The 7 Steps Of The Ideal Client Review

Advisors frequently struggle with client reviews in three ways:

1. Preparing For Reviews
2. Getting Clients To COME IN for The Review
3. Generating Additional Business & Referrals From The Review

Client reviews provide tremendous benefit to the client and to you when executed properly. Consider the following tips to help your clients – and you – get the maximum benefit from regular client reviews.

1. Plan Ahead: Prepare a written Client Meeting Agenda; we will circle back to this at the end of the end of this post.
2. Focused Goals Review & Affirmation: Revisit the WHY’s of previous meetings. Make certain the client’s goals have not changed.
3. Develop Client-Specific Benchmarks: Clients should have non-performance related goals, such as annual saving targets, increasing income with inflation, creating/maintaining/growing emergency funds, will reviews, etc. It makes no sense to use performance as the sole or leading benchmark. Furthermore, the S&P500 as the primary benchmark is only appropriate if the clients goals indicate 100% investment in a broad range of stocks. Create customized Personal/Family/Business Benchmarks, of which performance is only one element, and then the performance benchmark will be a blend or series of different indices and/or benchmarks.
4. Review Past Decisions: This section reviews past planning decisions, risk management steps, and risk-adjusted performance of portfolios in light of the customized benchmarks.
5. Where We Go From Here: Changes and additions to existing plans, products, and services.
6. Building A List Of To-Do’s: Product/Service changes, additions, & replacements. Collaborative plans to meet with other associated professionals on behalf of the client. Service items.
7. Setting The Next Review Date: Dentists do it. Oil Change Services do it. YOU do it.

Building a Client Meeting Agenda involves the previous seven points, plus one additional item:

A List Of People To Whom You Wish To Be Referred

When client reviews are executed properly, this last item is almost a given. Advisors regularly get three to ten referrals using this strategy. Review your client agenda meeting protocol to maximize the value of your meetings, your relationships, and your business.

Work Hard & Have Fun!™