Is Your Estate Planning Business Fool Proof? Or Are You Simply Fooling Yourself?

Charlotte Ponder LL.B (Hons) TEP

Are you holding your business back because you’re set in your ways?

Staff training across sectors is difficult to effectively manage because of gaps in knowledge from person to person and the fact that everybody learns at different rates. What does this mean for Will writing firms? Mistakes are often inevitable.

So now what can YOU do to ensure that your training practices are robust and effectively followed by all involved across the business? Monitoring the effectiveness of training can be an extremely difficult feat, particularly within large firms that have multiple instruction takers and field agents completing cases.

How do you monitor training procedures?

Training practices are notoriously difficult to police especially within the legal sector because it is stooped in traditional processes. How can your training be at its best, or even be improved, if instructions are being taken on paper? Do you, as a supervisor, read every single instruction for every client?

Errors are inevitable when paper trails are formed from department to department. Gaps within knowledge can lead to avoidable mistakes being made – if only there was a better way!

Without an easily accessible audit trail, there is little to no available evidence to pinpoint exactly where improvements are needed within your staff training. Preventing inaccuracies between how different staff members conduct your business, is crucial to ensure they don’t continue to occur.

Do you like going round in circles or would you prefer to make your training process robust and systematic so all your clients benefit from the best service?

Countrywide Legacy can solve all your training woes!

The problem? UNNECESSARY RISK

Contentious probate is becoming increasingly problematic within the Estate Planning industry and so the necessity for systematic record keeping has never been more crucial.

Innovative ways of protecting both the client’s wishes and the company’s reputation must be adopted, sooner rather than later. Since successful Will claims are very often the result of poor housekeeping or administrative errors within paper-based processes, it is clear that more must be done to reduce risk alongside the production of Wills, not subsequently.

This is why staff training is so important. How do you ensure that all the required questions have been asked for every single case?

How do you ensure that the products chosen are correct for a particular client and their needs?

The solution? ELIMINATE PAPER

There is no reason good enough to defend management teams still encouraging the Estate Planning process being navigated by pen and paper.

Employees don’t like it because it wastes time.
Clients don’t like it because it lacks professionalism.
You shouldn’t like it because it is drenched in unnecessary risk!

So unless you enjoy being two steps behind everybody else in the industry, it’s time to move on! We are lucky enough to live in times of major technological development, that can make even the most complicated and risk ridden of tasks, simpler and safer. If there was ever a time to transfer from paper-based to paper-less, it’s definitely now!

We’ve made the transition seamless!

Countrywide Legacy is legal document drafting software which seamlessly guides users through the process of producing Estate Planning documents.

The software populates ALL the necessary questions to ask clients during the advisory process, ensuring no stone is left unturned. This means that regardless of who in your company is advising a client or instruction taking, you can rest assured that everything will be always be accounted for.

There is no need to worry about the sudden change from reams of paper to a simplistic automated system because our software does the hard work for you! Collating client information doesn’t get any easier than asking the automatic questions that appear on screen and typing the answers…

No more errors through lack of knowledge.
No more misunderstanding written information.
No more disorganised note taking.
No more lost or misplaced information
No more time wasted typing up notes aftera client meeting… because you can do it there and then!

This is the true power of Countrywide Legacy – it ensures that the information is wholly correct, complimenting staff training because it is so simple to use and navigates users through the legal document drafting process.

It also leaves an electronic audit trail, so when multiple people are taking instruction, managers can monitor the process. Our software enables businesses to pinpoint aspects of staff training that are falling short, allowing you to quickly and sufficiently amend your practices.

We can ensure your business is foolproof!

Whether you are a large company or sole trader, there is always room for improvement when it comes to how you operate. Countrywide Legacy will allow you to:

Ensure staff answer all necessary questions
Help your teams work more cohesively
Better self-regulate
Reduce overall risk to your business

Our software is flexible to suit you…

We are continually developing innovative strategies and are always ahead of legislative changes, meaning we will ensure that your process is robust and up-to-date allowing you to impress clients with customer service that is second-to-none!

Our latest development, The Will Clarity Package, is designed to help you reduce risk when it comes to Wills being challenged.

The Will Clarity Package can:

Automatically compile a Will Clarity Statement and Statement of Execution
Satisfy not just the whatbut the why, where, when, who and how of a client’s Will
Protect your business by reducing the risk of a successful challenge
Utilise electronic to-do notes so multiple departments can easily communicate
BRAND NEWCreate automatic to-do notes to ensure necessary work, e.g. checking the ownership rights for absolute gifts of land, is done now rather than later!

All of these features help you give your clients a voice after they are gone. Not only will this save future time and administrative costs by securing the information when advising a client, but it will protect your business from potential future claims!

So, stop holding your business back and instead, help it reach its full potential, with Countrywide Legacy!

T:01926 514 392

E:newentrants@countrywidegroup.co.uk

W: www.countrywidelegacy.co.uk

This article was submitted to be published by Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation Ltd as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Wills and Probate. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills and Probate.