What’s Your Time Really Worth?
Michelle at eParaplan explains:
If you’re still trying to do it all, it might be time to let go. Annual servicing is one of the biggest cost centres in your business and yet many advisers don’t track how much time they spend on servicing, leading to inefficiencies and underpriced work.
The thing is, if you’re still doing your servicing yourself, you’re probably not doing it very well and you’re limiting the growth of your business.
Have you also considered what the cost of servicing your clients is and whether your clients are profitable?
Servicing a client isn’t just about their annual review, it is so much more than that. It’s maintaining relationships, managing expectations, and implementing ongoing changes. This includes:
- Regular client communication and query resolution
- Risk adjustments and portfolio reviews
- Processing top-ups, withdrawals, and policy changes
- Keeping clients accountable for their financial decisions
Without a structured approach, these tasks can drain resources and limit business growth. So, what if you could cut your cost to service by £2,630 per client and reclaim over 1,500 hours of time annually?
Here’s a real life case study:
Dave came into the profession with a fresh perspective, genuinely wanting to help people. He built himself a great directly authorised business of circa 80 clients, he had fantastic branding (all the boxes of a great firm are ticked) and yet at the age of 46 he was considering selling to a consolidator and taking on an employed role. Why?
- His attempts at recruiting had been costly and unsuccessful.
- He was doing everything himself.
- He had no personal life, with young children at home, he was stressed beyond belief.
- He struggled to see a way forward, feeling isolated and overwhelmed.
By reassessing his servicing strategy, we were able to:
- Cut his cost to service his clients by £2,630 per client.
- Reclaim 1,500 hours per year to focus on higher-value work and more importantly personal time.
- Gain insight into client profitability and adjust his pricing structure accordingly.
- Develop a sustainable business plan that allowed for growth without added stress.
- Improve his well-being and regain control over his business.
- Most importantly, we energised him and restored his passion again.
Understanding the Real Cost of Servicing
To get a clear picture of servicing costs, we conducted a Virtual Time and Motion analysis. This process breaks down each task, who is responsible for it, the time taken, and the associated costs. By comparing the current model, where advisers handle everything themselves, to an outsourced model using eParaplan, we identified significant cost reductions and efficiency gains.
The formula is simple:
Cost savings per client = Current IFA servicing cost – (Direct costs + eParaplan fee)
Current costing:
Proposed Scenario – Outsourcing to eParaplan:
Additionally, by outsourcing servicing, advisers free up their own time, allowing them to focus on higher-value work. This time saving is added back, revealing the true net gain for the business:
Net gain = Cost savings + Value of time regained
This structured approach helps advisers see where inefficiencies lie, enabling them to reduce costs, increase profitability, and scale without overworking themselves.
As you can see by shifting servicing tasks to eParaplan, the cost reduction is significant:
Total Net Gain: £5,980 per client
This includes direct cost savings and the added value of time regained by the adviser.
Why outsource?
Whether you’re doing this alone or have a team in place. Outsourcing your servicing has a whole load of benefits:
✔ Better resource allocation – You and your team can spend time where it adds value.
✔ A clearer cost structure – Our fixed subscription services allows you to understand and control servicing expenses.
✔ Scalable growth – Expand efficiently without unnecessary overheads.
✔ Increased focus on advice – Shift from admin-heavy tasks to client engagement.
✔ Improved work-life balance – Reduce stress and free up personal time.
✔ Year-round cover – Ensure uninterrupted support regardless of sickness or annual leave.
✔ No training, recruitment, or HR concerns – Eliminate the challenges of hiring and managing in-house staff.
Take action
If servicing is taking up too much of your time, it’s worth seeing where efficiencies can be gained. Understanding the true cost of your servicing model is the first step toward making informed business decisions that benefit both you and your clients.
By improving processes, leveraging external support where needed, and focusing on profitability, you can create a more sustainable and scalable business, without sacrificing your wellbeing.
You can also add your costs to our “Charge Compare” calculator to see exactly how much you could save.
Want to see how we can help cut your costs to service, give you back time or create a scalable servicing model?
Please contact our leadership team, Michelle, Shaunagh or Kellie on 01733 699071 or email operations@eparaplan.co.uk.