Switching dealers involves careful planning and consideration – but advisors who’ve recently undergone such a transition say getting clients adapted to digital platforms at their new firm is often an underestimated part of the transition.FG Trade/AFP/Getty Images
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Stefanie Keller didn’t anticipate her transition to a firm with a completely different business model would be quite as challenging as it has been for many of her clients. Now that she’s at a firm with an online-only onboarding process, she has seen the full spectrum of clients’ digital literacy and comfort with technology.
Ms. Keller, certified financial planner with Stellar Wealth and Tax Solutions in Winnipeg, and her team have been navigating their move from a small, independent mutual fund dealer to Purpose Advisor Solutions, which allows financial advisors to provide outsourced investment management to their clients, for the past six months.
She says almost 70 per cent of her clients needed support from her team in navigating the digital process; in turn, she ended up hiring a tech support contractor for three months to help. Specifically, clients told her that getting signed up online was a hassle, that they were more comfortable with a paper-based onboarding, and some expressed concerns about the security of their information.
“People had an emotional response to all of this,” she recalls. “It may have been such a strong response, perhaps, because of how we had done business before. My other back office was primarily [paper-based] forms.”
Switching business models or dealers involves careful planning and consideration. But advisors who’ve recently undergone such a transition say getting clients adapted to digital platforms at their new firms is often an underestimated part of the process.
Supporting clients with lower levels of digital literacy will only become more critical as the industry moves away increasingly from paper forms and becomes more reliant on technology.
Paul Shirer, partner at Perfect Timing Family Wealth in Toronto, says the shift to virtual meetings and online forms during the pandemic has helped some clients improve their digital literacy.
Mr. Shirer migrated to Investia Financial Services Inc.’s back office system in June 2022 after the firm merged with his previous dealer, FundEX Investments Inc., in July 2021.
He says that the trust his clients have in him mitigated their concerns about unfamiliar technology. “Most clients instil great trust in us to partner with technology solutions and dealers that have been vetted and protect their interests.”
‘Fearful of technology’
Trust in technology was a key part of the conversations Tim Hansen, wealth advisor at Sutton Wealth Planning with Assante Capital Management Ltd. in Saskatoon, had with clients during his transition from Manulife Securities in 2019.
Mr. Hansen says he and his business partners moved dealers specifically to gain access to Assante’s user-friendly and integrated technology platforms. Three to four months in advance of the move, they sent initial e-mails to clients and then called them individually to tell them about the forthcoming change and explain the benefits of the technology for their business.
“The average person is a bit fearful of technology, and we talked a lot about how it was going to be different,” he says. “We had to spend a lot of time making sure people knew we trusted the technology.”
He says that roughly 20 per cent of his client base needed support adapting to the new system and using DocuSign Inc.’s electronic signature platform.
“A big selling feature for clients was that this was a way for us to leverage our time. Instead of us spending hours with paperwork, it would give us more time with them.”
With clients’ buy-in, Mr. Hansen says the transition he expected to take roughly a year only took four months and was entirely paperless.
Meanwhile, Ms. Keller says she took the time to explain the new platform’s cybersecurity measures in depth to clients who were more reticent about having their information online.
“It comes down to the tangible piece and helping people understand why we do these things,” she says, noting that she stressed to clients that paper applications and statements aren’t inherently safer, and in fact, could get lost in the mail.
Seeing it through ‘step-by-step’
When Yan Mecca, wealth advisor with Gestion Finabco at IPC Securities Corp. in Laval, Que., switched internally from IPC Investment Corp. when he obtained his securities licence, his back office changed from Univeris Advisor to National Bank Independent Network.
The new system had the client onboarding process with DocuSign built in. Although he offered paper-based onboarding for his very senior clients or those with language issues, the vast majority went through DocuSign.
For clients who had challenges with the technology, Mr. Mecca says he sent them the DocuSign link and then made house calls to help them fill it out. He also called clients after they’d gone through the onboarding process to ensure that they received their login details and check if they needed any help navigating the site.
Mr. Mecca says that as much as the transition to a new dealer can be cumbersome, advisors need to see that providing tech support is an important element of the client experience.
“You don’t want the client on the other end to say, ‘This was a total wreck, I should’ve taken the excuse to change advisors,’” he says.
“Most advisors are in a rush to do it because the process is so painful … and they want to get through it quickly. But really seeing it as step-by-step, ensuring no balls get dropped in the process, [makes] the client experience … ideal.”
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