ETF.com – 2017 ETF Report: FinTech Tools

January 2017

FINTECH TOOLS: Interview with Snowden Lane’s John DiCiaccio, Senior Partner and Managing Director
What financial technology app, program or other solution do you find most helpful in your business?
We use a relationship management software called GoldMine. It helps us track all of our business activity, from the very first interaction. We use it for two reasons primarily: efficiency and accessibility. We’ve been using GoldMine for the last 25 years— a long, long time in tech terms—and from the outset, the product has differentiated itself with fantastic customization options and cross-platform integration.
We chose it—and stayed with it—because of the comprehensive nature and ability to create and monitor many tasks. It also has the ability to export data in case we migrated to a different product. It was also built from the ground up as a networking software rather than trying to adapt a single-user version for multiple people.
How do you use it?
With every client or prospect interaction, I can work with the system to dictate the next action, with customizable detail on everything from a note about a sick family member, or a birthday, or when we should be getting in touch with someone about their required minimum distribution. It relieves me of having to remember every detail about every person.
During the course of a day, I have up to a hundred interactions with different people. When I first meet a person, I record the circumstance of our meeting and details. I send a follow-up note to connect with them and schedule a next time I’d like to be reminded to reach out.
If they call in, I know exactly who they are— in fact, everyone on my team does, which is the point. It requires the buy-in of all team members to record all interactions with all that we come into contact with. This gives us a connected memory effect.
How does it track the details without you getting lost in the information?
We organize under tabs, so that if we need to find details of a family member, it’s under the family tab; other professionals such as CPAs and trust attorneys are under another tab. We can also search through contact histories.
Have you been able to increase business because of it?
Yes; it saves us from getting tangled up in tedious tasks that could get in the way of the client service. Conservatively, Gold- Mine saves me at least 50% of my time. That’s time we can be spending to grow the business.
How has it helped you become more efficient? We’re a process-oriented team, and programs like these make it so we don’t just have to rely on the human memory anymore. It helps us to be accountable, not just to team members, but to clients and prospects.
You mention it has fantastic customization and cross-platform integration. What about the customization do you like, and what platforms do you use it with?
We use Word for client letters and recommendations, email naturally, a financial plan for each client, spreadsheet for tracking asset allocation, and others. Within GoldMine, we can link all of these, plus any other files, like trust documents and pension plan details under one tab. It works seamlessly.