New tools to empower relationship managers already exist. Without them, they will not be able to compete.

If there is one element that has defined the wealth management sector, it is the role of the relationship manager (RM) in finding, winning, managing and delivering value to the business from their engagement with prospects and clients. 

However, as we look forward across a changing wealth management and technology landscape, where the role of the wealth manager as a business is becoming more complex, the knock-on effect is therefore more demands being placed on the RM. Even Superman would struggle to deliver against the needs being placed on these individuals. 

One area where the business can deliver a better RM, for the benefit of the RM, the business and the client is technology. The human RM can only deliver so much but the tech-enabled RM can better reach, engage, understand and service clients. The best RMs, enabled by the new breed of tools, can become Superman. Without them, they cannot compete.

Wealth managers must bring the best of these tools into their businesses and work with their RMs to get the most out of the human-technology mix.

Reaching out
How have wealth management firms traditionally reached their target clients? Referrals from existing clients, intermediary networks and marketing exposure through publications, events and the like are how wealth management firms traditionally reached their target clients. All are still valid, though the dynamic and value is changing, and their reach has always been limited. 

What about new ways to reach clients, such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn or the new breed of more wealth-specific tools like adviser and review marketplaces? Names that come to mind include Adviser Ratings in Australia, Baningo Select in Austria, AdviserBook and Find a Wealth Manager in the UK, Planet of Finance internationally or BrightScope and SmartAsset in the US.

For any wealth manager that wants to reach new clients and more of them, these tools might offer the route forward.

Engagement
Historically, the only way to personalise the content a client received was through the RM. Today, however, systems exist to deliver far more personalised communications to clients which, ultimately, should allow the RM to do a better job.

There are a growing number of platforms that support wealth managers in engaging with clients and prospects. Some are industry neutral like HubSpot, while others are much more wealth specific, such as Adviscent in Switzerland, Kredible, Snappy Kracken and Vestorly in the US. 

There are also a growing number of tools which exist to support modern engagement such as video calls and compliant messaging. Firms here include players like BlueRush and FlyBits in Canada, TeleMessage in Israel, Unblu in Switzerland, Novastone and Qwil in the UK and CellTrust and Hearsay in the US. Who needs a monthly meeting with a static, paper-based report, when you can engage with the client through these new digital platforms?

Much of the RM’s role has been to map the circumstances, needs and behaviour of clients to the offering of the wealth manager. There has not been much science and personalisation here, but looking forward, firms will have access to a far more powerful set of tools to support their understanding of their clients.

There are prospecting tools like Wealth-X from the US and NETZ in the UK which seek to not only provide leads but, critically, are also developing to provide a richer insight into each lead. 

What about a deeper level of understanding? A new era of tools now exist to help the RM understand clients and support them in a more personalised, relevant engagement. Some of the tools here come from firms like Asset-Map and DNA Behavior in the US and atfinity, Neuroprofiler and nViso in Europe. This is not mass customisation or just contextual, it is personal, relevant and there to support deeper relationships. 

Early days 
It is vital not to get carried away yet with these tools. They are not yet perfect and might not yet bring the volume and type of clients that many wealth managers seek, but they are absolutely taking the sector in the direction in which the rest of the world operates. Wealth management as a sector is changing and it cannot ignore what is going on around it.

Many of the above offerings reflect the world we now live in and, while we don’t yet pretend the above tools can deliver the next generation wealth management business development model on a plate, they do represent a core part of the future model.

This article was originally written for and published on the Financial Times' Professional Wealth Management website on April 12, 2019. A link to the original article is here: https://www.pwmnet.com/FinTech/Fintech-on-Friday-Creating-Superman-through-the-application-of-technology