Advisors: Imagine Better Prospect Meetings

Do you get valuable information that you need when meeting with an ideal prospect? Financial advisors spend time getting a meeting with a potential ideal prospect, only to find the prospect is very reluctant to share information with them until they prove themselves. It puts the advisor on the hot seat to answer questions that the prospect has. Questions such as, “ What can I expect when I work with you? What does it cost? How are you different from my current advisor?” While these questions are important to a prospect and answered when speaking about your value promise, they don’t help an advisor determine if this is an ideal prospect.

The opposite approach

The client thinks that the advisor has to impress or prove themselves first before the prospect will share any confidential information with them. It is the opposite approach of what “ Future Ready Financial Advisors ” do in a prospect meeting. They know that they want financial delegators as ideal clients, so getting the information is in the opposite way typical advisors go about gathering the information. Let me explain. In workshops I do with financial advisors, I ask them “ what is the benefit to me as a prospect of gathering all the information you need and bringing it to a meeting? “ The typical answer is “ So I can see if you are a potential client and it is information I need to do a plan”. Wow, this is the exact opposite of what elite advisors do. It is not about you, it is about the prospect and the benefits to a prospect.

What are the benefits to a prospect?

Depending on what type of practice you run, and what type of information you need, the first key planning tool you need is your document checklist for ideal prospects. This is not a time to ask people a whole list of questions because that is what robo-advisors do, but gather the information so you can offer some benefits in the first meeting. It is an approach that the client will get a possible benefit or two out of the meeting, regardless if they did business with you or not!

Benefit questions

Simplify. We will show you a process for getting your financial documents simply organized if you bring in the following list of documents

Have your checklist ready to hand out, send out, download from your website, and list of benefits of gathering the information

Would getting organized in all six areas of your personal financial life be a benefit to you?

tax

estate

risk

investments

insurance

debt

If this is a business client, then change to what you may need for a business client such as group insurance and pensions, shareholders documents etc.

Would it be valuable to summarize your net worth on one page?

Would it be valuable to do a fee audit, to help you understand what you pay, what you get, and don’t get?

Is it about time you did a comprehensive review of your current quality financial plan? When was the last comprehensive update with all six areas of your quality financial and investment plan done?

Would it be valuable to see the current probability of success in reaching all of your financial goals in your life?

Do you have a checklist of all the documents you need to be organized in a binder to help you make better financial decisions? If not we will provide a checklist at our meeting regardless if you become a client or not

Is there any other reason why you would not bring all of your documents to our meeting, regardless if we work together or not?

What other benefits can you add?

Is there any other benefit that you would add to getting all the information? If you have one send it to me by email at and I will update this article in a future post.

Related: The 4 Questions You're Not Asking Your HNW Prospect

Working with financial advisors, I get as excited as they do when they tell me an ideal prospect brought all of their documents to the meeting and was prepared for the meeting. They tell me they acquire more ideal prospects through this process, than anything they have prepared before! Financial advisors are shocked at the information the prospects gather because the prospect already has a list of questions to ask the advisor. They come into the meeting already engaged, because they rarely bring their financial plan, simply because they don’t usually have one, or it is completely irrelevant and outdated. They think they know what they are paying, and do not want to be embarrassed by not understanding this, so they do some homework on fees, only to get completely frustrated. Then they realize it is not simple, and it is a mess of information. They are completely ready and engaged. It is the exact opposite of what average advisors do.

They see the benefits

Even before the meeting, they see the benefits of meeting with you, by gathering up all the information, and see you as a professional advice giver, not as a salesperson. They see the benefits of getting organized and gathering up the information. They already see potential benefits, even if they choose not to work with you. They realize your time is valuable, understanding that if they don’t get the documents organized, there is no meeting. They are not there to be sold but to gain clarity around their future. Your task is simple. Take the time to create your checklist of documents you need for an ideal prospect meeting. You may have a few different types of ideal prospects, so make sure it is designed for them. For example, an ideal document checklist for wealthy retirees will be different than an ideal checklist for a successful entrepreneur. Make the checklist customized to your target audience, showing in advance you understand that marketplace by all of the critical documents you need.

Imagine better prospect meetings

Imagine if ideal prospects show up for a meeting, with most if not all of their financial documents, questions written down about how to put this information to work better for them, interested in having a complete transparency fee discussion, and completely engaged? Now go and build your questionnaires, checklists, and benefits for meeting with you today!