Within the panorama of the client lifecycle, client onboarding provides the first impression of the depth and breadth of a financial advisor’s level of service. Winning new clients and retaining existing clients can be challenging in the best of times. However, providing a differentiated client service experience can be the key to the advisor’s ability to survive and thrive in all environments and markets.
We have observed three important benefits from a distinctive and distinguishing client onboarding experience:
Onboarding is an opportunity to collect valuable information about the client in order to set the stage for a long and mutually beneficial relationship.
At the same time, client onboarding enables the advisor to identify and invest in the higher-value client relationships, while simultaneously managing the expectations of clients deemed to be “lower-value.
Research has shown that one of the most opportune periods to engage clients for new client introductions and referrals is within the first six months. Generally, enthusiastically satisfied clients are more likely to enthusiastically provide quality introductions.
Building the Client Onboarding Checklist
One effective practice that we’ve seen in building the checklist is to “chunk out” the touch-dates within the client onboarding cycle, the length of time of the entire client onboarding cycle, as well as identifying what needs to happen on/around each of these dates.
Here’s an example of a partial checklist:
I. Pre-meeting email
Welcome cover letter
Initial meeting agenda
Directions to office and a map with parking information
II. Initial Meeting
Alert receptionist to expected guest(s)
Reception area and meeting room cleaned and client-friendly
Agenda finalized, with input from client
Offer performance review for aggregated accounts
Schedule on-line account access training session
III. Immediate Post-Meeting
Send handwritten thank-you note(s)
Write-up meeting notes for team
Household accounts, and link to other relationships
IV. One Week Later
“How’s it going?” call to touch base, and report on progress of account consolidations
Mail introduction letter to other trusted advisors
Follow-up email to client regarding information requested at initial meeting
V. Four Weeks Later
Client Onboarding Survey sent
Review account statements
Get client okay for e-delivery of prospectus and/or account statements
VI. Six Months Later
Face-to-face account review
Performance reporting
The “ClientWise Conversation”
VII. Twelve Months Later
One-year anniversary thank you card
Heritage and legacy planning review
Rebalance accounts
Again, this is only a representative (and partial) list. Most likely, you will have your own boxes that you’d like to check off…that are a function of your singular wealth management practice.
By building a new client onboarding checklist, you will be able to create a replicable and scalable client experience that will contribute to the growth of your practice even further.
We trust this helps.