Advisor Bellann Morales-Hyten Optimizes the Client’s Experience

LPL financial advisor Bellann Morales-Hyten and her three partners at Maverick Financial work together to provide the best service for their clients. Specifically, they often collaborate to overcome one of the biggest challenges facing financial advisors — how to deliver a variety of specialty services to the client.

“We focus a lot on business owners, but I also have a lot of individuals, including widows and women executives. Now that we’re at LPL, something that our team just absolutely loves is that you can have more than one advisor on an account. The fact that you can acknowledge and share clients is big because it creates that incentive that you need. Some advisors may say ‘my specialty is more life insurance, or financial planning, or investments. Whatever that service is, when we get together and try to deliver that service, we present ourselves to the client as a team,” Bellann said.

The client experience of independence

Since transitioning from working in a wirehouse to running their independent practice, Bellann has more freedom – and options to provide her clients.

“Because of the options that are there for me to service my clients, I'm able to create more individualized service, and add things to their life that maybe they didn't know they needed. When I came over to LPL, there were a lot of choices. Now I can create different kinds of profiles, or different types of things within my practice that will help me service the clients a lot more directly, and with more individualized service,” she said.

More time for clients with LPL technology

One the biggest benefits of going independent with LPL has been the technology capabilities Maverick Financial has been able to access. Time management is a major challenge for any business owner, particularly financial advisor business owners. At their previous firm, Bellann and her partners would search through multiple databases for information they needed for clients. At LPL, they can spend more time on clients thanks to platforms like ClientWorks with Meeting Manager, CRM, and AdvisoryWorld.

“When you are trying to run your practice and have things that are going to take you away from building, developing, or working with your clients, it becomes very important because there are only so many hours in the day,” When I'm utilizing the technology at LPL, I’m able to decrease the amount of non-client time, which allows me to focus more on the client or client-building, and delivering value,” she said.

With that in mind, many of LPL’s technology offerings are key to the success of Bellann and her practice. “ClientWorks, for example, helps me deliver a better experience to the client. The way LPL is building out ClientWorks with Meeting Manager, the CRM, AdvisoryWorld, any of those, you're keeping everything in one place. That makes it more nimble, and on the other side, the client experience is more seamless,” she said.

LPL Research’s daily calls have also proven to be a valuable asset for them. “They help me get ready in the morning, and go out and be prepared to meet with my clients and prospects. Research covers different topics every morning. By the end of the week, you not only know what happened last week, but also what the impact is going to be, and what to look for the next week or even for the day,” Bellann said.

Putting herself in her clients’ shoes

Bellann’s life experiences and background helps her add value when working with clients. “I'm a business owner. I worked in the corporate world. I'm female. I match a lot my clients’ characteristics, and feel like one of the reasons I'm able to help make them be successful is because I can put myself in their shoes,” she said.

As part of that process, Bellann asks herself if her clients need financial planning. Then she asks if they need cash-flow management that also includes life insurance. “They may not even know what financial planning is. A lot of times, they think its budgeting. They don't know that it's taking an overall picture of their financial life and looking at how it all works together. People think of a financial advisor as just an investment manager, or someone that's going to help them budget, but I take them through a process that takes them beyond that,” she said.

Looking ahead

For Bellann the next steps for her business are all about continuing to add value for her clients. “The tools I have now at LPL were not available to us prior to moving over. I feel like I've been given this enormous playground to play with for our clients,” she said.

The views and opinions expressed by the LPL Financial Advisor(s) may not be representative of the views of other Financial Advisors and are not indicative of future performance or success. Neither LPL Financial nor the LPL Financial Advisor can be held responsible for any direct or incidental loss incurred by applying any of the information offered.

Maverick Financial and LPL Financial are separate entities.