A Hubly Success Story

In a recent webinar, we had the pleasure of hearing from Hannah Dabbs Mendoza, an experienced operations professional in the financial advisory space. Hannah shared how she’s found utility in Hubly and how it’s positively impacted her office's daily operations. Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from her presentation:

Hannah, based in Phoenix, has worked in the financial services industry for seven years. Her office started with five financial advisors and just one admin and has since expanded to include three administrative staff. This growth was driven by the need to manage increasing workloads and refine operations. Today, Hannah owns operations and business development functions, delegating day-to-day administrative tasks to her capable team.

Hannah’s office relies on a robust tech stack to maintain efficiency and seamless client service. Here’s an overview of their digital tools:

• CRM: Redtail
• Document Management: Microsoft 365 (OneDrive and Teams)
• Scheduling: Calendly
• Automation: Zapier
• Client Onboarding: PreciseFP
• Marketing: Levitate

Hubly serves as the unifying thread, integrating these tools and acting as the engine behind their client service workflows.

Hubly in Action

Before Hubly, Hannah’s team contended with the frustration related to manual processes, missed tasks and constant back-and-forth communication. In contrast, Hubly brought order to the chaos by providing:

• Customizable workflows: Alignment with specific processes and custodians
• Automation: Tasks assigned and updated based on defined client actions
• Visibility: A defined and accurate view of where each client is in their journey

Hannah’s approach to building workflows combines technology with the human element. For instance, the typical journey looks something like this:

1. Mapping out processes: She starts with a whiteboard or flowchart to outline every step, identify bottlenecks and create a visual depiction of the workflow.
2. Customizing templates: Hubly offers out-of-the-box templates. Hannah capitalizes on these frameworks and edits to fit her office’s unique needs.
3. Collaborating with the team: Admin staff provide input to refine workflows, while advisors focus on high-touch and high-value tasks.

For the sake of translating the abstract into a real-world, transferable scenario, Hannah showcased several workflows that have transformed their operations:

• Client onboarding: A multi-step process guides clients to the finish line, from paperwork to funding.
• Annual client reviews: Using Calendly and Zapier, clients schedule their own meetings, which prompts actions related to preparation, execution and follow-up.
• Client service requests: Requests like distributions or account updates are handled efficiently within Hubly.

Beyond these use cases, Hubly is great for filtering tasks based on form responses. For example, when an advisor fills out a form specifying account details, Hubly automatically adjusts the workflow to reduce the burden of irrelevant tasks and assign the appropriate ones. This has significantly reduced the noise that comes from back-and-forth communication while boosting accuracy.

Challenges and Opportunities

Hannah acknowledged that workflows require some element of maintenance to adapt to industry changes, compliance mandates and team dynamics. She underlined the importance of having a designated person to manage Hubly and ensure it remains a living, breathing system.

That said, she offered specific advice to help others get the most value from Hubly:

• Prioritize setup: Building workflows takes time, but the initial effort pays off in long-term efficiency.
• Leverage team collaboration: Engage your team in the process to get buy-in and gather feedback that can help you refine your processes.
• Stay invested: Regularly review Hubly’s updates and features to bolster workflows.

Rise Above Operational Challenges

Investing in Hubly has been a big win for Hannah’s office, allowing them to deliver superb client service while reducing administrative burdens. Your office could see similar results. Follow Hannah’s lead and map out your processes, look to your team for input and embrace the latest developments in automation. A big thank you to Hannah for sharing her expertise and inspiring us to rethink how we approach client service workflows!  She’s graciously offered to share her workflows with fellow users. If you’d like access, just message us in the chat and we’ll pass your account email to Hannah. She’ll use the Refer a Friend feature to send them your way.

Haven’t used Refer a Friend yet? It’s an easy way for Hubly users to share their workflows with one another. This is the perfect chance to try it out.

Speaking of action, now’s the time to transform your firm into a client-first, efficiency-driven operation with Hubly. Start your free trial today and set your team and clients up for success.