Company’s Top Objectives Pamela Schmitz serves as a Financial Advisor and Wealth Management Specialist for LPL Financial in her role at Scarbrough Financial Group in the San Francisco Bay Area. With 25+ years of experience in the financial services industry, Schmitz provides investment management and financial planning solutions to her high-net-worth clients. As a Financial Advisor, Schmitz is known for going the extra mile to cultivate proactive, productive, and successful relationships with her clients.

ChallengePrior to using DocuSign, Schmitz’s process of opening accounts for clients and completing fund investment documents was manual and paper-based. Pam would often visit clients in person and walk them through the paperwork to open an account and then walk them through the investment fund paperwork. Since Schmitz’ clientele is geographically dispersed, she would often spend hours in the car driving to clients’ homes in Walnut Creek, Marin or Santa Rosa to collect ‘pen and paper’ signatures. And while she enjoys meeting with her clients regularly to discuss their financial objectives, she often found that she’d have to hop in the car just to finish paperwork – time she’d rather spend watching the markets and placing her clients’ money in the right investment vehicles.

Pamela Schmitz Uses DocuSign to Reduce Errors, Save Time, and Keep Life Easy for Herself and Her Clients

CASE STUDY, LPL with Pamela Schmitz

Financial Advisor/Wealth Management Specialist

Goes Digital to Cultivate Stronger Client Relationships

Top Benefits Achieved

30% time saved in opening new investment savings accounts and completing the fund documents opening cycle

60% reduction in errors and omissions in investor documents

Enhanced investor and financial advisor experience

What could take weeks, now takes hours if not minutes from the moment I push send. My clients love the convenience of DocuSign and digitally completing and signing documents. Now I have more clients who live even farther away – including Australia. This would not be possible without DocuSign.”

Pamela Schmitz,Registered Representative and LPL Financial Advisor at Scarbrough Financial Group

Clients Now Sign Paperwork Easily from Anywhere, Anytime, on Any Device

If she sent the often 30 or more pages of fund documents via FedEx or mail to her clients, the costly forms the clients returned would often be incomplete or contain errors. In fact, Pam estimates that 80 percent of these returned documents were “Not In Good Order” and needed to be redone, frustrating both Pam and her clients.

The ResolutionAs a Financial Advisor, Schmitz has access to a variety of products and services, including ones offered through LPL Financial like the advisor-facing web-portal. The platform is a suite of technology programs that allows independent agents to manage and track accounts easily and digitally. With 24/7 access to account information, continually monitored and enhanced security, and other automation services, the LPL platform, according to Schmitz, is a Financial Advisor’s administrative dream come true. In order to provide as comprehensive a solution as possible for its Financial Advisors, LPL leverages DocuSign’s Digital Transaction Management (DTM) platform with the advisor-facing portal. This integration, which provides a secure, easy-to-use, mobile signing capability, allows Financial Advisors to eschew paper altogether and to send and obtain signatures from clients through a completely digital process. Schmitz was at first reluctant to make use of this tool. It takes time to learn a new system and she was unsure about the return she’d get for her time. However, one of her colleagues was familiar with DocuSign and continually encouraged Schmitz to try it, insisting that it would save Pam time and be more convenient for her clients as well. Eventually, Schmitz leveraged DocuSign to submit documents to her clients, and though initially she relied heavily on LPL’s Tech Support Team for assistance, Pam reports that the move continues to bring great results and she has no intention of returning to paper-based processes.

The Key BenefitsThe most immediate impact Schmitz felt after transitioning to DocuSign within the LPL platform was a significant reduction in the time required to open investment accounts and submit completed fund documents. Not only could she deliver documents to her clients more quickly to be reviewed at their leisure wherever they were, but the documents also came back completed and, for the most part, error-free.

“I love DocuSign. It has reduced the time I need to spend chasing these documents down by at least 30% because I don’t need to be on the road as much, and the documents come back error-free and complete,” says Schmitz.

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Another advantage is that Schmitz can make changes immediately, for example, sending documents, adding on-demand contributions, or including ACH instructions. “Compliance is happy and I can put my clients’ money to work faster and make my kid’s soccer game or build my book of business. I can earn more money serving more clients in the same amount of time or I can serve the same amount of clients in less time. It’s my choice.”

Besides saving time, Schmitz’ clients are happier. Coordinating schedules of multiple signers can be challenging and postpone funding accounts. Schmitz’ clients are busy and often travel. Now with DocuSign, each party can review and sign their documents on any mobile device, from anywhere. The platform guides clients through every line that requires an initial, to fill in, or to sign.

“What could take weeks, now takes hours if not minutes from the moment I push send. My clients love the convenience of DocuSign and digitally completing and signing documents. Now I have more clients who live even farther away – including Australia. This would not be possible without DocuSign,” concludes Schmitz.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor, Member FINRA /SIPC

Docusign is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by LPL Financial.