A well-structured meeting can instil feelings of confidence in a client, which can in turn strengthen the client’s relationship with you.

“We want the client to experience an event that runs smoothly and has them leaving our office with peace of mind and feeling calm,” says Susan Latremoille, first vice president and wealth advisor with Richardson Partners Financial Ltd. in Toronto. “But in order for them to experience those feelings, there is a whole host of things that has to happen behind the scenes first.”

For Latremoille and her team, those behind-the-scenes activities include the creation of a client service manual — a well-organized collection of documents that outlines the client’s financial goals and documents his or her relationship with the advisor.

A growing number of financial advisory firms are using client service manuals to help them present a credible message to prospects, offer consistent service to clients and give those clients regularly updated records of their financial plans and interactions with their advisors. Developing a client service manual also helps ensure that all team members are on the same page when it comes to the firm’s processes in general, and how it handles each individual client’s needs.

A client service manual can be as simple as an introduction to the firm, the advisor and the team; or it can be as extensive as a complete wealth-management plan, including every aspect of the client’s investments, retirement plan, estate plan, and insurance and tax strategies — and whatever else the advisor and client decide to include. Documents are usually compiled in a binder or a filing system that the client can take home and bring to each meeting.

What goes into the manual is entirely up to the advisor, but it should be organized in such a way that your clients understand the various components of their financial plans. It should have space to add new material and enable you to update existing material.

Although each client’s manual becomes tailored to his or her own profile, having a manual template on hand makes it easy to prepare for an unplanned meeting with a prospect.

“By introducing a manual into how you run your business, you can be ready for a meeting with a prospect in minutes,” says Reg Jackson, vice president, portfolio manager and advisor with Plumbline Wealth Management, a six-person team that operates under the National Bank Financial Ltd.banner in London, Ont.

“We were finding that we were reinventing the wheel for every single meeting, which didn’t make a lot of sense,” Jackson says. “It wasn’t a great use of time — to recreate the same thing over and over again.”

In early 2000, the Plumbline team decided to implement what they called a “pitch book” for prospective clients, which they could also use as a resource for current clients.

Developing a customized proposal for each prospect can take up a lot of time, says Jackson. But with a client service manual, clients can come in without an appointment and have an advisor ready to see them in just a few minutes.

“By using a manual,” Jackson says, “we can make a presentation to a new prospect who just walked in the door as effectively as if we’d had a week to prepare.”

The time saved in preparation for meetings, he adds, can result in better client service.

A client service manual can be created by an individual advisor or by a team. If you work in a team environment, it is advisable to have all members contribute ideas and suggestions at the developmental stage. Once the manual is in place, it remains a “work in progress”; as the industry changes, so will your manual. And you should also involve all team members when reviewing and updating an existing manual.

The Plumbline team spent a number of years developing its manual, and is now using its fifth version.

“We are constantly tweaking and modifying the manual to keep up with industry changes,” Jackson says. “We continue to streamline it, change the order of its contents and add or delete parts of the manual. It’s what we refer to as a ‘live document’.”



> Introducing Yourself

What goes into your client manual? One way to begin is by considering the topics that typically are covered in an initial client meeting, particularly the questions clients often ask.

@page_break@“What a prospective client wants to know, first and foremost, is: ‘Who is going to be handling my money?’” Jackson says. “That’s why taking the time to introduce the firm, the team and each team member’s role is a key aspect of a client manual.”

It is important for clients to know whom they will be dealing with at the firm level, as well as the people who will be handling their investments.

“Clients may or may not be familiar with the firm, so that is always a great place to start,” Latremoille says. “Because it is not just me in the office, I make a point to introduce the entire team to new clients when they come in so they are able to get a sense of what everyone’s role is and know that I am not a one-man band.”

Latremoille sends a “pre-owner’s” manual to all prospective clients, either through email or “snail mail.” This manual includes an introduction to the firm, advi-sor bios, directions to the office, valet parking information, published articles about the team, testimonials from clients and industry professionals, and the team’s investment philosophy.

“We feel that this is a package that will welcome a client even before we are face to face,” says Latremoille. “If we are meeting them at their house, it provides a comfortable introduction before we even get there.”

In the introduction, clients should also be notified whom they can contact for different needs if team members other than the primary contact handle such tasks as statement updates or issuing cheques. It is important to remember that whenever a team member leaves — or a newcomer joins — all manuals should be updated to reflect those changes.



> Financial Review And Checklist

Naguib Kerba makes sure his client service manual contains all personal financial reviews for each client. That includes assets and liabilities, analysis tools, risk-management assessments and financial goals.

“We call our manual the ‘financial house in a binder’,” says Kerba, a financial planner and branch manager with Investment Planning Counsel in Mississauga, Ont.

A self-described Excel spreadsheet “junkie,” Kerba says he likes to input all financial information into formats that are easy for his clients to read. After each meeting, Kerba prints out all the client’s account statements, as well as relevant screen shots from Web-based programs referenced during the meeting, and inserts them into that client’s manual. The client then has a paper record of the meeting, complete with visuals, that he or she can review at home.

Keeping a financial checklist allows clients to see what needs to be discussed and over what time frame, Kerba says.

“Not everything needs to happen in the first meeting,” Kerba says, “but clients should know that there are some financial aspects you are willing to discuss in detail at a later date.”

Although some clients may never use their binder after their initial meeting, there are many clients who will bring it to every meeting, and even ask for a new one when their existing one gets full, says Latremoille.



> Questionnaires And The IPS

A well-structured financial questionnaire can give you a snapshot of a client’s overall situation. Jackson’s team includes two questionnaires in its client manual.

The first is a brief survey that provides the client’s overall investment profile. That questionnaire is the first step in developing an investment policy statement for the client. The IPS is like a road map that you and the client can refer to again and again to show where the client stands in relation to his or her goals, and encourages the client to stick to their financial plan.

The second questionnaire included in Jackson’s manual is an extensive wealth-planning workbook that explores in more detail how clients’ financial plans will help them reach their goals. Jackson discusses this tool only briefly in the initial meeting. He encourages the client to review it at home before talking about it in greater detail at a subsequent meeting, when financial issues are discussed in greater detail.

Latremoille uses a similar method, using a tool she has developed called a “financial scorecard,” a five-page document that clients use to rate their positions on certain financial concepts on a scale of one to five. For example, clients are asked to rate how clear their financial goals are; how often they review their progress; how they feel about their investments; and how they feel about their financial advisors. The scorecard also asks them to list their goals.

Latremoille uses the financial scorecard to help determine whether the relationship is going to be a good fit for both parties. After Latremoille has tallied the results, she mails to the client a personalized letter detailing those results.



> Products And Services

When it comes to dealing with a financial advisor, clients are most concerned about what you will be doing with their money and what types of products you offer.

A section in the client service manual that outlines the various investment styles and the corresponding products that are available will help familiarize clients with the investment, insurance and other products and services you have to offer.

You should make clients aware of specialized services you offer, such as tax planning, estate planning, insurance planning and high net-worth services — before your client has to ask about them. The products and services section of your client service manual should be updated whenever a new type of product or service has been added to your lineup.

If your clients are able to access their portfolio online, it may be worthwhile to have a section in the manual that provides detailed instructions on how to log in and set up a password, where account information is located and instructions on navigating the website, including printed screen shots.

“We like to provide the client with a reference guide that they can use every time they log in,” Latremoille says. “We take the time to sit down with clients and show them how to navigate our online tools and set up their passwords. If they have any problems later on, they can always look to their manual for details.”



> Account Statements

Some clients have difficulty understanding their monthly statements. A client service manual is an excellent place to show your clients how to read their statements. On a sample statement, pinpoint and highlight important areas and explain what the numbers mean. Point out where clients can find key information, such as investment withdrawals, interest payments and final balances.

“I still do a lot of house calls, [during which] I can sit down with my clients — they have their binders with them — and we go through all the statements that come in the mail together,” says Kerba. “It is a great opportunity for me to show them what needs to be filed into the binder.

“I’ve become accustomed,” he adds, “to bringing my travelling three-hole punch with me wherever I go!”

The client service manual can contain other important reporting documents, such as those relating to income taxes, estate planning, RESPs and RRSPs. And as you become more aware of the type of information a particular client is interested in, you will be able to recommend appropriate material ahead of time.

Each client of the Latremoille Group receives a personalized binder with customized tabs. The client can easily flip to “Johnny’s education savings” or “Jenny’s retirement outlook” and quickly find all relevant documents.



> The Process

Every initial meeting has its own outcome: some clients will be ready to set up an account right way, while others will want to take their time in reviewing the materials at home.

After the initial meeting, the client service manual can be used as an enduring guide to a client’s financial plan. Kerba photocopies all meeting notes for his clients, as well as any changes the clients decide to make with their portfolios.

“We will log the reason for the move, if there are any fees involved, taxes payable, benefits of the move, what the existing portfolio is before the move and then what it will look like after the move,” says Kerba. “It keeps everyone involved on the same page, and it is a great system for tracking why certain decisions were made.”

It’s important to keep each client’s manual up to date because a client’s situation or portfolio can change from month to month. But there is no recommended frequency for updating a manual, says Jackson.

“Certain sections may need to be updated often, while others aren’t touched for months,” he says. “The key point is always to stay on top of it and never let it get outdated.”

Jackson’s team usually prints manuals in blocks of 50. Team members will review the content before printing the next batch. In between print runs, team members may review and update individual pages — which is one of the benefits of using a binder.

If you work in a team environment, a client service manual provides a consistent format for presenting client information, and helps ensure key information is not omitted.

“We wanted to streamline all aspects of our business,” Jackson says, “having systems in place, having processes in place and having the things we discuss in initial client meetings all in one place, so that everyone knows where to find it.”

That consistency helps you put forth a strong image of your practice to clients and prospects.

“When advisors are working together and making it evident that there is a clear, consistent brand throughout all of their processes, that is when it becomes a very successful model,” says Julie Littlechild, president of Advisor Impact Inc. in Toronto. “Clients want to know that there is a clear process in place, that it’s not just ad hoc. Having a client manual is one way of showing that.”

And although a manual helps you provide good service to existing clients, according to Littlechild, it can also help you gain new clients.

“Having a manual that is the natural outcome of standardizing the client experience is a good idea, from an efficiency point of view as well as in getting referrals,” Littlechild says. “When clients are getting a consistent quality experience, they are going to communicate that to their friends, family and colleagues.” IE