New software option to onboard prospects faster is coming to Canada this fall

VRGL, Inc., of Dallas, Texas, which has just partnered with Bridge Financial Technology of Chicago, is bringing its technology to Canada this fall so more wealth management firms can automate more of their intake processes to provide better client attraction and retention.

“I’m advocating for this process to be a little more quantitative,” Josh Smith, VRGL’s co-founder and chief executive officer, told Wealth Professional. “Why can’t someone who is looking to evaluate a financial advisor be armed with more data? It doesn’t have to be highly complex, but the advisor can add more value by being more transparent when a client is transitioning from another location.”

Smith said his software will open opportunities for advisors because it can input the data from potential clients’ statements automatically and faster than inputting it by hand. That will allow the advisors to more rapidly develop comprehensive recommendations about what they would do with those assets if the clients joined them, and then track, and discuss, those assets with them later.

“Advisors can then show someone a quantitative way that goes beyond just a performance report to actually explain how what they’d do would add value to their potential client,” said Smith. “Then, when that prospect become a client, they’re more in touch with what’s continuing to happen.

“When you think about advisors’ technology stack today, they basically have Salesforce or something like it on the CRM side. Then, there is literally nothing between Salesforce and the advisors’ conversations with people thinking of moving billions of assets. There’s nothing other than ‘here’s a PowerPoint presentation with my marketing pitch of what I’m going to do’.”

Smith said VRGL’s client acquisition and proposal management system will allow advisors to more easily review clients’ portfolios with them to show risk, diversification, performance, taxes, and fees.

“Those five things really tell a story of where a client is and where they’re going,” he said. “They really allow both the advisor and prospect to have a good sense.”

Smith said VRGL’s system can accelerate the prospective client’s decision-making by 50%.

“That means you’re laying out less cost convincing clients to transfer,” he added. “So, you’re spending more time on your yeses and less time on your nos. And, when you’re getting yeses, you’re getting even more money to manage. So, it’s a sales enablement tool.”

The new partnership brings together Bridge, a data-centric wealth management technology platform, with VRGL, which provides institutional-grade analytics and automated data extraction to the wealth management industry. The partnership will provide an integrated, front-to-back analytics and portfolio management suite that allows wealth management organizations to enhance transparency and deliver a new level of client and prospect interaction and engagement.

“Anyone who wants to be more transparent should love our software,” Smith said. “Ultimately, we want to be the industry standard going forward.”

By Noelle Boughton

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