As an independent financial professional, you have to wear a lot of hats to make your firm run with some level of efficiency. However, your focus needs to be on delivering top-notch financial advice that helps your clients achieve their financial goals. Administrative and operational tasks, including client onboarding and account maintenance, can take up a significant portion of your time, potentially drawing your attention away from core activities that produce and preserve revenue.
One of the most effective solutions to address these challenges is partnering with an Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ) and transferring several of your hats to them.
An OSJ can act as a critical pillar in the operational framework of your independent financial practice, providing essential operational support and freeing up your time to concentrate on organic growth and client service activities.
This blog will explore how an OSJ can provide much-needed operational support, focusing on client onboarding and account maintenance.
Considering a partnership with an OSJ? Read our popular Quick Guide, “Why Independent Financial Professionals Partner with an OSJ.”
The Significance of an OSJ
An OSJ is responsible for supervising licensed and registered professionals at one or more branch offices and providing critical services like review and endorsement of client orders, approval of advertising, managing client onboarding, and providing account maintenance services. An OSJ is a regulatory supervisor and operational one-stop shop for independent financial professionals.
Client Onboarding: A Smooth Path to a Lasting Relationship
Client onboarding is the first critical step in building long-term relationships with investors. It sets the tone for clients’ expectations from their relationships with you. Onboarding can also be time-consuming, involving paperwork, compliance checks, data entry, and more. An OSJ, with its team of professionals, can help financial professionals structure a solid onboarding process. This includes guidance with tech offerings, optimized workflows and timely supervision review, all to ensure a smooth and efficient onboarding experience for you and your new clients. From account setup to transferring assets, the experienced staff at an OSJ ensures that each step is handled efficiently and accurately.
An OSJ’s technological resources can also positively impact the onboarding process. These resources often include advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, electronic document management solutions, and digital onboarding platforms that some independent financial professionals may not have access to.
These technologies can enable a smoother, more integrated client experience, minimizing paperwork and expediting onboarding. As a result, clients can start interacting with their financial advisors sooner, building credibility and trust that they selected the right professional to help them achieve their financial goals.
By facilitating a more seamless onboarding experience, an OSJ can also help independent professionals deliver higher-quality services to new clients. With the administrative burden lightened, advisors can spend more time communicating, building relationships, and delivering high-quality advice and services.
Another component of the onboarding process can be an OSJ providing valuable training and knowledge that is particularly beneficial for those new to the industry because it can help them navigate the often complex processes of a regulated industry, while avoiding common pitfalls and exceeding client expectations.
Evolution Financial Advisors Insights: We know the importance of processing new clients promptly and efficiently. You only have one chance to make the right first impression. A client’s first impression of you can set the stage for a long-term relationship or create doubts that can undermine the relationship.
The result is a win-win scenario – satisfied clients who feel valued from the beginning and financial professionals who can devote their energy and time to building prosperous, long-term relationships. A client’s first impression of you can set the stage for a long-term relationship or create doubts that can undermine the relationship.
OSJ Account Maintenance Services
Partnering with an Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJ) can significantly boost your available time as an independent financial professional, particularly regarding account maintenance.
When collaborating with an OSJ, you can access a comprehensive range of operational support services which can aid you and your team in streamlining your financial operations, maintaining client accounts, and increasing your overall productivity.
The OSJ can oversee trade activities, assist with compliance issues, and support managing client accounts – tasks that otherwise may consume an excess of your valuable time by providing additional resources that you may not have access to as an independent financial professional.
OSJs typically have advanced technology platforms and teams of skilled professionals providing support for account opening, maintenance, and closing processes. By offloading these tasks to an OSJ, you can focus more on your core competencies, like client relationship building, producing financial plans, and providing portfolio management services.
This optimizes your work processes and improves service quality, fostering increased client satisfaction, retention, and referrals to friends, family, and associates.
As the regulatory landscape in the financial industry continues to evolve, an OSJ can help you navigate these changes more efficiently.
An OSJ can ensure all account maintenance activities follow the latest industry regulations, minimizing the advisors’ risk of non-compliance.
Evolution Financial Advisors Insights: As an independent financial professional, your focus should remain on primary tasks that benefit your clients: providing expert planning, investment, and risk management advice. There is no substitute for the relationships you form with your clients and the expert advice and personalized service you provide to them. Meanwhile, Evolution Financial Advisors (EFA) shoulders the burden presented by operational tasks, including client onboarding and account maintenance, so you can focus on the services that caused your clients to hire you in the first place.
While partnering with an OSJ might require an investment, the return on time saved, operational efficiency gained, and potential compliance risks mitigated make it a worthwhile decision. Connect with the EFA team to learn more about our client onboarding and account maintenance services.
