while looking out at the lake. However, there are other advisors who see this time of the year as the perfect opportunity to venture further afield on an international vacation. For these advisors, the need to leverage technology to stay in touch with their offices and clients – as well as to take care of any emergencies or any important matters that may come up – is crucial.
“I could just head out to the lobby, hop onto WiFi, pull up my [smart]phone and do a face-to-face chat with the [prospective client],” he recalls. Specifically, he used the Zoom video conferencing software on his iPhone to get to know his new prospect. “The [prospect was] ready to move forward as a client, and because of the tools and the onboarding processes I selected, I ensured I could do that online.
Finally, he uses two productivity tools to help keep him organized when managing clients on the road. The first is Trello, a web-based visual planning tool that mirrors the Kanban board planning system. The second is a list-based system called Todoist. The extended trip took some careful planning. Even though he has a team at the office, he wanted to be in touch for at least part of his trip. “I mapped out the first seven days and disconnected,” Mr. Sabat says, adding that he set his customer-facing email to auto-reply. The operations manager agreed to only message him in the most dire emergencies to get his attention.