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Written by: Colin Hurst, CFP® | Gray Hurst Wealth Advisors
The financial planning profession is ultimately a helping profession. Sure, there’s a lot of talk about reaching goals for new clients and new assets, but ultimately our goal is to help people go from where they are now to where they want to be. We can be the best planner in the world. We can have the best education and advanced designations. But, if we can’t encourage people to act, we can’t help anyone!
The process of getting clients to act and start working with an advisor is what I like to call Client Engagement. We’re going to explore the three most important things to do when trying to engage new clients and help more people.
Create and Follow the Process
The biggest mistake that I made for so long in my career was not having a process to engage with new clients. Many advisors simply invite prospective clients to meet for a “complimentary review” or a “second opinion”, and there’s not a lot of clarity about what they can expect. Money is already a difficult subject for a lot of people to talk about. Rather than just trying to get someone to come and meet, it can be very helpful to share with prospective clients what your process is for them to make an educated and informed decision about working together (credit to Matthew Jarvis with The Perfect RIA). Today, my process looks like this:
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First Office Visit (Discovery)
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Our Analysis
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Second Office Visit (Present Plan)
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Third Office Visit (Answer Questions)
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Onboarding Process
Before meeting with a prospective client, we go over this process so they know what to expect from us and what we expect from them. They also know when they need to decide if we’re going to work together or not. This helps prevent an endless cycle of people looking for free information that don’t actually have an interest in an ongoing relationship.
Make the Process Painless
Would you look forward to a colonoscopy? Absolutely not. How about a second opinion? Only if I have a major illness or operation. So much of the language that we use about what we offer and what we call the first appointment is extremely uncomfortable. Nobody wants to be assessed, get a second opinion, or get discovered. Yet, this language is what we use when we label our first appointment. We don’t intend the process to be uncomfortable, but that’s exactly how it sounds to a prospective client. Instead, we can name the appointment to be outcome focused, talking about the outcomes the client will receive by coming to meet with us (credit to Pat Quinn for this idea). For example, changing the name of the first meeting from Discovery to Confident Retirement Check tells the prospective client what they’ll get by coming in to visit: a more confident retirement.
Simplify Your Language
Financial advisors have our own unique language that we use. We use words like accumulation and distribution. We help people with Required Minimum Distributions and Roth Conversions. It can be easy to think that by using technical language, we come across as intelligent. The truth is, we come across as confusing. Clients don’t speak and think in these words. They think, “Now I’m working and earning a paycheck. One day I won’t be working, where will my money come from?” One of the biggest ways to develop trust with a prospective client is to teach them something that they can go and use right away. By communicating in a way that’s simple and easier to understand, we’re able to develop a closer relationship and still get the important points across.
In conclusion, our goal is to help our clients reach their goals and fulfill their dreams. We can help people some in a one-hour presentation or workshop, but we can help people a lot when they engage with us and we work together over the balance of their retirements. Clear communication is a step to help us engage and help most effectively.