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In this blog, I’m going to discuss financial advisor follow up emails that rock, and present a sample script you can follow if you are a financial advisor emailing a prospect after the first meeting.
For those of you who are new to my blog/podcast, my name is Sara. I am a CFA® charterholder and I used to be a financial advisor. I have a newsletter in which I talk about financial advisor lead generation topics which is best described as “fun and irreverent.” So please subscribe!
Let’s get on with the blog!
Financial advisors follow up emails – the basics
When should financial advisor follow up emails be sent?
Remember you want to convey that you are a high quality, high value financial advisor with priorities other than chasing down the next gig. You don’t want to show people that you have a ton of free time to email all day. Wait 3-5 business days from the meeting. Judge how interested they are and how quickly they seem to want to move forward. I
How long should financial advisor follow up emails be?
2-5 sentences long
If you want the prospect to fall in love with you, you have to fall OUT of love with your own voice first.
Brief yet meaningful communications always win (see my Two Sentence Rule).
Rambling is #1 way you can waste your time
What is the #1 way people waste their time?
Pointless conversations.
It doesn’t cost them any money and they don’t have to move to do it. Plus, people are naturally inclined to fall in love with their own voice instead of others’.
- Talking to people they shouldn’t be talking to.
- Talking about things they shouldn’t be talking about.
You could waste your whole entire life with this.
That’s why I love my Two Sentence Rule and if you haven’t read my book about 47 financial advisor LinkedIn messages, check it out, because every message is two sentences or less.
Clear communicators have time.
People who ramble have no time.
It has nothing to do with how successful you are or how many things you actually have on your plate.
I have never ever met someone who was rambler and who was in control of their time. whenever I meet a rambler, and this is actually a disqualifier for anyone I will work with, I always know that they’r about to waste my time and theirs, and then the next words out of their mouth is going to be how they have no time.
What should financial advisors say in a follow up email to a prospect?
When you send financial advisor follow up emails after the first meeting, how do you know what to actually say to a prospect? Use the RAG process.
- Recap
- Ask
- Goals
Step #1 Recap the meeting key points briefly
Why?
You want to remind them of what you talked about. Especially if you waited those 3-5 days, it’s likely they forgot the details. You also want them to feel as if you are listening to them. Repeating back what they told you and the key points of the meeting will do that.
Now, I know you financial advisors love to go on and on all day about finance. This is not the place for it. Keep it brief. Only use 1-2 sentences on the recap part of your financial advisor follow up emails.
#2 Ask a reflective question
Why?
You want them to move forward with intentionality. You don’t want them to just go through the motions and agree to another meeting without being fully onboard, hence wasting your time.
Here is where you build value in the relationship instead of just talking in order to talk. This is reeeeeeally important.
To get a first meeting with someone is not that big an investment of time and also there isn’t a high commitment level from the client. You’re kinda just meeting and talking, there is no real relationship. You want them to intentionally commit to the next steps for a real reason that they thought about.
Keep in mind that after the first meeting is when the doubts and objections start. Even if they are intent on moving on with you, there are still some doubts. No prospect is 100% sold at that point. This is where they originate.
Don’t ignore them. Before you move to the next step, address them using your reflective question. You’ve got to be willing to take that risk. If you don’t, you may end up getting the next meeting, but it may go nowhere, or these objections will materialize later after you’ve invested even more time. So lay it out right after the first meeting, and get their commitment to move forward addressing whatever the concerns are.
Yes, you will have to be objective and detach from the outcome of always getting to the next step. You are going to lose some people here. However you would have lost them anyways later down the line so you just did yourself and them a favor.
Yes, it is up to you. You have to focus their attention and get them to think it through. You’ve got to make them see the big picture because if you don’t, they probably won’t. I mean, some people will, but very few. You’ve got to prompt them to think about it.
And once you do that, they’ll have more clarity of thought, and it’ll be easier for them to commit to the next steps.
#3 State a goal
Often neglected.
Show them you see the value of every single minute of your time.
Have you ever noticed someone who complains they have no time?
Now, I have four kids and a business. Yet you don’t see me running around telling you all how I no time to do the things I want. Because I’m highly organized about how I spend my time. the worst thing you could do to me is waste a minute of my time. The people who complian they have no time don’t value it. Show you value your time and theirs by putting a marker on it with goals.
Financial advisor follow up emails: one example
So here is an example of a financial advisor follow up email. Of course, this is in my own style. You should customize this financial advisor follow up email script to your own tone and style.
Sally,
In last week’s meeting we talked about your teacher pension plan and your goal of saving for Jenny’s college.
From what I can see, the prominent question at this juncture appears to be how much time you are able to invest creating a plan for all this given you are about to get divorced. How do you see the pieces of this puzzle fitting together, given the time requirements we discussed in our meeting?
Should you chose to move forward, the goal of the next meeting is to gather the needed information to get started on the analysis.
Let me know how you wish to proceed.
-Sara G
You can see each of the three parts clearly present:
Recap – we talked about teacher plan and college planning
Ask – can you do this given all you have on your plate?
Goals – the next meeting we’ll gather the info
Sara’s upshot
What’d ya think? Was this helpful?
If yes…
- I am an outsourced CMO for companies who need regular, full service marketing – blogging, social media posts, newsletters, etc.
- I am an hourly consultant for those who just need one-time or recurring guidance
- People hire me as a ghostwriter to write content for a project fee
- I have a social media training program
- I have a book about what to say on LinkedIn messenger
Just letting ya know, in case you need me at some point.
-Sara G
Thanks for reading. I hope you’ll at least join my newsletter about financial advisor lead generation.
See you in the next one!
-Sara G
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