7 Topics to Cover in Your First Meeting With a New Client

What You Need to Know

When meeting with a new client, be sure to ask questions in a way that encourages them to open up about what is important to them.
Use the initial new client meeting to delve into their assets and liabilities to ensure you have a thorough understanding.
Let the client know that their success is how you measure your own success.

It’s the start of a new year, and a number of people will be acting upon their new year’s resolution to take charge of their financial situation. One aspect of this might involve finding a new financial advisor.

If you find yourself to be the beneficiary of some of this activity, here are seven things you will want to discuss when meeting with new clients.

1. Ask the client to tell you about themself.

While the advisor-client relationship is a business relationship, understanding who your client is as a person and what’s important to them can help you understand how to best help them with their financial planning and advice needs.

Make your questions open-ended in the hopes they will discuss their family, their hobbies and interests, their career and other aspects of their life. Maybe you even have some personal interests in common.

The discussion about family can be a good segue to a discussion about estate planning. Do they have an estate plan in place? Do they have a will or trust? If they are married, are assets and accounts properly titled? Are beneficiary designations on retirement accounts and life insurance policies up to date? The answers to these and other questions may lead you to make estate planning a top priority for your new client.

Being a financial advisor is rooted in providing services to your clients that are customized and personalized to their needs to the greatest extent possible. The more you know about what’s important to them, the easier this customization will become.

2. Determine their financial concerns and priorities.

While you likely have discussed the client’s basic financial concerns in a preliminary meeting with them, now that they are a client you want to dig into the details. What are their top financial concerns and priorities? What does their financial time horizon look like relative to their financial goals?

What you ultimately want to ascertain is what your client wants their money to do for them. Most clients don’t care about or even want to know about asset allocation or other details on that level. They know what they want their money to help them achieve in life. They are hiring you to worry about the details of managing their money to help them achieve their goals.

Your client’s financial priorities will, of course, vary based upon their circumstances. Retirement may be the main concern for clients in their fifties or older. Younger clients may be focused on building wealth in general and saving for goals like retirement and funding college for kids.

Beyond their own financial security, passing on their wealth to the next generation might be a key concern. Understanding their desires here can help you suggest estate planning options for them to consider.

3. Ask why they’re seeking a new financial advisor.

If your client left another financial advisor to work with your firm, be sure to understand why they chose to terminate the relationship.

One issue could be that they felt that they had outgrown their former advisor. Maybe the client is a successful executive or professional and they are looking for a more sophisticated level of service in areas such as investing, tax planning and estate planning.

Perhaps the reason they decided to change advisors was a communication issue. This situation occurs all too often with a newly single client deciding to change advisors after the death of their spouse or a divorce. In many cases, women in their 50s or 60s did not feel that the advisor they worked with while married listened to their needs and concerns. It may come out that they chose you because they wanted an advisor who would listen to them and put their financial concerns first.

There may be any number of reasons why your new client decided to move on from a relationship with a previous advisor. Understanding these reasons can be helpful in providing the best service to your new client, and in setting their expectations in working with you.