Frequently Asked Questions

An RIA operations consultant helps registered investment advisors build the back-office systems — CRM configuration, workflows, automations, and documentation — that keep a firm running smoothly, separate from investment management or financial planning advice itself. Coellaborate focuses specifically on this: configuring your CRM, designing workflows, connecting your tech stack, and building the SOPs and training materials that let your firm scale without you doing everything yourself.

Yes. Some of the best-fit engagements are with brand-new firms setting up their operations for the first time, before habits and workarounds have had a chance to form. If you don't have a fully formed vision yet, that's fine too — basic, scalable processes can be built now and refined as your practice grows.

Both. Coellaborate works with solo RIA owners as well as small teams with a few employees or contractors. The systems are scaled to fit — a solo advisor needs different workflows than a firm with paraplanners and client service staff.

Coellaborate is built for solo and small RIAs — typically firms with anywhere from one to ten employees/contractors.

Yes — breakaway transitions are a common and well-suited engagement. Standing up new systems like a CRM, client agreements, and workflows at the same time you're managing a client transition is exactly the kind of overlapping, high-stakes work Coellaborate helps carry.

CRM setup is building your CRM from scratch — fields, tags, workflows, integrations, permissions — for a firm that doesn't have one configured yet. CRM optimization takes an existing CRM that isn't working well and restructures it to match how your firm actually operates, without necessarily starting over.

Coellaborate works directly, hands-on, inside your CRM. This isn't a slide deck of recommendations — it's a configured, working system by the time the engagement ends.

Yes. Part of the process is understanding your workflow, style, budget, and volume before recommending a platform. Coellaborate has hands-on experience with a number of systems and can provide guidance based on your specific needs. Coellaborate is an independent, vendor-neutral consultant — not affiliated with or compensated by any CRM company — so every recommendation is based on what fits your firm, not a partnership.

A workflow is a repeatable, documented sequence of steps your firm follows for a recurring process — onboarding a new client, preparing for an annual review, offboarding. Without one, quality depends on memory and which person happens to be executing the task at hand; with one, every client gets the same experience regardless of who's handling it or how busy the week is.

Often, yes. Many of the repetitive, rules-based tasks in a typical advisory back office — reminders, data entry between systems, document requests — can be automated using native integrations or API tools like Zapier.

Either, depending on what you need. Some firms want the documentation built on industry standard best-practices, others want the SOP to reflect the way they already serve their clients. Either way, the goal is documentation that lives in your systems, not in one person's head.

A scored, written report on your website, social media, directory listings, and search visibility, with prioritized recommendations across branding, content, user experience, compliance, integrations, and SEO — showing specifically what's working, what isn't, and what to fix first.

Yes. Forms are designed in your firm's exact colors and style and embedded directly on your site, so the client or prospect experience stays cohesive instead of sending them off-site to a generic form tool. If you have a platform that accepts or integrates data-gathering we can work with that too.

With a discovery call — a conversation about how your firm runs today, where the friction is, and what you're trying to build toward. From there, the engagement is scoped around your specific situation rather than a fixed package.

Either. Some firms need a defined project — a CRM build, a workflow overhaul — and then they're set. Others prefer an ongoing relationship so systems keep adapting as the firm grows and technology changes.

It depends on scope and how many workflows or integrations are involved, but most focused projects run between 4-12 weeks. Timelines get scoped as part of the Scope of Work proposal.

Mainly your time and access — a conversation about how you work, a vision of what you want to achieve, and access to the systems being configured. Your job is describing how you want your firm to run; the systems work is handled from there.

Remotely, with RIAs anywhere. Nearly all of this work — CRM configuration, workflow design, documentation — happens asynchronously via a project management board, loom videos, notes, and Zoom calls, so location isn't a limiting factor.

Because the systems have to reflect how financial planning actually works, not just general business process theory. Erin Coe holds the CFP® and CFT-I™ designations along with a BS in Information Technology with formal training as a database designer — how data should be structured, stored, and retrieved. Most consultants who land in this space come from the finance side and pick up the technology as they go; Erin came in through the technology side first, which means the CRM architecture and workflow logic are built on real technical grounding rather than trial and error, by someone who also understands the compliance and planning realities of running an advisory firm.

An in-house hire is a fixed cost that includes salary, benefits, vacation time, training, and more — whether or not there's ongoing project work. Coellaborate is engaged specifically for systems work, brings existing expertise across CRMs and advisor tools, and only bills you for work performed to your specifications.

A wide range of the tools RIAs actually use day to day — CRMs like Redtail, Wealthbox, Salesforce, Slant, and Advyzon; planning tools like eMoney, RightCapital, and MoneyGuide Elite; custodial platforms like Schwab Advisor Center and Fidelity; scheduling apps like Calendly and OnceHub; and many more. See the full list on the Services page.

It depends on scope — a focused CRM build is priced differently than an ongoing retainer relationship. Book a discovery call for a quote specific to your situation or check out our pricing page.

Coellaborate offers multiple models depending on the engagement — hourly for smaller efforts, project-based pricing for defined builds, and retainer options for ongoing partnerships.