9 Client Onboarding Strategies for Top-Performing Financial Advisors (800) clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog

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1 CLIENTWISE LEARNING TOOLS 9 Client Onboarding Strategies for Top-Performing Financial Advisors TM (800) clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog

2 9 Client Onboarding Strategies for Top-Performing Financial Advisors The Professional Advisory Model TM Seven key categories focused on leadership, growth and innovation: Organizing Priorities Client Engagement Model TM The Client Acquisition Strategy TM Marketing Approach Team Development Professional Advocate Network TM Business & Operations Management Learn how to become a ClientWise client: Contact Trey Schalk, ClientWise Tips for Financial Advisors Focused on Sustainable Results ClientWise is a full-service executive coaching and consulting firm focused exclusively on financial professionals. Since the company was founded in 2006, we have done ongoing research that has been instrumental in creating and updating our proprietary model for financial advisory practices, The Professional Advisory Model (PAM ). We ve interviewed thousands of financial advisors and Registered Investment Advisors with a minimum of 10 years of service, $250 million in assets under management and $3 million or more in production per year to collect the data used to construct this model. The PAM breaks down a financial advisory practice into seven key categories focused on leadership, growth and innovation. We ve also drawn on phone and face-to-face interviews with high performing financial advisory teams which overall constitute a statistically valid sample to build the Benchmark Assessment Report (BAR ), our proprietary practice evaluation tool. Every year, we continue to survey thousands of advisors to refine the BAR to render it even more useful to high performing financial advisors who wish to build an efficient, effective wealth management team. Our coaching and consulting services include one-on-one coaching engagements, coaching for wealth management teams, the BAR, customized 360 evaluations and hundreds of tools, reports, white papers and booklets on all aspects of financial advisory practice management and leadership. We ve coached, led workshops and created programs for major broker dealers, independent registered investment advisors, leading insurance companies and other financial services companies. Use our learning tools and the expertise of a ClientWise coach to figure out how best to become the CEO of your practice, rather than just another financial advisor Become a ClientWise client and have access to all our marketing tools in our free ClientWise elibrary. The elibrary features numerous proprietary reports, white papers, articles and tools for you to use with your ClientWise coach in creating a complete wealth management practice. Use social media marketing for new client acquisition. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) [email protected] 2012 ClientWise FRE-9OBS0812 2

3 9 Client Onboarding Strategies for Top-Performing Financial Advisors 9 Client Onboarding Strategies for Top-Performing Financial Advisorse» Successfully integrating new client relationships is one of the best ways financial advisors can lay the foundation for a fruitful and long-lasting partnership. When your financial advisory practice builds and implements a process-driven approach to client onboarding that is practiced by your entire team, client trust is stronger, client engagement is higher and the long term bond between client and advisor is far richer. You also set the stage for transforming a client relationship into a loyal client advocate relationship. Those relationships result in more targeted referrals because loyal client advocates understand the value you deliver for them, and are eager to introduce you to qualified prospects who can benefit from your products and services. In our proprietary research into high-performing financial advisory practices, we ve found that leaders who successfully onboard clients with systematic processes have a far higher client retention rate than those who don t have such an approach. We ve also discovered that there is no cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach to a successful client onboarding process. Each wealth management practice can benefit from a unique, differentiated process that makes clients feel as welcome as possible, setting the stage for a long-term client advisor partnership. That being said, there are some commonalities in onboarding processes that work. Here are some strategies that may help your practice develop or refine it s own unique client onboarding process: 1 Develop a formal and customized checklist for onboarding new clients: This checklist should include every detail involved in bringing a new client into the practice, from all the paperwork that needs to be filled out to permission to communicate via and social networking platforms. 2 Ensure that all team members understand their roles: Each team member who has a role in client service should understand what his or her specific job is in terms of onboarding a new client. When putting together the client onboarding checklist, solicit opinions and input from all your client service staff members. 3 Explain the onboarding process to new clients: Any new relationship benefits from certainty. When new clients know exactly what to expect from your practice during the onboarding process and what exactly you expect from them, the process will go much more smoothly and integration into the practice should be fairly seamless. 4 Develop letters and templates surrounding onboarding: Rather than reinventing the wheel for each new client and each new type of client, writing standard letters and templates that can be re-used increases the efficiency of the client onboarding process and makes fewer demands on your staff, freeing them up to execute a higher level of client service. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) [email protected] 2012 ClientWise FRE-9OBS0812 3

4 5 Craft onboarding interactions for maximum knowledge and efficiency: As you onboard clients, there is information you need to gather and conversations that need to take place. When you set up meetings, phone calls, s and other inquiries in a logical and predictable sequence, onboarding goals are accomplished and new client satisfaction increases. 6 Create a new client welcome packet: Much of the information you need to give to a new client as well as the forms that need to be filled out can be gathered and placed in a branded folder and given to the client at the first meeting. This will increase efficiency and leave a good impression in the new clients mind. 7 Follow up to ensure tasks are accomplished: When you implement processes that your entire team is aware of, follow-ups are no brainers. Team members will know when and how often to follow up with new clients to ensure that account transfers and other paperwork is signed and executed as quickly as possible so that your staff can start crafting a financial and investment plan and implementing that plan as soon as possible. 8 Schedule follow up meetings, phone calls and reviews: When onboarding new clients, let them know what the schedule is for the next few months. Schedule meetings and let them know when your staff will be in touch and what type of communications to expect and when. For instance, if you have a newsletter, include a copy of the most recent one and information on how often they can expect future newsletters and other online communications, including blogs and updates. 9 Send new client survey: It s vitally important to survey new clients about your onboarding process to uncover any potential problems and to receive suggestions that could help improve onboarding in the future. Clients who are interviewed about their experiences feel more connected to your practice and know their views are being heard, which is important in nurturing a long-lasting and successful relationship. Learn how to become a ClientWise client: Contact Trey Schalk, Discover the ClientWise Difference ClientWise is the premier executive coaching firm that partners with high-performing financial advisors, advisory teams, executive leaders and financial services professionals. Our professional, experienced coaches focus on working with individual clients and teams to find the solutions that work for their individual business models around increasing assets under management and number of high net worth households served. We offer a complete coaching, consulting and training model that takes into consideration the rapid pace of change in the financial services industry, the increasing need of high net worth clients for a more efficient wealth management partnership and the needs of high performing advisors and teams to create a true wealth management business. clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog (800) [email protected] 2012 ClientWise FRE-TFL0312 4

5 ClientWise Coaching and Consulting Services Executive Coaching Research Services Program Development Presentation Delivery Workshop Facilitation Professional Development ClientWise Financial Services Clients Industry Executives Wealth Advisors Financial Advisors Broker Dealers Registered Investment Advisors Asset-Management Companies Insurance Companies Contact ClientWise Sophia Harbas Director of Coaching Services ext. 201 sophiaharbas Trey Schalk ext. 301 trey-schalk ClientWise LLC Check out our website: clientwise.com Read our blog: clientwise.com/blog Join us on LinkedIn: clientwise Follow us on TM (800) clientwise.com clientwise.com/blog