The Ultimate Client Experience Handbook

As we inch closer to the final quarter of the year, many boutique service firms—such as accounting, law, and RIAs (wealth management firms)—are reflecting on a year that has been both rewarding and challenging.

On one hand, many are celebrating impressive growth, having secured new assets and increased revenue. On the other hand, they're feeling the pressure of mounting service demands that are stretching their operational capacity to its limits.

At the same time, clients are becoming more demanding, with expectations that often don't align with the service firms provide. In fact, a recent NPR survey found that customer satisfaction in the U.S. is at its lowest in nearly two decades. Frustrations range from long wait times to the struggle of simply getting a live person on the phone. This decline in service quality leaves clients anxious and wasting time.

But what if this challenge could be transformed into an opportunity?

For financial organizations, this is a moment to stand out from fierce competition by reimagining their service offerings. Simply connecting clients to a CPA or attorney is no longer the "value-add" it once was. With the rise of technology, AI, and online review platforms, these once-specialized services are now easily accessible. Sourcing a contact to a successful entrepreneur is no longer as unique as it used to be.

As expectations evolve, clients now demand more tangible and efficient services. If firms fail to meet these expectations, they risk creating inefficiencies that undermine their operations. And when the only deliverable beyond money management is inefficiency, the entire organization suffers.

We’ve seen this frequently with many firms we work with:

• Overly-Lengthy Client Meetings: Meetings that drag on for hours without a clear agenda or outcomes, consuming valuable time and leading to fatigue and frustration for both clients and staff. After the meeting, someone is left to typing out the notes and distributing tasks within CRM systems, a task that can take a few hours on its own. (hint…we now have AI for that!)

• Chaos When Key Staff Leave: Critical knowledge and processes are lost when a single team member departs, leading to disorganized handoffs, missed deadlines, and confused clients.

• Poor Interdepartmental Communication: Lack of proper communication and collaboration between different divisions, resulting in duplicated efforts, inconsistent messaging to clients, and delays in decision-making.

• Clients Avoiding Digital Tools: Clients not using the portals or digital platforms provided for updates, causing increased manual work for staff who have to send repeated follow-ups and updates through phone calls or emails.

• Frequent Last-Minute Requests: A culture of constant reactivity, with clients or internal teams often making last-minute requests that disrupt planned workflows and create a sense of urgency and stress.

• Unclear Roles and Responsibilities: Ambiguity about who handles what tasks, leading to duplication of effort, missed deadlines, and strained team relationships.

• Manual Data Entry and Paperwork: Heavy reliance on manual processes, such as data entry and paperwork, that are time-consuming, error-prone, and slow down service delivery.

• Lack of Standardized Processes: Inconsistent procedures across different teams or locations, leading to confusion, inefficiencies, and varying levels of client service quality.

• Over-reliance on Key Personnel: Dependency on a few individuals for critical tasks or knowledge, making the firm vulnerable to disruptions if those individuals are unavailable or leave.

• Unstructured Onboarding Process: A lack of a standardized onboarding process, causing delays and a poor initial client experience as new clients are left to navigate systems on their own.

• Frequent Technology Failures: Outdated or unreliable technology systems that frequently crash or experience downtime, hampering productivity and frustrating both employees and clients.

• Mismanaged Task Prioritization: Lack of clarity around task prioritization, leading to a chaotic work environment where important tasks are delayed while less critical ones consume time and resources.

The familiar “high-touch” service model, once a hallmark of success, is becoming harder to maintain as clients expect more and workloads continue to rise.

The Hiring Dilemma

One of the most common responses to these operational bottlenecks, as we often hear from financial advisors, CPAs, and law firms, is to hire more people to manage the chaos!

While bringing on new team members might seem like the obvious “fix”, it often feels like an endless cycle of hiring, training, and turnover. The truth is, much of this struggle comes from a reactive, rather than a proactive, approach to managing client service.

The high-touch service model that so many firms take pride in—focusing on personalized interactions and relying on a small group of skilled associates—is feeling the strain. 

Shifting to a Systematized Approach

Instead of hiring more people to handle an ever-increasing volume of work, what if there was a way to make the work itself more manageable? 

Select Advisors has put together a roadmap and blueprint to help our clients anticipate tasks and operations in advance.

The blueprint includes checklists around some of the following:

1. Smoother Onboarding and Discovery Calls: A client’s first experience sets the tone for their entire relationship with your firm. Instead of a disjointed process where clients struggle to navigate complex document portals, Select Advisors can help you create a clear, standardized onboarding process. This includes providing straightforward instructions for submitting documents, designing user-friendly portals, and structuring discovery calls that establish expectations early on.

A well-defined onboarding process can reduce confusion and enhance the client experience from the start.

2. Optimized Document Collection and Portal Use: Often, clients are asked to submit documents without much guidance, leading to delays and frustration. By creating a consistent and clear process for document collection—complete with intuitive portals and step-by-step instructions—you can minimize these pain points. Select Advisors can help you design a streamlined system that reduces errors and saves time, freeing you from constantly troubleshooting.

3. Improving Meeting Formats: Meetings are a cornerstone of building strong client relationships, but they don’t need to be overly lengthy to be effective. Leveraging tools like Zoom can improve communication while preserving the personal touch. Select Advisors can help you develop a consistent meeting format, including pre-meeting preparation and clear agendas, to ensure every conversation is productive and meaningful.

4. Clarifying Roles and Processes: It’s crucial for clients to know who to contact for specific needs and how to navigate potential issues. Clear communication and well-defined roles can prevent confusion and enhance satisfaction. Select Advisors can work with you to map out these processes and create a roadmap for seamless client interactions.

5. Systematizing Routine Tasks: Tasks like proposal creation, onboarding, and leave management can eat up valuable time. By automating these routine tasks, your team can focus on the high-touch interactions that truly add value. Select Advisors specializes in identifying and streamlining these processes, helping you to focus on what matters most—providing exceptional service without getting caught in the day-to-day grind.

Maintaining Quality While Scaling

Adopting a more systematic approach doesn’t mean losing the personal touch. Instead, it’s about delivering consistent, efficient, and high-quality service while managing client demands more effectively. The goal is to maintain that high-touch experience clients expect, without overwhelming your team or compromising on quality.

By refining your client service processes, you can better manage increasing workloads, boost operational efficiency, and enhance client satisfaction. Select Advisors is here to guide you through this transition, helping you implement strategies that will allow your firm to thrive in today’s competitive financial landscape.

Instead of relying solely on hiring to address the growing demands, consider a more sustainable solution—systematizing your processes. With a proactive approach, you can continue to deliver an exceptional client experience while keeping your operations lean, manageable, and efficient.