Tech Tips from LPL Financial Advisor: How Technology Provides Efficiency and 'Delights' Clients

The type of person who fully equips a “smart” home — able to turn on lights, close the garage or monitor the doorbell from anywhere in the world — is the type of financial advisor who is first in line to try out LPL Financial’s new digital solutions.

LPL Financial advisor Kashif A. Ahmed, CFP®, president of American Private Wealth in Bedford, Mass., has consistently been an early adopter of LPL Financial’s technology. He has taken part in several pilot programs and test groups for new digital tools and capabilities, including the recent delivery of Advisor Sleeve in LPL’s Model Wealth Portfolios platform, texting and the investor portal. With his enthusiasm for technology — as a powerful tool for speed, efficiency and enhanced outcomes — and his experience maximizing use of the capabilities within ClientWorks, LPL advisors’ digital workstation, LPL invited Ahmed to serve as a Technology Champion at Focus 2019, LPL’s annual advisor conference.

“I’m a tech fan, through and through. Technology can be used to provide efficiency, but more importantly, it leads to a delightful customer experience. When a client is delighted, everything will take care of itself, including an opportunity to serve more of your clients’ financial needs, earn more referrals and build a thriving business. LPL really understands that, and has made remarkable progress in delivering solutions that make it easier and faster, and honestly, more fun,” Ahmed said.

Throughout Focus, Ahmed connected LPL advisors to solutions that could help them build capacity in their practices, bringing to life for them the ways integration, customization and automation can allow them to have more time in their day and enhance their clients’ experiences.   

Some of the insights he shared:

• For those who don’t consider themselves tech savvy: “If a financial advisor thinks they’re not ‘tech savvy,’ they’re wrong. If they can use a smartphone, they’re tech savvy. Don’t fear technology; embrace it as a tool and business partner. A great place to start is with eSignature. A document can be prepared and sent to a client across the country, signed by them and submitted for processing within minutes. It’s much faster than printing, mailing and waiting for the client to mail it back. And that’s just the beginning. My office is 100 percent paperless thanks to eSignature, iDoc — which scans, uploads and saves files electronically — and other capabilities within LPL’s ClientWorks technology platform.”
• Tips for advisors who are hesitant about change: “Change is inevitable and can be exciting. I’m sure horse sellers didn't like the invention of the car, but think about how much that improved the user experience. Advisor Sleeve was new and different to me at first, but I absolutely love the choice and flexibility it allows. I’m able to operate a models-based practice, but save hours upon hours by outsourcing to LPL all the trading and rebalancing, things that take up so much time but don’t tap into the value I uniquely bring to my clients. I moved a substantial amount of client assets from my Strategic Asset Management book into Model Wealth Portfolio because of it.  LPL is building in more features and functionality that help advisors take advantage of data and insights. To run a successful business, you should always analyze your business and how it’s doing. ClientWorks can help perform many diagnostics on your wealth management business, and because you can customize ClientWorks, you can prioritize what’s most important to you and your clients. Be sure to check out the Practice Metrics page in ClientWorks, which provides high-level information for your practice and customized views of accounts. You can even download ClientWorks data as an Excel file.”
• Tips to take your practice to a new level: “The best way to take your business to the next level is to make sure your technology is integrated. Your various tech tools need to talk to each other. I use Redtail as my CRM.  I always say if it's not in the CRM, it didn't happen. We document everything. Redtail integrates with eMoney in ClientWorks, so I can see all notes and CRM tasks associated with a client without having to go into another website. Now, with ClientWorks Connected, there are so many other possibilities. LPL has built some great tools, including its own CRM that I helped develop, and then integrated them with world-class third party technology. It’s all connected in one place where you have everything you need to serve an investor through the entire lifecycle of your client relationship — from prospecting and setting up new accounts to portfolio management and client meetings. Tools alone are great. Tools that are seamlessly integrated change the game. If you don’t embrace this new technology, you’re missing out on great tools and enhanced efficiency.”

Find out why LPL is a leader in Advisor Technology by speaking to a recruiter today.

Related:

• LPL Financial Creating ‘Next Generation of Wealth Management'

Important Disclosures

LPL Financial and American Private Wealth are separate entities. The views and opinions expressed by the LPL Financial Advisor may not be representative of the views of other Financial Advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the LPL Financial Advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.