For financial adviser use only. This information has not been approved for use with customers.
By Phil Ralli, Senior Marketing Manager, Aviva Wrap
With that in mind, here are five ways the platform you choose can help you during and after consolidating whilst keeping your costs low – making it easier, in turn, to keep your pricing attractive for your clients.
By being user-friendly
Einstein said everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. The same goes for the platforms you use for these clients. A streamlined, automated platform – that isn’t more complex than it needs to be – will help you do your job more efficiently, enabling you to keep costs down for your clients once you’ve consolidated their investments onto it.
So the questions to ask of platforms are:
- Are the processes you’ll need most often slick and intuitive (does the platform prepopulate data fields once you’ve captured that data, for example?)? And does it have the tools you’ll need to set up and manage portfolios for the majority of your clients?
If the answer to both of these questions is yes, you’ll spend less of your valuable time trying to get your chosen platform to work.
By being the right price for the clients you’re consolidating
“Cheap” needn’t be a dirty word. If it means you’ll be able to keep the cost of your service down to a level that your clients can afford, choosing a low-cost (but good quality) platform is good, common sense. Pure and simple.
By having the features your clients need – not needless extras
Many wrap platforms come complete with a host of bells, whistles and other features you’d only really need for high-net-worth clients – such as discretionary fund managers and a massively diverse fund range. Unsurprisingly, these platforms have a price tag to match. The right platform will have an investment proposition that will suit your client’s needs.
For most mass market clients, you’ll simply want to be able to apply easily, set-up and manage investment portfolios, switch and rebalance, all online. And these clients will be much happier if you consolidate them onto a platform where they’re not asked to stump up for features they’ll never benefit from.
By helping you to get started
Some providers offer advisers a considerable amount of expert support when they’re taking on a new platform, particularly when they are migrating clients’ assets. As well as giving you hands-on guidance when you’re starting to use the platform, the best platform providers will also help you identify which of your clients would be suitable to move onto it.
This kind of support can help you put a further dent in the cost of managing your clients, and shouldn’t be overlooked. So before you take on a new platform, it’s a good idea to check whether the provider will give you any support.
And by helping you service clients who aren’t even on the platform!
Of course, a platform won’t be the right answer for everyone. Chances are, you will have clients who should stay where they are – perhaps because they have product benefits or terms that can’t be matched elsewhere.
But if you have non-platform clients with the same company that provides your platform, find out if they offer integrated servicing – enabling you to manage all your clients online in one place, using the same tools and processes.
Aviva Life Services UK Limited. Registered in England No. 2403746. 2 Rougier Street, York, YO90 1UU. Aviva Life Services UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. FSA Registration No. 145452.
aviva.co.uk
LF50056 05/2012
