The Paperwork Reduction Act

When I launched my practice ten years ago, I lived in a vicious, relentless cycle. It was like the film, Ground Hog Day. Do a little marketing, then win a couple of clients, then do the planning work, then process the business, then work to get paid on it, and then start the process all over again. I was a one-man show, and I was meeting myself coming and going. I was only actually producing new business about every 3 or 4 weeks.  The rest of the time I was either marketing or processing paperwork in one form or other: ordering forms, filling out forms, copying forms, filing forms, mailing forms, tracking forms, etc..  It was madness.  I knew there had to be a better way, but I didn’t want to pay someone else to do something I could do myself.

Over time, I began to realize that I should only have one job: seeing clients. Every moment that I spent outside my conference room was costing me money. Big money. I learned that I needed to pay other people to do anything and everything that took me out of the conference room. My notions about efficiency were simply off base.  Doing work myself so I didn’t have to pay others to do it was a false economy. Since I was the most financially valuable person in the practice (I brought in the accounts), the real economy was in my avoiding anything and everything that took me out of the conference room. It was a tough habit to break, but I have fully recovered. Now, I am like one of those reformed smokers who can’t stand second hand smoke of any kind whatsoever. I can’t stand paperwork of any kind whatsoever. I am allergic to it.  It makes me nauseous. The slightest whiff of it can send me into a panic attack or a stress-induced coma, really.

One Exception

Advisors don’t do paperwork. That’s the policy.  Of course there are exceptions to every policy.  As an advisor, I am not above doing the work.  It is a matter of profitability and efficiency.  That said, new advisors are allowed, in fact required, to do their own account and investment paperwork at the beginning of their careers, and for two reasons. First, they need to be able to fill in for the operations staff in a pinch if they have a client emergency, such as a last minute, unexpected drop-in or a late appointment with a client who has an urgent transaction that needs processing. Second, they need to understand the basics of how our operations department works, if for no other reason than to become sympathetic with the struggles and challenges the department faces each day in support of the advisor staff. The more everyone on the team knows how everyone else works, the more efficient we will be. And, this promotes esprit de corps (a team spirit of enthusiasm and camaraderie, for you rednecks). Now, there limits to this exception. New advisors may only do their own paperwork up to a point.  Once they no longer have time to do it, because they are too busy (and valuable) seeing clients in the conference room, their pencil-pushing days are over.  Paperwork is just a part of their initial training, and nothing more.

The Efficient Document

In today’s technological world, there are service providers that can map the data fields (name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, beneficiaries, etc.) from your client resource management (CRM) data base to digital web-based investment, account, and service forms.  These systems are brilliant at pre-populating your client documents from the information in your own database.  Virtually all broker-dealer, clearing firm, investment sponsor, and insurance carrier forms are available through these service providers. LaserApp and Quik! are two such providers. For a nominal fee, you can subscribe to one of these services and virtually eliminate filling out forms by hand. Once populated the forms can be printed or emailed directly from the application. If you are not using one of these services, you simply don’t understand them.