Growing an advisory business takes time. If you’re like most financial advisors, your time is at a premium. Technology can help you do business more efficiently but in general, you may only get a few hours back. To better optimize your time, you need a solution that enables you to spend a meaningful amount of your time on client-focused activities.
For a growing number of advisors, outsourcing investment services — commonly referred to as OCIO — can be a game-changing solution. OCIO can help solve a number of challenges for growth-minded financial advisors. The best part? Your clients can benefit from the time you get back in your day.
We’re looking at three common problems advisors currently face and how leveraging OCIO services can help.
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Problem 1: “I don’t have enough time to spend with clients.”
A key differentiator between average-producing financial advisors and “elite” top-producing advisors comes down to time management. One study noted that top-producing advisors, working 50 hours per week, spend at least half of their time in front of clients and prospects — a majority of that time (70%) with ideal clients and ideal prospects.¹
The same study reports that top advisors allocate twice the amount of time (32%) to client service than average advisors (16%). And elite advisors allocate far less time to functions like portfolio management, research, administrative and back-office duties.¹
Percentage of Time Allocated to Business Functions¹
| Average Producing Advisors | Top Producing Advisors | |
|---|---|---|
| Managing Portfolios | 12% | 7% |
| Research | 12% | 5% |
| Office Administration | 10% | 4% |
| Back Office Operations | 8% | 1% |
Partnering with an OCIO provider enables advisors to rethink how they spend their time, with the ability to confidently outsource investment management functions, like portfolio construction and management, due diligence, and trading.
One study found that financial advisors who outsource gain nearly 8 hours a week and can use that time to focus on clients.² With that additional time to focus on relationships and service, advisors can deliver better client experiences. In fact, another study found that advisors and firms outsource investment management for the purpose of increasing value to their clients. As a result, those advisors and firms use the time it saves to focus on diversifying their offerings and strengthening relationships with their clients.³
Problem 2: “This market environment is making my clients nervous.”
The current market climate has lots of investors worried and paying closer attention to their investment portfolio. If you’re an advisor who builds and manages your clients’ portfolios, chances are you’ve heard from clients who are concerned about the economy and potential impacts to their investments.
Partnering with an OCIO gives you access to teams of research, asset allocation, and investment specialists to help implement and maintain client portfolios. OCIO providers continually maintain their investment policies and give investors clear visibility into their holdings. The depth and breadth of resources of professional money managers — a time-tested investment approach, deep manager research and due diligence, access to specialists and CFAs, portfolio rebalancing and optimization technology — can provide peace of mind for clients and help them avoid making irrational investment decisions regardless of market conditions.
90% of investors agree that financial advisors should leverage external experts to help with research, strategy, investment planning and management.⁴
Problem 3: “I’m already maxed out and don’t have the horsepower or capacity to grow my business.”
The average independent financial advisor spends about 9 hours a week on business development.⁵ But growing a business requires more than just the time to prospect for clients. You also need the right resources — tools that enable you to deliver better experiences and outcomes to your clients and provide value that sets you apart from competitors.
- 80% of advisors want better client-facing tech, a stronger investment team, and inside access to fund managers to meet client expectations.⁴
- 89% of advisors believe they need to provide extensive due diligence, research, and other high-touch services to support their high-net-worth clients.⁴
- Almost 50% of advisors worry they don’t have enough horsepower to meet the needs of large AUM clients.⁴
As clients continue to want more personalized solutions, advisors need a scalable way to offer those customizable strategies without having to hire teams of people to manage them. OCIO services can expand advisors’ offering by opening access to capabilities such as:
- Custom indexing, tax alpha and other specialized investment strategies
- Cashiering and money management
- Tax harvesting and optimization overlays
- High-net-worth offerings
Growing your business means balancing between establishing new client relationships and delivering the best experiences and outcomes for clients. Being bogged down in investment management and operational tasks can limit your ability to grow.
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According to Cerulli⁶, OCIO assets in the US grew 27% in 2021, reaching $2 trillion, and are expected to grow 7.5% annually to reach $3 trillion by the end of 2025. |
With an OCIO provider, you can differentiate yourself by offering the advantages of institutional investment management and specialized investment strategies while outsourcing time-consuming investment functions such as trading, model management and cash management.
An OCIO partner can help you have the horsepower you need and the backing of resources to overcome your biggest growth challenges, close large accounts, and create capacity within your business for growth.
OCIO: An Outsourcing Solution
As advisors continue to tackle challenges like investors’ need for more nuanced strategies, changing regulatory requirements, and persistent market uncertainty, many are leveraging the services of OCIO providers to help them deliver better experiences to their clients.
Orion’s OCIO offering can help your firm grow and scale your business with a complete suite of investment and operational services, customizable to your firm’s needs. With a complete menu of high-touch services, Orion OCIO can help advisors and firms stay focused on what matters most.
Learn more about how Orion can help you unlock scalable growth and deepen your relationships with clients.
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Growth, supercharged. Take back time in your day and get the horsepower and team to win more — and bigger — business, faster with Orion OCIO.
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