From Client Pain to Operational Gain: Rethinking Onboarding
When customers start to feel the pain of our own problems, that’s a clear sign it’s time to make a change. You can put up with inefficiencies as long as you want, so long as your customers are having an amazing experience. In startups, this concept is sometimes called "doing things that don’t scale," a phrase coined by Paul Graham. In essence, your customer doesn’t care whether you're solving their problem with a carrier pigeon or AI, all they care about is that their problem gets solved in the best experience possible.
But in wealth management, inefficiencies in onboarding have blended into the client experience itself. When prompted to search the web for the top three reasons people don’t switch advisors, AI models consistently highlight the same major roadblock: the perceived pain of onboarding. Prospects remember the highly manual onboarding process they endured with their old advisor and assume it will happen again, weeks of back and forth, redundant paperwork, and uncertainty. This isn’t a new revelation to advisors. We hear this objection all the time during discovery meetings with prospects. It’s also one of the biggest hurdles in convincing existing clients to consolidate all their assets with us. It’s not just about trust or investment performance, it’s about the sheer workload they fear will be placed on them to make the transition happen.
If a wealth management firm truly wants to solve this problem, the first step isn’t to fix internal frustrations with onboarding, it’s to focus entirely on the client experience. Unlike advisors, the client’s problem isn’t manual paperwork, outdated custodian tech, or other inefficient processes. But these common problems have led to friction for them. They don’t want to chase down statements, fill out redundant forms, or your notorious fact finder. They don’t want to guess what happens next or worry about security risks. What they really want is a simple, seamless transition where their money moves efficiently, and they can focus on what matters, whether that’s retirement, investing, or just knowing their finances are in good hands.
If you solve that problem, you’ll be amazed at how clearly the path to improving your internal operations reveals itself. That’s your “do things that don’t scale” moment. Nail the client experience first and then focus on optimizing your process, whether through technology, automation, or if necessary, a carrier pigeon.
The good news? Overvue solves both sides of this equation. It removes friction for prospects, making onboarding effortless, while also automating the labor-intensive tasks that slow advisors down. Because when onboarding stops being a roadblock, more prospects make the switch. And that’s the real game changer.
PS I encourage you to go to your favorite AI model and submit this prompt "Why are clients reluctant to leave their current financial advisor or wealth manager?"