Have you ever wished you could magically add more hours to your day? Almost everyone has! Between handling administrative tasks and meeting with clients, business owners rarely have time for anything else.
Research reveals that financial advisors typically spend more time on back-end office tasks than all their client and prospect meeting time combined. In a relationship-driven industry, this finding is problematic.
Let’s take a closer look at how advisors are spending their time.
The Biggest Time Drains for Financial Advisors
1. Client Management
This is the bucket where most people expect financial advisors to log most of their hours. Client management tasks include meeting with clients, reviewing their portfolios, and responding to questions from clients and prospects—all the important work that keeps clients satisfied.
2. Prospecting
Most financial advisors spend at least an hour of their day prospecting for new clients. Newer advisors may spend even more time cold calling, attending community events, or marketing their businesses online.
3. Continuing Education and Development
As rules and regulations change, financial advisors have to spend time researching these changes so they don’t get left behind. Sometimes this might mean attending conferences or workshops to earn new certifications.
4. Administrative Tasks
This includes things like scheduling meetings, preparing agendas and documents, maintaining a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, and sending out greeting cards for special occasions.
Finding Time to Go the Extra Mile
When financial advisors are pinched for time, even important tasks can fall by the wayside. Unfortunately, these tasks are often the ones that add the greatest value to your business.
Take sending birthday cards, for example. When clients receive a card from your business on their birthday, they feel valued and important. They may be more likely to reach out and engage with your business or recommend your business to family and friends. When customers form an emotional connection with your brand, they have a three times higher lifetime value.
But many financial advisors simply don’t have the hours in their day to keep track of client birthdays and make sure cards get mailed on time.
Why Manually Sending Birthday Cards Can Be a Tedious Task
When you already have a full schedule, the last thing you want to do is add more work to your plate. Sending birthday cards to clients is a no-brainer, but the entire process can be more time-consuming than you might think.
Step 1: Select a greeting card.
Time Commitment: 15-30 minutes
Choose a card that reflects the occasion and fits your brand. You’ll want to pick a high-quality card that strikes the right balance between personal and professional.
Step 2: Write a personalized message.
Time Commitment: 10-20 minutes
Now it’s time to personalize your card. Craft a message to the recipient that’s warm and genuine.
Step 3: Address the envelope.
Time Commitment: 5-10 minutes
Access your client records to find the client’s mailing address. Address and seal the envelope and add proper postage.
Step 4: Mail the card.
Time Commitment: 15-30 minutes (depending on travel time)
Drop the card in the mailbox or take it to your local post office to make sure the card will arrive in time.
On average, the entire process of manually mailing a birthday card can take between 45 minutes to over an hour. If you have multiple clients celebrating a birthday in the same month, it can take even longer to send out cards.
A Simpler Alternative: Automated Birthday Cards
Automated birthday cards eliminate the effort required to send birthday cards to your clients. Instead of manually writing, addressing, and mailing cards for each client, birthday card mailing services handle these tasks for you.
Automation also helps ensure your cards get sent on time and to the correct address. You don’t have to spend time combing through your CRM to find a client’s contact information or worry about dropping a card in the mail late. Automated birthday cards get sent out automatically so you and your staff can focus on other tasks.
One common misconception of automated birthday card services is that greeting cards are generic or bland. When you work with a service like The Birthday Company, each card feels personal and tailored to the client. If you want to make your birthday greeting feel even more personal, you can include a special gift with your card.