The Ultimate Financial Advisor Meeting Checklist to Wow Clients
As financial professionals, one of the most critical interactions we can have with our clients is during client meetings.
Proper qualifications are necessary to do certain tasks, such as managing your client’s investment accounts or selling life insurance policies. However, designations, degrees, and track records don’t matter as much if your clients can’t trust your advice during your client meetings.
A successful client meeting is a way to earn clients’ trust and confidence in you and your advisory firm, especially your first meetings.
However, the more clients you have, the less time you can spare to prepare for client meetings. Inadequate and rushed preparation can make remembering each client’s information a struggle. Or worse, cause a mix-up during the meeting, which may result in losing your client’s trust and confidence in your advisory services.
A way to mitigate the risk is to have a reliable, systematic preparation process, such as keeping a checklist for client meetings. A checklist will ensure that you can be thorough with the key preparations and make it possible to delegate certain tasks to other team members.
The Financial Advisor Meeting Checklist You Need
In this article, we will break the steps of well-executed client meetings into three parts:
How to prepare before the meeting so you’re always on top of things
How to conduct the meeting to ensure you cover all necessary information
What to do after the meeting
How to Prepare Before
Be it for new or existing clients, a lot of effort goes into making sure that a client meeting will go smoothly. There are three tasks to keep in mind before a client meeting. This includes reviewing your client’s financial situation, analyzing their investments, and creating an investment plan that will suit your client.
Understand your client’s financial situation
Before the meeting, review the client’s financial situation, including the current status relevant to their goals.
Take stock of their current assets and liabilities, including their savings accounts, Roth IRA, and student loans.
This helps to refresh your memory and gain a better understanding of their needs, which in turn will help you tailor personalized financial strategies and advice for them during the meeting.
Start by learning as much as you can about the client's present financial situation.
Determine relevant information such as their debt-to-income ratio, debt-to-asset ratio, net worth, and current obligations and liabilities. This will allow you to spot any cash flow problems.
Get a sense of their long-term goals, whether they entail investing, purchasing a property, or covering the cost of their kids' college tuition.
Analyze and Decide on Investments
After getting a grasp of the client’s financial situation, it’s time to see what you can do to help them reach their financial goals. Something to keep in mind is that you should pick your recommendations based on their risk tolerance and investment preferences.
Carry out proper research on potential investments. Make sure to use reliable sources, consider multiple perspectives, and carry out a risk assessment. Before giving out investment advice, make sure that it not only makes sense for your client’s financial situation but also that it aligns with what’s important for them.
Create an Investment Plan
Once your research is complete, create a personally tailored investment plan for your client.
In general, creating a customized investment plan for your client involves putting yourself in their position and figuring out the optimal course of action for them. The objective is to provide your clients with a sense of control and assurance over their financial situations and financial decisions.
What to Bring with You
After careful planning, preparation, and research, it's time to deliver your recommendations to your client. Make sure to bring other relevant documents to the meeting.
Here is a general idea of what documents you should bring:
Investment plan. The document detailing your investment recommendation. Make sure to create one that’s comprehensive and easy to understand so your clients can make informed decisions.
Client information. This document will assist you in understanding the client's current financial situation, goals, and ambitions.
Client’s current financial information, including:
Tax documents, such as the client’s most recent tax returns. If available, bring tax documents from the last three years.
Estate planning documents. Bring copies of any estate planning documents, such as wills and trusts, if the client has them.
Retirement accounts. Bring a comprehensive list of the client's retirement plans, particularly account balances and contribution levels.
Credit reports, including the client’s latest credit reports. If available, bring reports from the past three years.
It goes without saying that what you should bring to the meeting is determined by the product or service you provide. Bring other relevant documents if necessary, and make sure you’ve made a customized list for them to be thorough in your preparations.
The most essential thing to remember is that you should arrive at the meeting prepared. Go through all your documents and understand your financial strategies and plans. A financial advisor's reputation and integrity are enhanced when they can answer a client's most discriminating and challenging queries.
How to Conduct the Meeting
During the meeting, make sure you follow a set meeting plan to structure your meetings better. A meeting plan helps you make sure that you’ve relayed all the information. As a bonus, sharing your agenda with your clients also helps clients prepare for the discussion.
In general, start the meeting by discussing the client’s current financial situation and goals. Make sure you’re on the same page. Note updates from the client’s side and check if there is anything that can affect your plan. For example, upcoming life milestones or unexpected life events that can throw off your plan.
Once the updates and reports are done, move on to your recommendations. Keep in mind to use language familiar to your clients. If they prefer to use simpler financial terms instead of technical financial jargon, stick with simpler terms when presenting your recommendations to make sure they understand what you’re talking about.
Conclude the meeting by covering feedback from the client, including changes or enhancement requests and what action you will take. If appropriate, set a time for their next meeting. This is to avoid the possibility of your client missing your next appointment or creating a frustrating scheduling issue.
What to Do After the Meeting
Take some time to review what goes well and what could see some improvements. Write them out so you don’t forget. This applies to all client meetings, whether this is the first time you work with them or if you’ve been working together for a long time.
As a financial advisor, it’s always good to aim to make your future meetings better and more optimal. Apart from that, you should also:
Schedule a Follow-Up Meeting
If you can’t find an appropriate time to schedule a follow-up meeting earlier, make sure to reach out to the client by phone or email after the meeting. Ask them when would be a good time for your next meeting and thank them for coming to the meeting earlier.
Update Client Information
Update your client information while it’s still fresh in your memory. Write down client updates and new information you learned about them, and make sure to organize them properly. This will be helpful if you need to reference them for future conversations.
Task Out Action Items
Now that you’re done with the meeting notes, time to move on to your meeting results. Make a list of what you need to do per the client’s feedback. Maybe they want you to look for a less risky investment, or maybe they told you they want to start a retirement plan. Regardless, write them out in a simple but organized manner to avoid missing them later.
Leave a Lasting Impression with Asset-Map
Your title as a certified financial planner (CFP) can help you get that initial meeting.
But the deciding factor on whether they become one-off customers or sign up for the long-term depends on their confidence in your capabilities as a financial services provider after that meeting.
Asset-Map helps you take control of and simplify your client meetings so you can focus on showing why they should choose to work with you. Instead of thick reports that clients might not even read past the first two pages, a visual map helps you point out what matters to your clients.
Have clients walk out the door feeling confident about their financial situation because they actually understand what kind of decision they just made and how it can impact their financial life.
See how Asset-Map can work for your practice. Book your demo today and see our tools in action.