Prospect Process Operations: Part 1 - Data Gathering

The high of getting a new client can quickly dissipate when the onboarding process starts. I’d estimate onboarding a new client consists of completing a few hundred things - everything from sending our new client welcome packet to drafting paperwork to setting the new client up in various pieces of technology.

As learned in the prior series covering hiring and delegating, you know that I leverage my administrative assistant quite heavily. This includes onboarding. But onboarding is still a beast and was something that took a very long time to delegate as there are so many items that need to be completed.

In this series, I will document my entire onboarding process, complete with specific tasks and internal systems. I anticipate the outline to go as followed:

1. Data Gathering – Actually getting the “stuff” from new clients

2. The On-Boarding Module in our CRM, Quivr, which drives our entire process

3. New client meeting cadence until getting client to “Normal, Ongoing Client”

Without further ado, let’s dive into How we Gather Data from New Clients

Data Gathering is a two-part process for Drost Financial. The first is via the Document Request List that occurs during our Prospect Process and the second is a phone call after a prospective client verbally (or via email) informs us they wish to become a client.

Document Request List

I follow a strict three-meeting prospect process:

1. 20-Minute Introductory Call

2. 60-Minute Discovery Zoom

3. 60-Minute Plan Foundation Zoom (Think One-Page Plan/Proposal)

I hold all three meetings by myself as Veronica is not involved in any fashion until the prospect says Yes or No to becoming a client. After the 20-Minute Introductory Call, I send the prospective client a Document Request List that contains all items I need in order to assist with their financial planning. Below is an example, which I tailor to each prospect based on the information they tell me during our call. I will not schedule the 60-Minute Discovery Zoom until the prospective client sends me most of the items on the list.

Once I get the items on the Document Request List, we have almost all the personal information for a client. The Tax Return gives me (most times) their SSNs and their address. The paystubs give me income and employer information. I’d bet that these documents will give me 90%+ of all the information I’ll need to open accounts and create their initial financial plan in eMoney. At this point, Veronica will scrub through these documents and extract personal information and add it to our CRM, Quivr. Note that she will not do anything in eMoney or Black Diamond as we limit our time spent on prospective clients until we receive a yes indicating they wish to become clients.

Phone Call

Fast forward to the end of my prospect process and assume we get a Yes from the prospective client. I do two things and then call the client:

1. Create the Onboarding Module (this will be detailed next week)

2. Review the client’s profile in Quivr to determine what information we are missing to open accounts.

Note that I do not complete paperwork but I am aware of the general information needed to do so. This empowers me to quickly and accurately identify what information we need, and are missing, to complete paperwork. After identifying what we are missing (takes a minute), I call the client and say something along the lines of:

“Hi John, I’m so excited to begin working with you! Do you have any questions for me?”

[proceed to answer any questions. After we are through with their questions…]

“Excellent, now that we’ve answered your questions, the next step is completing paperwork to formalize our relationship and open accounts at Charles Schwab. Just like you need a Social Security Number and other personal information to open a bank account, the same is true for opening accounts at Charles Schwab. We were able to get most of the information we need from the documents you sent me but we are missing [SSN, DOB, whatever you do not have}”

This call typically takes five to ten minutes and most of that time is spent simply speaking with the client and asking any questions. I prefer a phone call versus a fact-finder document that is emailed or electronically completed for two main reasons:

1. The client has a question most of the time after saying yes and this gives them an easy way to ask their question(s). It helps clarify the process for the client and provides an opportunity to ensure they fully understand (and are comfortable with) my process. I’ve never had a client tell me that I wasted their time or get mad that I called them.

2. The phone call puts me in charge of the timeline. If I call a client the same day that they agree to become a new client, they are going to answer the phone or call back right away! This means I have the information I need (typically) the same day and we can get paperwork out within 24-48 hours. We do not have to wait for a client to fill out a document or risk them filling it out incorrectly.

The phone call is the last item I complete when onboarding a client and now Veronica has everything she needs to completely onboard this new client.

Next week I will dive into the Onboarding Module, including what it is, its purpose, and how it allowed me to completely delegate the onboarding process and achieve a near-perfect success rate.

Until then,

Steve