AMA: We’re Dela Dzadey and Lana Graham, paraplanning and Xtools experts, Ask Us Anything!
Got a burning question? Join us here on Wednesday 22nd May from 2pm to 2:30pm. For those who don’t know us, I’m Dela Dzadey, director and advice manager at TNT Group, helping bridge the efficiency gaps in advice production for advisers and paraplanners. Lana_Graham is the Xtools product manager and resident expert at Iress, and we’ll be hanging out here to answer any questions you have. In the meantime, you can start popping your questions below and Ask Us Anything! Update: This AMA has now ended but please continue to pop your questions down below or in thediscussion forums and make sure you tag me at deladz or Lana_GrahamAMA: I’m Jessica Lamb, director of Practice Dynamix, Ask Me Anything!
With over 15 years of experience in the financial planning industry and experience working with over 350 advice practices around Australia, I help bring businesses into the future. On Wednesday 24th April from 11am to 11:30am, I will be available to answer any burning questions you might have. Whether it’s about utilising the power of technology in the advice process, integrating sound business processes or uncovering Xplan’s hidden gems – start popping in your questions below and Ask Me Anything! Update: This AMA has now ended but please continue to pop your questions down below or in the discussion forums and make sure you tag me at Jessica-Lamb .What is limiting your efficiency?
It seems between compliance requirements, size of advice documents and the general administration practices need to keep up with, no one is feeling at the top of their game. I would love to hear what areas you are struggling with, or if you have found some solutions that may be helpful to us all!The struggle for adviser capacity
These days, we see advisers doing more administration work than we saw 5 or 10 years ago. Research, plan requests and even application forms are unnecessarily taking up their time and stifling capacity. And this is not simply due to more compliance. So what's driving the hesitation to hand-over to a support role? Is it finding the right support? A lack of trust? Or something else?What is your #1 efficiency tip for this year?
Are you streamlining client comms? Automating documentation? Updating your compliance process? Whether you are in the midst of planning, or are already in BAU - what is your number one efficiency tip for this year to ensure you are effective and able to achieve your 2024 goals? Let us know!
Advice Request Best Practice
What is seen as the best practice for advisors sending through a request for advice to be prepared to the paraplanning team? I can think of some ways using cases to have a task where the advisor completes templated notes, but most businesses that I've seen the requests are still sent via email to the paraplanning manager/senior paraplanner who then delegates the work. I imagine a wizard could be used too, but ideally we want the process to be straight forward, including detail on strategy and product recs (or considerations). I'm curious as to what works well for both new advice requests as well as SoAA/RoA processes.Efficient vs Effective
I'd love to hear the experts' views on Efficient vs Effective, please. I think we fall into the trap as business owners and advisers of focussing on efficiency at the expense of being effective. For instance, we can be super efficient at producing a review document (as measured by time taken, quality, content etc.) but, if the client doesn't understand the advice or is not responsive to it then it probably isn't very effective. Another example could be onboarding new staff - contracts are ready, PD is agreed, introductions to the team are made and the checklist is complete however, the new team member might not understand what's expected of them and how they fit in. So, what tips do you have on achieving the holy grail of having an efficient process or system that is also super effective at achieving your goals? peterworn Jessica-Lamb
