Multi-disciplinary teams

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Build client-centric relationships with the support of a multi-disciplinary team.

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What do clients want?

Clients’ expectations are evolving. They’re looking for white-glove service and support from an advisor that can cater to both their needs and wants. As a single advisor, it can be hard to do it all and meet the ever-growing needs of clients. Shifting your focus from the product to the relationship is easy to do when you have a multi-disciplinary team.

A multi-disciplinary team is an in-house team of advisors that:

  • Provides both investment & insurance advice
  • Looks at the entire financial picture to help clients reach their goals
  • Has the support of licensed or unlicensed assistant(s)

Your team has the power and capability to build a closer client-centric relationship while also elevating your business value. It’s important to have three core components in place when creating the foundation for your team:

  • Services,
  • Skills, and
  • Structures.

What services are you capable of delivering?

Services are the offerings of your business to clients and the internal services of your team. Think about it this way: you need the internal services from team members to complement your revenue-generating services to clients. You can also see who you can partner with externally to provide the best possible service to your top clients.

Client facing services

Client-facing services will range depending on their financial needs and stage of life. A few examples are:

  • Retirement planning
  • Investment solutions
  • Aging and incapacity
  • Inheritance
  • Business insurance

How equipped are you to be the one-stop-shop for clients? Are you proactively connecting with the other professionals they seek advice from to deliver an exceptional and seamless experience?

Internal services

Your team can provide internal services to help with the flow and overall management of your practice. For example:

  • Do you feel stuck splitting time between clients and managing the operations? Hiring an office manager or assistant can alleviate your workload, therefore freeing up more of your time to dedicate to clients.
  • Are you constantly behind on promoting your business, such as planning events and keeping up on social media? Hiring a marketing assistant can help you plan and execute marketing initiatives proactively throughout the year.

Consider the gaps in your service and who you need to hire to not only manage but continue to grow your business. 

Your team is only as strong as the skills you provide.

Imagine a sports team that has consistently amazing offense. In fact, the entire team only has offensive skill sets. When it comes to gametime, it’s easy to envision how lacking defensive skills would be a big weakness. A good head coach will equip their team with offensive and defensive, starting line and back-up players; all key ingredients to an amazing roster.

Your own team should have multiple and diverse skills. It’s easy to want to work only with people just like you, but you won’t build a winning team if everyone has the same strengths.

Consider your own skills as an advisor when you look to hire other advisors and team members and try to complement them. The following are examples of diverse skill sets:

  • Having tough conversations with clients requires a team member with emotional intelligence and empathy.
  • Someone with a marketing skill set may also need project management experience to take the lead on organizing and implementing initiatives.
  • An insurance or investment planner on your team should have a secondary responsibility of client management, and be responsible for owning the client engagement process. 

How are your internal structures working together?

Structures are the processes you have in place to deliver on your services and skills. Think of structures as something constant in your business:

  • They contribute to consistent client experiences,
  • They keep team members accountable, and
  • They provide clarity when it comes to roles and responsibilities.

There are three necessary components to having successful and cohesive internal practices: team structure, meeting structure, and standardized processes.

Team structure

The way you organize the hierarchy of your team can have a big impact on the way in which everyone works together and quality output.

Meeting structure

Your team will collaborate best when there are defined meeting agendas planned regularly throughout the year.

Standardized processes

Having clear documentation of systems and processes will ensure clarity, consistency and continuity across all team positions.

Team Hiring Guide

Successfully build and lead your multi-disciplinary team to better serve clients with both insurance and investment expertise under one roof.

Download the Team Hiring Guide

 

 

Exercise Booklet
 

For even more in-depth support, use the interactive and comprehensive booklet to guide your team development.

Request the Exercise Booklet