Wealthbox CRM and Redtail CRM are two of the leading CRM platforms built specifically for financial advisors. They’ve been around for years, are widely adopted across the industry, and continue to rank among the top systems by market share.
While both platforms are designed to support the same core functions, managing client relationships, tracking activity, and organizing your business, they approach structure and data organization a bit differently. Understanding how each system works is key, but more importantly, it’s about building a CRM that actually works for your firm. At the end of the day, the goal is simple, to have a reliable, secure system where you can consistently track client interactions, relationships, and key details in one place.
Whether you’re just getting started or your firm is growing and evolving, there’s usually a point where spreadsheets and scattered notes just don’t cut it anymore. Taking the time to understand how Wealthbox and Redtail function will make your transition smoother and help you build a strong foundation to support your next phase of growth.
Let’s dive in.
Differences in Wealthbox and Redtail Contact Records
The first thing to pay attention to is the contact record. Since the contact record is the foundation of everything in the CRM system, it is a natural starting place to explore other features. All of your actions, data, and insights will flow from this one key element of your CRM. Entering data consistently and correctly is a huge part of making your system run smoothly, but first, you have to understand how the contact records are set up.
Wealthbox:
At the top of the Wealthbox Contact Record is the contact information for the individual as well as tags you can set to group clients together. The layout prioritizes personal details and upcoming tasks to focus on action steps and keeping up with relevant information. Wealthbox emphasizes the importance of personal connection by giving you plenty of ways to add information about your client.
Other Features Include:
- Easy access to creating a note, task, or event
- Quick overviews of accounts, emails, and files
- Lower priority on inter-CRM connections
Redtail:
When looking at the Redtail Contact Record, the first thing you see is the employment and family details. Given that financial advising is benefited by building strong connections, Redtail chooses to emphasize those details. Next is a quick overview of important upcoming dates and a portfolio balance which allow you to prioritize opportunities and reviews.
Other Features Include:
- Easy edits to important information
- Detailed overview of financials
- Lower priority on personal details unrelated to finances
Client Connections within Wealthbox and Redtail
Both Wealthbox and Redtail have features that connect clients together. When you can see the relationships between them, it allows you to establish trust, approach their finances with more clarity, and sets up further opportunities.
Wealthbox:
Clients linked together in Wealthbox are called “Related Contacts”. A client can also be a part of a Household or a Company. Noting the source of a client is also important to not only thank them, but to keep the lines of communication open for further referrals. If you have a source with multiple contacts, you know that you are providing a valuable service.
Redtail:
Within Redtail, clients are linked via Memberships. They can also be a part of a family (in which there is a designated Head of Household) or a business. Redtail encourages these connections because it highlights opportunities to offer further services.
Exploring Data Displays in Wealthbox and Redtail
When you first login to Wealthbox and Redtail, you are on the home page. While each CRM has a different layout, they both display the information they think is most relevant. Additionally, they have different features to understand the data you’ve accumulated.
Wealthbox:
Home Page: The home page in Wealthbox is a hub of tasks and notes. Here, the goal is for you to easily understand what’s on your plate, add more tasks or notes if necessary, and focus on next steps and workflows. Wealthbox makes it very easy to see the flow of tasks and notes from both you and your team.
Reports: Pulling reports is important during audits and reviews when trying to plan next steps. Wealthbox makes this easy by creating sample reports while also allowing you to create your own.
Custom Fields: Using a custom field allows you to display small bits of data for a client that makes understanding their situation easier. For example, you can track review dates, whether they’ve referred someone, and more.
Tags: Group clients together with tags. You can use these to segment different client groups, all birthdays of a particular month, or any other non-essential detail for easy searching.
Dashboards: Creating a dashboard allows you to view data in a visual way. Wealthbox allows you to use different graph types and you can have multiple displays at once allowing you to pick and choose what will be most relevant to you.
Opportunities: By utilizing a Kanban board, you can easily see where clients are in particular stages of an opportunity. It is easy to drag the cards between the pillars as the opportunity moves along the pipeline.
Redtail:
Today: Instead of calling it the “home page”, Redtail groups your most relevant information in a display called “Today”. With its focus on account numbers, you’ll find the AUM at the very top. Rather than displaying a timeline of notes and tasks, you’ll instead see only the tasks which are scheduled for that day. With tabs to provide easy access to other bits of information, Redtail has streamlined the page to only what they consider the most essential.
Reports: Much like Wealthbox, there is a robust reports function. However, Redtail once again places a high emphasis on the accounts under your care. It is very easy to pull up multiple report options to keep a close eye on finances.
User Defined Field: Instead of Custom Fields, Redtail uses User Defined Fields to track details that are not standard to the system. These can be set to yearly benchmarkers, reminders of important milestones, or other relevant information.
Quick Lists: You set up quick lists within the search function to find clients, contact information, or other details based on a set list of qualifiers. Then, you can easily find that information to export, turn into a report, or other action.
Taking Actions in the Wealthbox and Redtail Ecosystems
Gathering clients is not enough. By having meetings, reaching out, and discovering new opportunities for financial management you set the stage to grow your business. Each CRM has slightly different ways of going about this.
Wealthbox:
Action Items in Wealthbox:
- Task: To-do item
- Note: Client meetings, quick updates, or reminders
- Event: Meeting on the calendar
- Workflow: a series of actions that activate when the previous one is completed or a certain date occurs
- Project: Landing page to track tasks, notes, and workflows related to a given event or project. Some use cases include a Client Event, Webinar, or visiting clients on the road.
- Automations: the act of making any workflow or task automatic (very useful for reminders and follow-ups)
- Template: a repeatable outline that allows you to avoid filling in the same information every time (used in meeting notes, emails, or frequent tasks)
Redtail:
Action Items in Redtail:
- Note: Client meetings, quick updates, or reminders
- Activity: a catchall to create an event, task, note, or appointment
- Workflow: a series of actions that activate when the previous one is completed or a certain date occurs
- Automations: the act of making any workflow or task automatic (very useful for reminders and follow-ups)
- Seminar: Landing page to track the attendees of a seminar or webinar event by RSVP details. Reports can be generated to use for check in tables or to see post meeting who RSVP’d.
- Template: a repeatable outline that allows you to avoid filling in the same information every time (used in meeting notes, emails, or frequent tasks)
In Conclusion
Both Wealthbox and Redtail have strong features that, when used correctly, provide support to firms of any size. They offer integrations, dashboards, automations, workflows, and more to help you manage your clients effectively. There is a lot that could not be covered within the scope of this blog.
When trying to decide which CRM to use, here are some final things to consider:
- What part of client management is my focus?
What data is important for me to see quickly and easily?
How do I like to manage my to-do list and calendar?
Are third-party integrations important?
Once you have a clear understanding of your firm’s needs, it becomes easier to choose a CRM that works for you.
Have more questions? Reach out here. You’re one step closer to an efficient and robust CRM system.
