Artificial intelligence continues to be a driving force of change in the advisory industry. And embracing AI and its possibilities as an RIA can give you a competitive advantage. After all, it’s clear this technology isn’t simply a passing trend. Exploring AI RIA applications can help you evaluate where it fits into your firm’s growth plans.
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AI RIA Strategies to Improve Efficiency
Streamlining your RIA practice enables you to shift your focus to the tasks that are most important for serving your clients and growing your business. And AI can prove useful when it comes to developing systems and automated processes that can help keep your operations running smoothly.
Here are some ideas for how to implement AI into your RIA practice.
1. Content Creation and Marketing
Content marketing can help you build a following on social media, connect with your email subscribers and drive traffic to your firm’s website. You could tackle content creation yourself, outsource the work to a third party or let AI tools do some of the heavy lifting for you.
For instance, generative AI can assist with:
- Social media content
- Blog posts
- Email templates
- Sales copy for website landing pages
- Digital ad copy
- Video scripts
- Images
In terms of how to use AI for content creation, the first step is choosing the right tool (or tools). ChatGPT is a popular option, though there are other options you might explore. Once you select an AI tool, the next step is deciding how you want to use it.
For example, let’s assume you want to use AI to create follow-up email templates to send to prospects. You can use an AI note-taking app to create a transcript of client meetings and then feed those notes into ChatGPT with this prompt:
“Craft a brief but compelling follow-up email template based on the meeting notes, thanking the prospect for their time and encouraging them to schedule a second meeting.”
Some AI tools do it all, meaning they record client meetings and generate transcripts automatically, saving you even more time. The most important thing to keep in mind when using AI is that it learns from you, so you may have to spend some time “chatting” with it to fine-tune the algorithm.
2. Administrative Tasks
Keeping up with everything you need to do in the back office can take valuable time away from serving clients or marketing to prospects. AI can take those tasks off your plate so you can handle the tasks that have more of an impact on your firm’s growth.
Here’s an example of what that might look like in action. Let’s say that you’ve been putting off reviewing cold leads. You could incorporate AI into your customer relationship management (CRM) platform and use it to generate a list of those leads, along with your last date of contact.
You can then go back to ChatGPT and prompt it to generate a template for a follow-up email, along with some attention-grabbing headlines to improve the odds of those messages being read. From there, you can schedule those messages to go out using your email service’s automation tools.
What about your current clients? You can use AI to scan your CRM and look for clients you haven’t met with in the last six months. Once you have a list, you can decide if you want to send an email or go ahead and schedule a meeting through your preferred calendar tool. During the meeting, you can use your AI tool to take detailed notes of everything you discuss.
3. Compliance
It can be challenging to manage compliance in a changing regulatory environment. And while compliance is a critical area of focus for RIAs, AI can prove useful in streamlining compliance in multiple ways:
- Record-keeping. A core compliance requirement centers on maintaining accurate records of client communications. Again, AI note-taking tools can help capture those conversations and create a digital paper trail of each interaction.
- Know Your Client (KYC)/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. Another key compliance responsibility involves KYC and AML rules, which are intended to prevent fraudulent and illegal financial transactions. AI tools are increasingly being used to screen clients following KYC rules and monitor transactions to detect activity that could suggest money laundering.
- Trend tracking. New compliance rules are routinely introduced while others are amended or eliminated. AI can help RIAs stay up to date on regulatory shifts by monitoring relevant websites or publications for the latest compliance trends and generating recommendations on how to prepare your firm for upcoming changes.
AI also has a place in ensuring compliant marketing. SmartAsset AMP, for example, is a fully compliant advisor marketing platform that uses a holistic approach to help advisors match with leads.
4. Client Experience
Client experience matters for retention and referrals. And AI offers a range of possibilities for providing a superior experience. Here are some of the ways RIAs can put AI to work:
- Onboarding. A clunky onboarding experience can be an immediate turn-off to new clients. AI can improve onboarding if you’re using it to automate certain tasks, such as document management, signature acquisition and new account setup.
- Personalized communications. Clients want to hear from you, but they don’t want generic emails or messages. AI is useful for generating personalized messages that are tailored to your clients’ needs and expectations so you can maintain a positive connection without spending hours drafting emails.
- Client support. There are times when a client may need help or have questions, but you’re not available to answer immediately. In those situations, an AI chatbot can offer guidance until you have an opportunity to reach out.
- Financial planning. Planning lies at the heart of what you do, and AI can help you do it better, leading to an improved client experience. For example, predictive AI tools can help you develop customized financial plans, assess potential outcomes in different scenarios and find the most optimal investment mix based on your client’s risk tolerance, goals and overall portfolio.
AI RIA Best Practices
AI is still a relatively new technology, and it’s important to have a plan for weaving it into your RIA practice’s operations. Here are a few tips to consider as you move ahead with AI implementation:
- Take an inventory of your firm’s pain points to assess where AI is likely to be most useful or have the most positive impact.
- Research AI tools that speak to those needs, focusing on the solutions they offer and the cost of implementing them in your business.
- Look at the bigger picture to see where AI fits into your overall tech stack and where potential conflicts may arise.
- Adopt in stages, starting with smaller tasks to give yourself time to acclimate to the AI tools you’re using.
- Don’t be afraid to experiment to figure out which tools are best suited to your firm’s needs.
Lastly, remember that while AI continues to be perfected, it’s no substitute for a human touch. Any areas of your business that incorporate AI should continue to be overseen by you or a member of your team to ensure accuracy and compliance.
Bottom Line
AI is an exciting technology, and one that more RIAs and wealth management firms are adopting. If you haven’t jumped on the AI bandwagon yet, it may be worth considering how you can use these tools to elevate your firm.
Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business
- A solid digital footprint is key to an effective marketing plan and tech tools can help with building yours out. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform), for example, is a holistic marketing service that financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
- Cost is a principal factor when determining which AI tools to implement. Before you invest in a new program or tool, ask yourself what kind of ROI you’re hoping to get for your investment. You may look for tools that offer a free trial or demonstration so that you have a chance to test them out before committing.
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