Clients increasingly prefer messaging, so shouldn’t your advisors be reachable this way too? Here’s why
March 05 2021
Text messaging is becoming more popular in almost every industry. People now expect to be able to use SMS and WhatsApp messaging to add ease to all aspects of their lives, from tracking packages to picking up prescriptions, customer care, and mobile banking. And why aren’t more financial advisors using texting and messaging to connect with their clients? What advantages would combining messaging and other virtues provide?
Is messaging risky business—or is it having no messaging policy at all?
When texting & messaging first became popular, the compliance and security issues with the new medium quickly became apparent. Financial services responded to the risk of litigation by enacting a blanket ban on text & WhatsApp messaging. However, with the pressures on advisors to meet customer expectations, a ban won’t be enough to keep expensive fines at bay. Customers will not be prevented from initiating text conversations, which should be recorded as a business record, if a ban is imposed. There is still a compliance risk if an advisor replies to the text and requests that the conversation be moved to a managed channel. If the advisor disregards the text, the relationship may suffer.
It’s impossible to be certain that advisors aren’t secretly sending or responding to text & WhatsApp’s. Even if your company has a written electronic communications policy, you may still be held liable if you fail to preserve and produce records. FINRA fined brokers for engaging in unapproved securities-related text communications in 2017 and 2018, and there have already been three cases this year.
The majority of infractions stem from the requirement to record, supervise, and produce business communications in general. For remote bankers, wealth advisors, mortgage advisors, relationship managers, and others, Stitch MultiLine ensures reliable, compliant mobile communications.
If you don’t have a texting & messaging policy, it’s not only difficult to prove whether advisors are messaging, but you’re also missing out on the benefits texting and other digital tools can bring to customer engagement and advisor-client relationships.
Stitch MultiLine for calls, texts & Business WhatsApp is the choice for financial advisors, virtual and in-person
Stitch is laser-focused on the needs of the world’s most prestigious financial institutions and their advisors. The MultiLine application was created to help your company capture and produce all of its texts, WhatsApp messages and calls, as well as easily implement other business functions like SMS Opt-In and Lexicon Policies.
- With leading providers like Microsoft Intune, BlackBerry Dynamics, Workspace One, and MobileIron, you can easily deploy, secure, and manage the MultiLine app.
- We offer options to record just voice, as well as SMS & WhatsApp messaging, regardless of whether you’re using Wi-Fi, data, or GSM.
- Enjoy a variety of recording, storage, and retrieval options, including real-time SIPREC recording or seamless data transfer to your preferred archive or CRM.
Stitch MultiLine includes a management portal for IT and compliance teams that includes transparent audit trails, alerts, and reports to assist compliance and mobility teams in meeting obligations and maintaining visibility across all business voice and text.
Deliver concierge-like customer service from anywhere
Financial advising is a personal process in which it is critical to support your client’s relationship. It’s all about being responsive, and the best way to do that is to give your customers multiple ways to contact you.
- When compared to email, messaging allows for more flexibility in communication. Brief messages such as “do you have time to talk?” can indicate that you want to connect with the customer. Advisors can communicate with their clients on a regular basis, fostering a strong bond.
- Customers who are travelling, can’t get to a branch, or simply don’t want to make the commute will benefit from virtual advising, whether through calls, texts, or video conferencing. Customers appreciate the convenience of being able to contact them via multiple channels, such as phone or messaging channels.
Increase advisor productivity
Many advisors aren’t intentionally putting their reputation and career on the line when it comes to recordable and reproducible communication; it could be a lack of tools or a lack of convenience.
- The ability to instal a separate business number on their device, allowing them to communicate with their clients while on the go, can eliminate the desire to communicate with a non-compliant channel entirely. Advisors are far more likely to comply with regulations if they have a solution that protects their privacy and is simple to use and configure.
- Because MultiLine works with Wi-Fi calls, cellular data, and GSM, advisors can stay in touch with clients wherever they are—at home, on the road, in the office.
- Business conversations that are facilitated through the MultiLine app are automatically captured and logged inside Salesforce when you use the Salesforce CRM connector, with full features of an employee’s business line available on any desktop browser. With features like quick-reply texts and the ability to add notes during or after calls, this integration boosts productivity and helps automate daily tasks.
Rollout quickly and easily
Leading global banks and financial firms have already put their faith in this solution. Every step of the way, our customer success team will be there to help you. Deploy to 1,000s in days, with users up and running in minutes. There’s no need to come into the office because the cloud-based service’s onboarding is completely online and over-the-air.
- Any mobile device and carrier are supported.
- Works in any situation
- Works from all over the world
Our customer success team is ready to assist you if you’re committed to giving your financial advisors the tools they need to provide exceptional service to customers—and excellent documentation to auditors.
We highly recommend getting in touch with us for an open, honest (and easy to understand!) conversation. We’ll get to know your business then explain the options available to successfully tackle the challenges you’re facing. There’s no obligation to take your journey further (although we think you’ll definitely want to!)