What is limiting your efficiency?

dela.dzadey - Great Question. 

If time is money
And you have to spend money to make money
Then you have to spend money to make time
And you have to spend time to make money. 

Often what limits ones efficiency is often the self-awareness that you are in-face inefficient. Note: I mean 'you' as in the collective 'you'. 

When we approach the need for Efficiency, we need to look at "Where is your time best spent". Where are you doing with your time to add value to your client? What are you doing now that could be handled by someone else or by your software? 

Spending 2 hours a day doing something manual that you do not need to do is inefficient. 
Spending 2 hours a day researching a new product, reviewing a client's cash flow or creating a kick-ass strategy for your client is efficient. 
Spending 2 hours a week finding ways to reduce the 2 hours of daily inefficiency is VERY efficient.

Identifying inefficiencies can be tough when we are busy and just need to get the job done. But I have found that it is imperative to schedule time into your week to review your entire business and continue to plan. You, as an adviser, work with clients to come up with a plan, implement the plan, and review and adjust the plan. The same should be applied to your business and your business processes. Your plan could contain things like:

• What is my value proposition to my client
• What do I charge and how
• Who is the perfect client
• How to get referrals
• What staff do I need 

But your business plan should also be

• What is the experience for the client like?
• What is my internal process
• Who does what (and why) and when

Then you break that down into 

• How does my software handle this process
• How can I use my software to improve the client experience
• How can I use my software to automate my process
• How can I use my software to ensure my team knows what to do / when to do it
• How can I use my software to track this activity? 

Set yourself a 12-month goal. Maybe 1st quarter is around the New Client Experience. You set monthly goals for Month 1. 'implement client portal fact find', Month 2. 'build a library of email templates for the client journey' Month 3. 'implement Opportunities for new client tracking'

At the end of the 12 months, you will be surprised at the efficiencies you gain. But you can't do it alone. Speak to experts who can either speed up the process or hold your hand and make you accountable. 

So for anyone who made it to the end of my Reply - if this spoke to you - go write out that 12-month business plan - write down 4 things/areas you think you could be doing better by February 2025 (big ticket efficiency issues - Compliance / Template Production / Client Engagement / Self Learning). Then attached 1 goal per quarter, by stepping our Monthly goals and then weekly goals. You won't regret it.  

dela.dzadey I think a lot of Advisers what to achieve more efficiency in the practices how they service clients, cut down time to service.  What I find is that technology is always going to be the solution however Advisers I speak to just don't understand what's out there, how to use it, does it in fact work?  You can spend a lot of time trying to solve the problems and honestly, I think Advisers just don't have the time.  We have been in this situation and "(it's all too hard") box it takes focus something which I did last year, and we are now starting to get. 

These forums are great for sharing ideas and help Advisers see that there is more out there and especially what really works 

Great question, dela.dzadey keen to hear all the efficiency struggles and successes from the community!