Having productive conversations with clients and prospects can open the door to successful, long-term relationships. A conversation with a prospect should be a “mutual meeting of minds,” suggests Nadine De Palma, financial advisor with Edward Jones in Toronto. “The focus should always be on the client,” she says.

Adds Prem Malik, chartered accountant and financial advisor with Queensbury Securities Inc. in Toronto: “A conversation must be a two-way street, allowing both the advisor and the client to get to know each other better.”

Clients generally want to have an appreciation of who you are, says George Hartman, CEO of Market Logics Inc. in Toronto. “They want to know what commonalities they may have with you.”

Here are some tips to help you having better conversations with clients:

1. Make your clients comfortable
Try to put your clients at ease, Hartman says. From a client’s point of view, a conversation with a financial advisor could be a stressful experience.

Start out by telling the client about yourself, says Malik, rather than getting into what you do. By doing so, “you are more likely to get them to talk about themselves,” he says. “Once they become comfortable, they will open up.

“Don’t use jargon or sophisticated investment terminology,” he continues. “Be clear and concise.”

2. Provide structure
While you should try to have a free-flowing conversation, Malik says, it must have some structure. Prepare an agenda — even if it’s unwritten — to help ensure you achieve what you set out to do in the allotted time.

Hartman advises having three or four talking points as part of an “organized conversation.”

3. Ask open-ended questions
Prepare carefully crafted questions that require more than one-word answers, Malik says. “They open the door for clients to tell their story their way,” he says.

Open-ended questions “provide an opportunity to expand on facts and statements,” Hartman says.

This type of questioning is a great way to get information that would not necessarily be provided in a more rigid setting, De Palma says. For example, she may ask a client: “Was there something your parents did for you that you would like to do for your children?”

4. Be a good listener
“Active listening is crucial to truly getting to know your client,” says De Palma. “You must be friendly and approachable and make use eye of contact and facial expressions that are inviting.”

She also suggests using appropriate “listen-and-respond techniques.”

One of those techniques, according to Hartman, is to paraphrase and reaffirm what the client has said. “You may have to model your behavior to suit different individuals,” he says. “You have to intuitively know when to adjust your behavior.”

5. Take notes — discreetly
You should get the client’s permission to take notes, Hartman says. When you do, write your notes unobtrusively, with a notepad to the side.

“You may wish to remind your client about the confidentiality of your conversation prior to taking notes,” Malik says. “Your note-taking should not be disruptive to the conversation. Just jot down a few key points.”