Last Updated on July 20, 2020 by John Prendergast
I’m going to vocalize a secret that I’m sure many financial planners have:
I love finding new clients and designing their plans with them, but I find the implementation of these plans tedious.
If you’re reading this by yourself and feel this way, throw a fist pump in the air, “Yes! It’s not just me.” However, if you happen to be reading in this in the presence of other financial planners, just shake your head and say, “He obviously doesn’t care about his clients.” It’s OK, you can agree with me on the inside.
But I’ve found a financial planning software program that removes much of this burden.
MyPlanMap automates the follow-up process that starts after every planning meeting and allows for planners to put this part on auto-pilot. Part of my struggle was adequately following up with clients to ensure they were completing tasks, and if they weren’t, allowing them to feel comfortable to reach out to me for support.
MyPlanMap (MPM) has changed all of that. By setting up a client in their system, you can enter all of the follow-up tasks from a meeting and schedule the timing as to when they should be completed. MyPlanMap will email whoever is assigned the task (client or advisor) that they have a deadline coming up and what the task is, and the user can specify whether they have completed the task, need assistance, or need to push the deadline. Bigger tasks can also be broken down into smaller steps so the designated user has a clear pathway to completion. The entire task can also be generated in a date-prioritized PDF list making it easy to see what other tasks are coming up.
I have been using with both new and existing clients in my practice. The time-savings on my end and the increased engagement with these clients have been noticeable. By having MPM email me notifications about these tasks, they are always front-and-center rather than me having to refer to my CRM to see what is happening. I’m copied on emails to clients when they get alerted about their tasks, so I can preempt communication on their part if I know they might need help. Even reaching out to them to check in at that point has proven valuable – the follow-up tasks have been getting completed more quickly to the benefit of the client and their plan. In the aim to over-deliver to clients, I have set my own deadlines to be stricter than they should be. When a client logs in and views their MPM, they can then see that the tasks that were assigned to me have been completed indicating my dedication to their financial future.
If clients aren’t visually attracted to a list, then there is a timeline available for them to see what tasks have been completed since they have been using MPM. For clients where the relationship will span years, this will be an easy to answer the question, “What have you done for me lately?” MPM is simple and makes a great complimentary addition to other modern financial planning software like Blueleaf.
Given my short time using the product, it has been well worth the cost. My time and mental capacity has been freed up, and having clients get (automatic) reminders to complete parts of their plan has kept them on track, with minimal ongoing effort on my part. I know MPM has lots of additions and tweaks they want to make going forward and I’m excited to see how this can help me further grow my practice while leveraging my time.
