Wealth management advice involves more than managing investments. When advisors meet new prospects or clients, they must ask the right questions to better understand their clients finances, goals, and values.
Good questions are authentic and sincere. There are no rules other than asking questions that engage clients and prospects in conversation and encourage them to open up and reveal their honest and authentic selves. Only with this information can we do great work and guide great transformations.
What do you think about adding a few of these questions to your discovery process? Or your regular client meeting agenda? Have a look:
Personal
- Tell us a story about how you started.
- What inspires you?
- What do you hate about what you’re doing?
- What could you spend less time at work or your office?
- Let’s say, today, you have permission to remove something from your daily life. What is it?
- What would you say is the most outstanding achievement in your life?
- What are the keys to making our professional relationship work for you?
- What keeps you up at night?
- Why do you think you need help?
- How do you make important financial decisions?
- How will you support those closest to you/family if you get sick or change employment?
- What are your most critical non-financial goals right now?
- What changes in your financial or personal situation do you foresee?
- Are you optimistic or pessimistic about your finances/the economy/the future in general?
- How far away do your goals feel right now?
Business
- Future growth. Where will it come from?
- Do you have a concern or potential change in the future?
- From now on, what new or improved capabilities are needed to reach your goals?
- What organizational or operational capabilities are needed to support your future strategy?
- Where do you go from here in terms of future improvements in performance?
- What has made you successful so far? Do you have plans to change what you’re doing?
- What capabilities and/or resources would you invest in if you had additional resources?
- What do you need to stop doing?
- Do you think your organizational culture needs to evolve?
- What does the future hold for your business
- What causes you worry/What causes you excitement about your business?
For prospects, consider using the above list as a reference to source a few questions in addition to your normal discovery process. The list wasn’t intended for you to add all these questions—just a few when it makes sense.
For existing clients, consider sprinkling a few questions into your next client or annual meeting to strengthen your knowledge and client relationship through information sharing.
The Bottom Line
Asking the right questions and listening to the answers is essential to building relationships with your clients and clients. This is especially true when developing a comprehensive understanding of their finances, goals, and values.
Guiding your clients through identifying their goals, assessing their finances, and developing a plan to achieve them requires active listening as they describe their concerns and aspirations.
Ultimately, the key to being an influential financial advisor often lies in asking the right questions. By incorporating these ten questions and their variants into your initial client meetings, you can lay the groundwork for a rewarding partnership.
Act Today!
Pick a question or two from the above list and add it to your client and prospecting meeting agendas this week. Either way, email me how it went! I would be very interested to hear your results.
