In these times of unprecedented change, turmoil and volatility in the markets, responding to client questions and concerns in a timely and effective manner is how you show your true value. As both the President of a technology firm and also a practicing financial advisor, I have a unique perspective on how CRM (Client Relationship Management) software can truly enhance your business.

A saving grace for my firm Friedman & Associates has been the ability to keep key information at our fingertips in Junxure and then being able to communicate with as many clients as possible, quickly and efficiently. Where many recent discussions with clients have involved similar topics, we’ve been able to automate information gathering and distribution to quickly respond to client inquiries and be proactive with more sensitive clients.

Early in the crisis, our firm decided to reach out first to our largest clients, and then to those clients with limited investment experience – in this order. Using tools in Junxure, an action was added to make sure each of these clients received a phone call from their assigned advisor. None of these calls would slip through the cracks, as each remains a pending action until it’s checked off as completed. In addition, the “talking points” that were developed by our investment committee were already documented in each client action and available for our advisors, saving a great deal of time and allowing for the advisor to just make the calls quickly and efficiently.

This simple initiative resulted in a stark difference for these clients, as the relief and level of appreciation from them has been amazing to see. There are many other situations that have arisen that Junxure has been able to automate for us, such as the ability to:

• Quickly communicate with clients, rapidly retrieving any documents or past actions that we need as we assess and re-asses a client’s situation;
• Maintain coordinated communication by using Junxure reports showing us which clients we have contacted, when, and what types of things we discussed with them. And most importantly, identifying clients that may need some additional communication based on the frequency and topics of their conversations with my staff - this insight has been critical for me in making sure we are doing what we need to for our clients.
• Report performance updates MUCH more frequently with ClientView, the online, client-facing extension of Junxure – this has been essential in providing perspective to clients about their performance – and a constructive alternative to what many clients are getting daily from custodian websites without ANY longer term performance analysis and perspective.

These are certainly the most challenging and difficult times in my almost 20 years in the business, and I can’t begin to imagine what things would be like without Junxure and ClientView. I believe that there is tremendous opportunity for us – we just need to be relentlessly efficient, provide great client service, proactively solicit new business, and do so on a smaller budget – no small task, but Junxure can help!

At Junxure, it is our mission to provide the best in total firm technology as well as training and practice management advice. We encourage you to learn more about how Junxure’s solutions can help you manage these difficult times. (www.junxure.com)

Tags: CRM technology

Posted on Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 at 2:08 am under Customer Relationship Management
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Greg Friedman, MS, CFP®, is the founder and President of Friedman & Associates, one of Marin County's leading financial planning and wealth management firms in Novato, California. Greg has regularly been recognized as one of the nation's best financial planners, most recently named to an elite list of financial advisors by Financial Planning Magazine as a 2008 "Mover and Shaker." In addition, Greg and Friedman & Associates have consistently been featured by Wealth Manager Magazine as one of the top wealth management firms in the country for the last 6 years. In addition to leading Friedman & Associates, Greg is also the President and founder of CRM Software, the developer of Junxure, a client and office management system for independent financial professionals, and ClientView, a tool to create Client Private Web Pages. With over 7,000 users, Junxure has become the industry standard CRM and office workflow technology for professional investment advisors.