In this presentation John Easton from Maximizer software talks about how deploying a CRM system will make your Wealth Management firm more effective and saleable.

1. Published By
EBOOK
Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM
Solution That Will Make Your Business
More Effective and Saleable
| MAXIMIZER CRM

2. 2EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
Assess Your Needs 6
Determine Your Solution 9
Identify Vedors 12
Implement 14
Populate the Platform 16
Ensure User Adoption 18
Reap the Benefits 20
Impress Potential Buyers
Conclusion
22
24
Table of Contents What’s in this ebook?
1. Understand your customer:
address needs, interests,
problems, even budget levels
revealed.
2. Only send communications
that reflect this prospect
intelligence
3. Demonstrate relevant product
and industry knowledge in any
further interactions
4. Use CRM software to provide
a central view of all relevant
information, automatically
schedule courtesy calls, send
properly-timed email follow-
ups, assign account managers
and update client data.

3. 3EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
Introduction
With retirement not so far off for many financial advisors, as discussed in
a recent Maximizer whitepaper, now is the time for many to plan for their
own financial future and build the value of their business for potential
sales down the road.
A 2014 Maximizer survey of more than 900 financial advisors across Canada and
the United States showed that more than 60% are already over age 50 (57% in
Canada and 68% in the US). The survey also revealed close to 30% of all advisors
plan to retire in the next 10 years and more than half aim to give up work within
the next 15 years (53% in Canada and 50% in the US). The findings indicate
financial advisors will find themselves in a highly competitive sellers’ market in
10-15 years and, to ensure they adequately fund retirement with the sale of their
business, they need to start building the value of their practice now.
Efficient systems, streamlined processes and a rock solid book of business are
all key to safeguarding the future of a wealth management practice. Having
and effectively deploying the right Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
solution is absolutely critical to achieving these goals.
We outline eight steps to putting in place a CRM system that will transform your
business, addressing each with key questions and answers:

4. 4EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 1
Assess Your Needs

5. 5EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
Mistrust and miscommunication between sales and marketing can act
like an anchor on your company’s growth rate.
NELSON CHENG
Chief Executive Officer, Sterling Mutuals Inc.
“
”
1. Assess Your Needs
Who will use the CRM?
• Decide which partners and support staff need access to client information
Do you need scalability?
• Consider projected growth and aims for expanding the business
What technical infrastructure do you have in place?
• Look at the IT support and available hardware, whether you should
consider an on-premise or cloud solution (or a variation of that), and your
security requirements
Do you know your clients as well as a practice such as yours should?
• Determine whether you are able to capture key client details and make them
instantly accessible, so your firm can connect with its customer base in
a more intimate manner compared to the big players – this is the Unique
Selling Proposition of a smaller wealth management practice

6. 6EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
• Figure out who is in your book of business, what you need to know about them
and how you can best capitalize on the easy availability of the information to
advisors and support staff
Is fear of a compliance failure an issue?
• Understand the compliance risks
• Look at how grounding your processes and ensuring organization and
accountability can be critical to protecting the business over the long term from
legal and regulatory issues

7. 7EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 2
Determine Your Solution

8. 8EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
2. Determine whether you need an industry specific solution
and what additional elements you require
Does my firm have the capability to customize a general CRM solution for my
specific needs?
• Substantial IT know-how, support and investment is necessary for the level
of customization necessary to reconfigure a general CRM system to meet
the very specific needs of a wealth management practice – otherwise there
are far better and more cost-effective alternatives
Do I need a specialist solution?
• An out-of-the-box Wealth Management (WM) CRM solution can be up and
running at a financial advisor firm almost immediately
• A WM CRM solution does not require dedicated IT staff or expensive
outsourced support
• A specialist solution for financial advisors provides labels, fields and searches
in industry-specific language and is configured particularly for your type of
business
What specifically configured elements would a specialist system have that would
enhance its usefulness and value to my company?
• Household structure
• Industry-specific custom fields
• Key client views
• Pre-configured segmentation searches
• Performance and planning dashboards
• Industry-specific process workflows
• Communication templates and protocols
• Remote access to all client information
• Opportunity module to track new business
• Multi-step service plans that group all actions for a single client

9. 9EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
How important is remote access to my CRM data?
• If you need to travel frequently, work at home fairly regularly, have more
than one office, deal with clients out of hours and use mobile devices such
as phones and tablets, then you need full mobile access and it must be fully
secure
• Can I ensure the system will have all the security my clients would require and
I need to protect myself and my business from any potential threats?
• A system with built-in, high-level data centre protections via cloud can provide
a big security boost to smaller firms concerned with the state of their own
information architecture and the need for investment in this area
What flexibility do I require?
• Scalable up or down – to prepare for rapid business growth or temporary
retrenchment, which Software as a Service (SaaS) and cloud make easy and
worry-free
• Adjustable configuration – to fine-tune the CRM system specifically for your
company
• Good integration with other applications – to ensure information held on
software such as Excel and Outlook can be linked into the CRM system

10. 10EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 3
Identify Desirable Vendors

11. 11EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
3. Identify desirable vendors and set up a test drive
What experience and capabilities do I look for in a vendor?
• A recognized industry name with a strong track record
• An experienced and established deployment and support team
• A road tested solution
• Tier III data centre status for security
• ISO certification
• Regular back-ups (can have you up and running 24 hours after a disruption)
• Established expertise with wealth management clients
• Good understanding of the requirements of a financial advisor firm
How do I know if a vendor I like has a solution that will be right for my firm?
• Read some of their materials – blogs, whitepapers, guides, eBooks, product
sheets – to see where they are coming from, how well they understand your
industry and the needs of a firm like yours, and what priorities they see as
relevant to you
• Contact, when ready, one of their salespeople to talk through your particular
needs and problems – again, seeing how well they understand your pain-
points and how they can address them
• Ask for a full demo of their product to see how it works and how it would
play to your strengths and weaknesses as a financial advisor – they
should be able to walk you through live examples of exactly what you can
see and do with their CRM

12. 12EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 4
Implement the Right
Set-Up and Flexibility

13. 13EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
4. Implement with the right set-up and flexibility
How do I ensure it is implemented in the right way for my firm?
• Speak with the vendor or their certified partner about the most suitable
configuration once you decide on a CRM solution, identify how you intend to
use it and the number of users who will have access. Take full advantage of
the support and advice they offer in setting it up – including after-purchase
care – and consider the servicing options offered and what best fits your
requirements
• Talk through how the CRM solution will integrate with other systems –
namely back office – and, where assistance is needed, ask for it
• Consider a subscription model if you are unsure about the number of users,
and look at the flexibility the vendor offers in this area
The beauty of Maximizer
CRM is that it tells you
who you talked to, when
you talked to them and
what you talked about.
This not only keeps the
whole team organized
and informed, it also
makes the customer ex-
perience richer.
NELSON CHENG
Chief Executive Officer,
Sterling Mutuals Inc.
“
”

14. 14EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 5
Populate the CRM Platform

15. 15EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
5. Populate the CRM Platform with all available data
How do I get my information on there?
• Initiate a massive data download from the back office once the CRM solution
is implemented
• Transfer all the client details, records and intelligence you have stored
electronically to the new CRM platform
• Take the time to move various pieces of data into the right files and fields
What if it isn’t in a fit state to transfer electronically
• If you, partners or support staff hold important client knowledge in your
head(s), organize a major brain dump – do not hesitate, do not procrastinate,
just get it down or dictate it and get someone else to input the information
• If other information is inaccessible via computers – e.g. in filing cabinets, on
pieces of paper, or on incompatible software – enter it into the CRM system
manually
• If your staff, overwhelmed by the task, get in temps to type in all useful client
information from all available sources – to input accurate information into
the right fields

16. 16EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 6
Ensure User Adoption

17. 17EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
6. Ensure User Adoption to get the most out of it
Once the new CRM solution is fully up and running, how do I make sure I get the
maximum return on my new business investment?
• Get buy-in from everyone at the firm, making sure they are clear on its
importance to the future of the business, the benefits in terms of processes,
efficiency, client relationships, compliance, and just plain making their lives
easier and jobs worry-free
• Explain all this and ask for staff input in fine-tuning the configuration of
fields, searches and other elements
• Train them all, taking whatever training your vendor offers, investing in
further training if necessary – the more users put into the system, the more
you will get out of it, so ensuring they fully understand how to use it is a
worthwhile investment

18. 18EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 7
Reap the Benefits

19. 19EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
7. Reap the Operational Benefits
Does having CRM help me now – not just in 10 or 15 years when I sell up?
• Your business will be more effective and secure – and as a result make more
money
• Systemization, standardized processes and organized workflow ensures
efficiency and compliance – in other words, you sleep better at night
• A personalized approach supported by granular client knowledge that
bigger, less-nimble competitors simply cannot tap into gives you a significant
competitive advantage over more faceless financial service giants
• More productive work time and effective management of workload lowers
cost of staff per client and margins go up
• The firm will be positioned to attract new partners, move into new
categories of wealth management, draw new clients and follow up on new
opportunities with existing clients – all with the result that both revenues
and profits should continually grow

20. 20EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 8
Impress Potential Buyers

21. 21EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
8. Impress Potential Buyers
What will a potential buyer see when they look at the CRM platform?
• A highly systematized business backed by a purpose-built tool for governing
processes and recording client data and interactions
• A comprehensive, quantified, verified, actionable book of business that
becomes the central asset of your business – making it worth buying at a
premium
• ‘Client experience’ that is seamlessly transferrable – otherwise, without
that client history and intelligence comprehensively recorded and easily
accessible, the value of your business will be seen as questionable to a
potential purchaser

22. 22EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
CHAPTER 9
Conclusion

23. 23EBOOK Eight Steps to Deploying a CRM Solution That Will Make Your Business More Effective and Saleable
Conclusion
There are inherent risks for buyers of wealth management practices. The key
to selling your firm for top dollar is to be the safe bet for potential purchasers.
Buyers don’t want to worry about clients not rooted to the practice and
compliance issues rearing their head once the original owner is gone. What they
want is to be confident there will not be any surprises once they take over the
business and that every action and communication is well-documented – ‘This
guy’s recording everything’ should be the reassuring thought in a buyer’s mind.
Long before it comes time to sell, you also want to be set up for growth. A
properly configured CRM platform positions your firm for just that, making sure
you are fully geared up to take on partners and new lines of business. Having the
technical infrastructure in place to expand the business into new areas gives you
the option of bringing in potential purchasers as partners initially; or just having
the business set up for future expansion can be a draw for buyers who are
looking for the potential to build out a practice.
Overall, deploying the right CRM solution and integrating it into the fabric of the
whole business creates an attractive foundation for any buyer. With business
processes systematized and workflow automated via a Wealth Management
CRM solution, you are able to demonstrate your firm runs like a well-oiled
machine and your book of business is worth its weight in gold (verified,
quantified, the key to further growth). As a result, the day that ‘for sale’ sign
goes up in your front window, buyers will beat a path to your door.

24. AMERICAS ( HEAD OFFICE )
Maximizer Services Inc.
208 W. 1st Avenue,
Vancouver, BC, V5Y 3T2, Canada
Sales +1 800 804 6299
Phone +1 604 601 8000
Email info@maximizer.com
Website www.maximizer.com
EUROPE / MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA
Maximizer Software Ltd.
Apex House, London Road,
Bracknell, Berkshire,
RG12 2XH, United Kingdom
Phone +44 (0) 845 555 99 55
Email enquiries@maximizer.com
Website www.maximizer.com/uk
AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND
Maximizer Software Solutions Pty. Ltd.
Level 1, Suite 14, 32 Delhi Road
North Ryde, New South Wales,
2113 Australia
Phone +61 (0) 2 9957 2011
Email info.anz@maximizer.com
Website www.maximizer.com/au
Copyright © 2015 Maximizer Services Inc., Maximizer Software Ltd., Maximizer Software Solutions Pty. Ltd. All rights reserved. Maximizer® CRM is a registered trademark of Maximizer Software Inc.
Maximizer CRM, Maximizer CRM Live, Maximizer Contact Management, and other product names may be trademarks of their respective holders. This is for information purposes only.
MAXIMIZER SOFTWARE INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
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About Maximizer
Maximizer CRM is fueling the growth of businesses around the world.
Our CRM solutions come fully loaded with the core Sales, Marketing and Service functionality business need to optimize sales
productivity, accelerate marketing andimprove customer service. With flexible on-premise, our cloud and your cloud deployment
options, tailor-to-fit flexibility, state-of-the art security infrastructure, industry-specific solutions and anywhere/anytime mobile
access, Maximizer is the affordable CRM solution of choice.
From offices in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and AsiaPac, and a worldwide network of certified business partners,
Maximizer has shipped over one million licenses to more than 120,000 customers worldwide.