Your outsourced team has the experience and skills to handle your day-to-day administrative needs, such as preparing financial plans and communicating with clients. They can also serve as a trusted partner capable of providing guidance and consultation directly to you.
- Scalability
When a business is bogged down with administrative tasks, scaling can be a challenge. Outsourcing administrative support allows our team to handle the workload and free up time for you to focus on growing the business. The services offered are scalable and can be adjusted based on your practice’s specific needs.
- Improved Efficiency
Outsourcing administrative tasks will improve efficiency in your advisory practice. At Founders, we use workflow and digital processes to gather data accurately and seamlessly, eliminating back-and-forth communications. A centralized dashboard is used to help keep track of activities and appointments.
Founders Financial Administrative Support Platform
Our approach to outsourced administrative support is based on our commitment to partnership and achieving an impact that helps our community reach its enterprise dreams. We recognized long ago that many advisors need help finding the balance between operating and leading their enterprise. They need support to scale their enterprise efficiently without losing their independence. Therefore, we chose to build a program in which we operate as the advisor’s team, responsible for the behind-the-scenes activities that keep their business moving. As a result, our community of Member Partners is liberated to lead their enterprises and serve their relationships with a renewed sense of freedom.
Our team can handle a range of administrative tasks, including:
- Financial plan preparation and updates
- Forms preparation and processing
- Investment plan preparation
- Data gathering and entry
- Reporting and annual review preparations
- Client communications
- Technology setup
Plus, we handle all the talent management, so you don’t have to worry about hiring, training, or managing additional staff.
Conclusion
Outsourcing administrative support can be a great solution for advisors seeking to scale their business while prioritizing client relationships. By collaborating with a reliable team that can handle various administrative tasks, advisors can focus on what they love most – building stronger relationships with their clients. This approach offers several benefits: cost savings, expertise and experience, scalability, and efficiency. However, choosing a partner who aligns with your values and mission is crucial. By doing so, you can achieve the balance necessary for sustained growth and success without sacrificing your passion for helping people.
For more insights to help your enterprise, subscribe to our blog. If you would like to learn more about Founder’s Financial and our administrative support services, we invite you to connect with us today to start a conversation.
Copyright © 2023 Founders Financial. Member FINRA/SIPC and Registered Investment Adviser. All Rights Reserved.
