Trending
Every financial planning practice, no matter the size, client demographic, or AUM, relies on processes—whether they’re documented or not. These processes are the foundation of a well-oiled business that doesn’t drain the life out of its owner. Yet, many advisors struggle with where to start when it comes to formalizing their systems.
Here’s the reality: you are already using these processes in your practice, but without intentionality, they may be inefficient, inconsistent, or full of friction. Friction in business refers to anything that slows down operations, creates bottlenecks, or diminishes the client experience. It’s the small inefficiencies that waste time, energy, and resources, and it’s the moments when clients feel frustration, confusion, or a lack of clarity.
That’s why today, we’re going to break down 7 Essential Processes every financial advisor needs to have. Plus, we’ll include an important *bonus process* for advisors managing investments. It’s important to identify and eliminate friction points—both from the business-side and the client’s perspective. By doing this, you can take these processes from good to exceptional, making your practice more efficient, scalable, and stress-free. You know what I’m talking about… the business that you are running, instead of IT running you.
When you document and refine these processes, you create consistency, scalability, and better client experience. You’ll free up mental bandwidth, reduce stress, and build a practice that’s not just sustainable but thriving.
Why Processes Matter
Efficient processes are the backbone of any successful financial advisory practice. They allow you to:
-
Create a Consistent Experience: Deliver the same high-quality experience to every client that you can feel really good about and that is highly referable because your clients can count on it too.
-
Scale Your Business: Free up time and mental energy to focus on growth and make it so much easier to automate, delegate, and streamline.
-
Ensure Compliance: Stay audit-ready with clear documentation of your operations.
-
Improve Employee Performance: Help you employees know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it exactly the way you want it done.
-
Reduce Friction: Identify and remove obstacles that slow down your workflows or frustrate clients–make business easy.
-
Detach From Work: Feel good knowing that things aren’t slipping through the cracks and not getting done so you can recharge in the evenings and on weekends.
Whether you’re a solo advisor or running a larger team, these benefits can transform how you operate your business.
The 7 Essential Processes (+1 Bonus Process)
1. Marketing/Prospecting
Consistent marketing ensures a steady pipeline of ideal prospects. Regardless of if you’re doing workshops, webinars, paid ads, mailers, etc. you need a process to make it repeatable, track the results, improve performance, and ensure a consistent stream of new people to work with!
You want to reduce the friction by not recreating the wheel every time and knowing what has worked in the past.
2. Prospect-to-Client Process
Think of your service offer like a product. Design it to be easy to explain, sell, and buy. When clients immediately understand the value and process, it eliminates hesitation and confusion, creating a friction-free experience from the start. Then, design it to be repeatable and easy for you and your team to produce consistently with high quality. Aim for 80% of your process to be templated, which leaves 20% for that individual customization that is “special sauce” for your client’s custom plan. You’ll want to standardize your initial meetings, data collection, needs analysis, etc.
By reducing the friction, you’ll be able to move swiftly so that you can maintain momentum and to be able to deliver high-quality plans with ease. By laying out each step, the tasks within each step, and templating it as much as possible, you’ll be able to deliver your process consistently, know where all prospects are at in the process, and delegate portions to your team.
3. Onboarding - First 90 Days
There is a TON of research that shows how the first 3 months of the client relationship can dramatically impact the satisfaction levels of clients for the life of their relationship with you. You need to be thinking about what their experience is with you and create a process that moves them through the psychological journey that they are experiencing.
By documenting this process and looking at it through the lens of client experience and your back-end office experience, you’ll create a mistake-proof experience. You’ll want to get transfers completed with minimal NIGOs, provide language to help your clients break up with their previous advisor, and make them feel like working with you was the decision they ever made.
4. Ongoing Client Service Model
Retaining clients is as important as attracting them. A well-designed ongoing client service model ensures that your clients feel consistently valued and supported throughout their journey with you. This process should focus on proactive communication, tailored touchpoints, and regular check-ins to monitor their evolving needs.
To reduce friction, define clear service tiers based on clients’ needs and AUM. Create a set of scheduled touchpoints and standardize how these are delivered. By creating a repeatable structure, you’ll never have to scramble to figure out what to do next for your clients. This allows you to deliver a high level of care without the stress of reinventing the wheel each time AND you can articulate easily to a client what to expect
A streamlined service model ensures that clients feel prioritized and helps your team stay aligned with their needs and expectations are in alignment.
5. Client Experience
Exceptional client experiences don’t happen by accident—they’re the result of carefully crafted processes designed to make every interaction feel seamless and personal. Think of client experience as the sum of every touchpoint, from the first phone call to the final review of their plan.
Reduce friction by identifying the moments that matter most to clients. Whether it’s providing clear communication, making them feel heard, or going above and beyond with personal gestures, systematizing these actions will ensure a consistent experience. Integrating surprise-and-delight moments can be incorporated into your workflow for a meaningful impact.
When clients feel seen, heard, and valued throughout every stage of their journey, they’re more likely to value the relationship and refer others.
6. Referral Process
Referrals are a critical source of growth for financial advisors. But many advisors overlook the importance of having a formal, repeatable process for acquiring and tracking referrals and introductions. By creating your systems for how you want to do referrals, you can increase your confidence, reduce awkwardness, and make it a natural part of the client relationship. This could be asking for referrals, creating a referral culture, or hosting referral events—whatever works for you and your business.
Set in place a way to thank clients who refer, how to handle referrals that are not a right fit for your practice, and how to communicate with your existing clients without breaching confidentiality.
Having a structured, consistent referral process not only reduces friction for you but also trains clients to be a referral-generating machine.
7. Employee Experience
Happy employees are more productive, more engaged, and more likely to stick around for the long haul. Creating an exceptional employee experience starts with clear roles, responsibilities, and an environment where team members feel supported in their professional growth.
To reduce friction in your employee experience, document all roles, responsibilities, and expectations. Nobody wants to walk into a work environment where everything feels like it’s on fire all the time! A detailed employee handbook, onboarding process, and consistent feedback loops are critical to helping your team stay engaged and on track. Additionally, celebrating successes and fostering a culture of growth will motivate employees to perform at their best.
Just like you want to create loyalty and longevity in your client relationships, you want to create that with your employees. Tenure matters! Turnover is hard! When your employees feel empowered and valued, they’ll be more equipped to deliver excellent service to your clients and to stay with your for the long haul.
8. Investment Management Process (Bonus)
For financial advisors who manage investments, having a streamlined investment management process is essential to ensure compliance, scalability, and consistency in delivering optimal outcomes for clients. This process should include the foundational steps of portfolio construction, regular reviews, rebalancing, and ongoing performance monitoring.
To reduce friction, define your investment philosophy and strategy upfront. Once you have a clear and repeatable approach to how you select and manage investments, you can automate much of the day-to-day management—such as trading, portfolio rebalancing, and reporting—using technology. This allows you to focus on the more complex aspects of financial planning while ensuring that your investment management remains consistent, compliant, and aligned with your clients’ goals.
Make sure you have a system to document and review every investment decision, as this will make audits smoother and ensure transparency. Conduct regular reviews of the portfolio, assess performance, and adjust strategies based on changing market conditions or client needs.
By creating a structured, repeatable process for investment management, you reduce the risk of errors, streamline operations, and increase client confidence in your abilities.
How to Build and Optimize Your Processes
Step 1: Get it Out of Your Head**
Start with a brain dump of all the steps you’re currently taking. Use templates, whiteboards, or digital tools to map out your workflows.
Step 2: Document Everything
Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each process. Use flowcharts, checklists, or step-by-step guides to make them easy to follow.
Step 3: Evaluate and Improve
Schedule a “CEO Day” to review each process. Identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. Focus on making processes faster, smarter, and more client-centric.
Step 4: Iterate Over Time
Aim for 1% improvement with each iteration. Avoid overwhelming changes; focus on incremental progress.
Start Small, Think Big
Building efficient processes is the key to scaling your practice, enhancing your client experience, and achieving work-life balance. Start by documenting one process today and commit to revisiting and improving it over time. By identifying and removing friction points, you’ll create a business that’s efficient, client-focused, and poised for growth. And, most importantly, you’ll build a business AND a life that you love.
Related: The Future of Financial Advising: AI Strategies You Need Now