Holmlund Financial’s Quick Connections Build Client Relationships and Team Capacity

Introduction: A Changing Client Base and Growing Demand

Everyone experiences emotions about money and their financial situation, spanning from guilt to fear to anxiety. This is especially the case for millennials and younger generations, who are just beginning to grow their wealth. To better understand their finances and how they can achieve financial security, many people turn to financial services companies. 

Top financial services companies, like Ontario-based Holmlund Financial – Optimize Wealth Management, focus on providing a seamless customer experience. Their agents prioritize ease of communication and personalization to ensure that customers feel comfortable reaching out to them for answers about such a sensitive subject. To provide a frictionless experience, they have to be able to communicate efficiently with customers through a convenient channel.

Experts estimate that $68 trillion will move between generations within 25 years, which means the need for financial management assistance is growing. Plus, studies suggest that 80% or more of heirs will look for a new financial advisor after inheriting wealth. This means that Holmlund Financial is facing a higher demand than ever before. 

In May 2019, the Holmlund Financial team decided that they needed to find a way to provide a personalized experience while increasing their capacity to take on these waves of new clients. They found Heymarket.

The Challenge: Slow Connections and Reduced Capacity

Traditionally, Holmlund Financial used email and phone calls to communicate with clients, but clients were increasingly unresponsive to these channels. 

Clients opened only 48% of Holmlund Financial’s emails. Agents found themselves playing phone tag for simple tasks like asking for paperwork. Plus, their growing millennial client base was demanding a faster communication channel.

With their existing channels, agents couldn’t provide the kind of immediate connections that help clients feel confident about their finances. They also needed to expand their capacity to support the growing number of potential clients requesting services. While they could handle around 150 households at any given time, they knew that they could manage more with the right tools. 

To improve open and response rates, increase capacity, and improve communication security, Holmlund started to use Heymarket.

The Solution: Increasing Read Rates and Response Times with Heymarket

Since adding business text messaging to their communication toolbox, the Holmlund team texts for the majority of their administrative communications, like meeting reminders and paperwork requests. Clients open 95% of their texts, far exceeding their 48% email open rate. This open rate has drastically improved read rates, too, empowering Holmlund Financial to more easily start chatting with clients.

Now, instead of waiting days for clients to respond to their emails or calls, agents almost always receive responses to their texts, even if they’re asking for paperwork. Clients can simply take pictures of documents, like driver’s licenses or paperwork. Clients typically reply within 20 minutes.

Holmlund Financial shares their SMS number on their website, in newsletters, and at seminars and events. Leads text in for initial queries and to schedule meetings. In addition, customers are reaching out more often, pleased with their agents’ fast response rates and the ease of texting their trusted advisors. 

The Solution: Improving Compliance and Control with Heymarket

The financial services industry has strict compliance regulations. Only recently have firms felt comfortable allowing agents to text customers for administrative purposes. Before adopting Heymarket, Holmlund Financial agents were using their personal phones to text clients. Team members sent client messages back and forth if they wanted to work on a case together. Management had no reliable way to review texts and ensure compliance. 

With Heymarket, all team members can access a shared inbox, where each client conversation lives. As soon as a message arrives in the inbox, team members are notified so an available agent can respond. If a certain agent is not available, their conversations are still accessible; the remaining team members can pick right up where they left off. If a team member leaves the company, the text messages and client data stay with the team and managers can revoke their access.

The Solution: Building Capacity with Heymarket

Using text messaging has increased Holmlund Financial’s communication speed. Agents no longer waste hours chasing down clients for small tasks. When customers text in sensitive or complex questions, agents schedule quick calls through SMS. By transitioning to phone calls in special cases, the team provides the support that clients need. 

Heymarket’s seamless texting and team-centric tools have freed up the Holmlund Financial team’s time while allowing them to provide the same great service. This new efficiency has empowered the team to take on even more clients and expand their business.

Agents using traditional tools can handle 150-200 households at a time. Now, Holmlund Financial’s agents are aiming for around 250-300 households per advisor. With Heymarket’s help, they’re able to offer the same amount of personalized service to each client. 

The Future: Compounding Benefits of Business Text Messaging

Holmlund Financial continues to expand their client base and scale communications as younger generations inherit and earn more wealth. They look forward to connecting their CRM with Heymarket. This integration will help them better manage client data, personalize messages with custom fields, and even text from their CRM interface.

Ultimately, the Holmlund Financial team has drastically improved client communications. They plan to continue using Heymarket to help more clients feel secure on their quests for financial security and freedom.