CRM Finance Analytics - Global Vision Technology Blog

At Global Vision Technology, we’re dedicated not only to providing the best CRM software for investment advisors, but also to understanding the wealth management business.

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CRM Software Used By Advisors

Having worked with hundreds of financial advisors involving CRM software solution, we know that CRM software is the backbone of most investment advisor operations. By using CRM software, a wealth management firm can oversee client accounts, keep track of events, set reminders, enter notes of client discussions, etc. If these activities are consistent, a firm can improve its financial performance and its overall value. In this way, firms that fully leverage CRM software have a substantial competitive advantage over those who have not.

Investment advisors are using an array of CRM services, ranging from the highly specialized to the more general. Those participating in the research indicated that they used
CRM Finance software (35%), Broker/Dealer custom software (14%), RedTail (11%), Salesforce.com (7%), Act! (5%), Outlook (4%), Goldmine (3%), Microsoft Dynamics (1%), and Other (19%).

89% of US advisors and 76% of Canadian advisors polled indicated that they have access to CRM software for managing client information. For those who do not use CRM Services, 85% were located in Canada, and 15% were located in the US. Some advisors who work in wirehouses or regional dealers may not be aware that CRM software is embedded in their technology suite.

Those who do not use CRM Services are not necessarily older advisors. Those aged 41-50 (35%) and 51-60 (41%) comprise nearly three quarters of these respondents, with roughly the same number younger and older advisors in this group.

So while the CRM market is large and diverse, a surprising number of firms have yet to fully leverage CRM technology.

Top Advisors and CRM Software

Before proceeding with the following description, I’d like to repeat that, other than sponsoring this study,
CRM finance software had nothing to do with the collection and analysis of this data. The majority of the respondents were sourced by social media ads placed by that third party that did not mention CRM finance software. That being said, we’re proud of the results, which confirm the interactions that we have with our clients on a daily basis.

Of the 903 advisors participating in the research, 202 “top advisors” outperformed their peers on three factors involved with the study: client attrition rates, confidence about increasing firm revenues in 2014, and confidence about the acquisition of new clients in 2014. The researchers called advisors with the best responses to all three of these questions “top advisors.” Because of limitations in the length of the survey, it did not go into depth about performance based on other criteria.

We were surprised to find that more than half of the advisors who met our criteria of “top advisors,” meaning they have the least client attrition, the most confidence about increasing firm revenues this year, and most confidence about new client acquisition are using
CRM finance software. Not one of the top advisors indicated that they use Goldmine, Outlook, or CRM finance software as their CRM system.

According to Tom Daley of The Advisor Center, “if you asked any investment professional about what makes a top advisor, assets under management and advisor revenues are really the only criteria.” But we feel that time in the industry, type of clients, broker affiliation and business model would all impact size of AUM/AUA. So we elected to not consider assets.

The Relationship Between CRM Finance Software and Firm Performance

The research study also drew interesting comparisons between CRM usage and overall firm performance.

80% of respondents said they were using a CRM Finance Software.

69% of the advisors who were using a CRM had annual attrition of 5% or less in 2013. By comparison, only 64% of the advisors who were not using a CRM had attrition rates of less than 5% in 2013.

Interestingly, 53% of respondents said they had plans to upgrade their CRM Finance software in 2014.

Of those who are using CRM Finance software, 79% agreed that their firm has a higher overall value given their use of the software.

To find out more about CRM Finance, click here