How to Triple Client Meetings in 2014

1. Plan for more productive meetings

   Peter’s goal wasn’t just to increase the number of meetings; it was also to make those meetings more effective. He changed three things to make that happen.

   First, each fall he sits down with his assistants to identify two key goals for each of his top 100 clients for the coming year – one goal that will advance the client’s agenda and a second goal that will advance Peter’s agenda Examples of these secondary goals include getting clients’ agreement to move to a fee-based platform, consolidating assets held by other advisors, improving relationships with spouses and adult children or getting introduced to their accountants.

   The next step is to have those goals drive the agendas for client meetings. Before contacting clients to schedule appointments, whoever makes those calls reviews the objectives for the clients and the notes from the previous meeting. After asking a client what questions they they’d like to cover, if the two key goals haven’t been addressed, they are added to the meeting agenda that is discussed with the client.

   Peter and his team incorporated one final change to make meetings more productive. One of his assistants sits in on every client meeting and afterwards drafts notes outlining next steps – the topics discussed, what Peter and his team are going to do, what the client committed to and items to be discussed at the next meeting. At the end of each day, Peter briefly reviews these meeting notes to ensure nothing has been missed and then the notes are mailed or emailed to the client within 24 hours of the meeting taking place.

2. Motivate clients to meet

   Historically, Peter had struggled to get some of his top clients to meet. He and his assistants did several things to address this.

   Peter’s assistants identified one big barrier for many clients coming in to meet at his office –the cost of parking under his building. As a result, one of Peter’s assistants negotiated an arrangement to allow them to validate parking at a rate considerably less than the $12 an hour it normally costs. For some clients, offering to pick up the cost of parking was all it took to get them to come in to meet.

   Next, going into each meeting Peter identifies when he wants to meet next – depending on the client this might be in three, six or 12 months. He wraps up each meeting by saying

   I’d like to schedule a follow-up meeting in six months ( or whatever the right frequency is ) to talk about (whatever hot button issue needs to be dealt with ) ….. Does this work for you?

   Because he suggests a date and also outlines what they’ll talk about, most clients agree and the next meeting is booked before clients leave. Clients get a written reminder for the next meeting, similar to a dentist’s office; for clients who use email, a meeting invite is also sent out. One of Peter’s assistants follows up 30 days before the meeting to confirm the timing and also to finalize the agenda. A final reminder call takes place three business days before the meeting, asking clients whether there are any questions they’d like to add to the agenda.

   Something else that’s persuaded more clients to come in for meetings is that Peter uses the 11 am timeslot for his highest value clients and generally asks if they are free to join him and on occasion his assistant for lunch afterwards. Not all clients say yes, but many take Peter up on the offer to join him at a nice but not overly expensive restaurant nearby.

1. Make meetings the central focus of your assistant’s job

   Increasing his time in client meetings meant that Peter had to offload some other tasks. One decision was to make his assistants the first point of contact for questions. Clients were divided up between Peter’s two assistants and each was given responsibility for quarterly calls to any clients on her list who hadn’t been talked to in the last 90 days, checking in to ensure that there were no outstanding questions that needed to be addressed. They each received letterhead so they could send follow-up notes and were given the mandate to send small gifts if that seemed appropriate. To free up time for his assistants, a college intern was hired to come in for 15 hours a week after classes to help with routine admin and filing.

   To make all this happen, Peter redefined the job description for both of his assistants and especially for his senior assistant, effectively placing her in charge of client operations. Not only was she responsible for getting meeting slots filled, but either she or his other assistant sat in on client meetings and were in charge of distributing the meeting notes outlining next steps. At the same time as he made these changes, he changed the bonus for his assistants, so their compensation is in part a function of their success in scheduling meetings and making those quarterly check-in calls to clients.

The payoff from increased client meetings

Peter told me that he expected this change to result in deepened relationships, but didn’t anticipate just how positive the impact would be. Among the payoff from his focus on client meetings:

• Higher client satisfaction

  Increasing face-to-face contact and a clear focus on objectives resulted in more satisfied clients; this was confirmed by a firm-wide survey of client satisfaction that ranked Peter in the top 5% of his firm. Making his assistants the first point of contact has also worked well – Peter receives regular feedback on how much clients enjoy dealing with his assistants. Furthermore, since intensifying his focus on getting in front of clients, Peter has seen a perceptible increase in referrals, often in the period immediately after lunches with his top clients.

• Increased revenue

  Since launching this initiative two years ago, Peter has made substantial strides on his own goals for top clients As a result, he’s seen a marked improvement in revenue and profitability.

• Improved work satisfaction

  The third positive outcome was the most unexpected – since making this change, both Peter and his assistants come to work more enthused about the day ahead. Peter knows that his clients are happier and he enjoys his face-to-face time. This is even more the case for his assistants, who feel greater engagement, autonomy and responsibility, all key drivers for employee happiness.

As you think about the upcoming year, ask yourself the same question that Peter did: Are you maximizing your time in front of clients? If the answer is no, consider whether some of the approaches that worked for Peter might work for you as well. There’s no shortage of New Year’s resolutions to choose from – but for many advisors, increasing the number of productive client meetings should be at the top of your list.

conducts programs to help advisors gain and retain clients and is an award winning faculty member in the MBA program at the University of Toronto. To see more of his written and video commentaries, go to www.clientinsights.ca. Use A555A for the rep and dealer code to register for website access.

Read more articles by Dan Richards