Dealer group launches new adviser portal

Speaking to ifa, Total Financial Solutions Australia (TFSA) said it will be launching its practice development portal designed to help advisers make complex business data actionable, streamline marketing and client engagement initiatives and boost advice standards in the wake of imminent education reforms.

The practice development portal features a business dashboard that consolidates detailed business data into a total view of revenue, investment and insurance information and allows advisers to track business trends and view remuneration data at a granular level, the firm said.

Further, a marketing functionality will allow advisers to distribute business-branded campaigns “at the click of a few buttons”, while a peer-to-peer networking portal will simplify referral processes and tackle issues of isolation among some practices, TFSA said.

An adviser training functionality will leverage the expertise of advisers across the network to create video tutorials and content to up-skill, while TFSA will monitor the performance of its advisers and recommend professional development solutions where needed.

TFSA national practice development manager Joe McCann said, “At present you have financial planners who have all the tools to keep track of clients but generally lack a suite of intuitive tools to track the performance of their own business and where exactly revenue is coming from.

“One thing that traditionally has been difficult to obtain and report on is a breakdown of the key financial metrics of a financial planning practice. The business dashboard means advisers have visibility on netflows for each of the fund managers - highlighting inflows, less outflows and market movement - and they can also see how investment managers have performed during market cycles.

“You can’t plan strategically if you don’t have access to, and can’t make sense of, all the insights. One of the aims of this platform is to give advisers full business visibility to allow them to become more strategic in the long-term.”

TFSA practice development manager Alex Gassner added, “This is all about the implementation side of things - this is about turning conversations had in meetings and business decisions into action, and at the click of a couple of buttons

“The business dashboard is just one part of the practice development portal and is all about numbers, accountability, setting KPIs and objectives and tracking towards goals, but another challenge that we’ve found is a lot of practices struggle with their marketing. They don't have the time or the resources to spend on it.”

“Being a financial planner is a tough gig - you have to keep all of your clients happy, manage your staff and you have to keep up with regulatory changes where you have to tick a lot more boxes than you used to,” Mr McCann added

“Technology, when used efficiently, is a great way to drive productivity. That's what we are going to continue to focus on - how we can constantly improve our processes and help our advisers become more efficient so they can spend more time on revenue producing tasks,” Mr Gassner said.

The practice development portal will launch in the new year, TFSA said.