Capitalize on

(February 12, 2003) Every advisor has at least one person — or more likely a number of people — whom they see once a year for a last-minute RRSP contribution. But RRSP season can be a perfect time to bring these people on board as full-fledged clients, according to a story in the February issue of Advisor’s Edge.

“This story looks at how to turn these sorts of people into clients, how to get them to commit to a financial plan by exploring other avenues of their financial lives like estate planning and insurance,” says Deanne Gage, managing editor of Advisor’s Edge.

In “The next meeting,” one of several articles featured in the special “RRSP Survival Guide” pullout, successful veteran advisors such as Vancouver-based Jim Rogers offer up their insights and advice on making the most of a follow-up meeting with new clients and prospects.

After introducing the idea of developing a comprehensive financial plan to prospective clients during an RRSP meeting (but making the RRSP contribution the priority), Rogers, chair and chief executive officer of Rogers Group Financial, sends them home with a client profile questionnaire that features open-ended questions designed to draw out key information for a follow-up meeting.

Advisor Doug Chafe, vice-president and investment advisor with CIBC Wood Gundy in St. John’s, notes that one question he likes to ask clients at a follow-up meeting is what their past experience has been like with other financial planners and institutions. “Prospective clients have expectations when they come in the door and we have to make sure they leave with realistic expectations,” says Chafe.

The current Advisor’s Edge also features a cover story cautioning advisors about unwittingly laundering dirty money for their clients. Although it is not a new topic for advisors, in a post September 11, 2001 world of “tightened security and increased mistrust,” the fight to clean up money laundering has accelerated.

According to the “Tainted funds” article, a major challenge is getting advisors to report client transactions that they have doubts about (advisors are obliged by law to report any suspicious financial transactions to their compliance departments, who will in turn report them to the federal government’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada). The article goes on to explain how advisors can determine if a transaction is indeed a suspicious one, and features a handy checklist of questions advisors can apply to situations in which they are uncertain.

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Need more help finishing off this year’s RRSP season and capitalizing on the momentum (and opportunities) with your clients throughout the rest of the year? Advisor.ca extends the RRSP Survival Guide coverage found in this month’s Advisor’s Edge with a special online package of advice and tools, including a closer look at investment options for the newly conservative and a template letter that you can customize to help set up that “next meeting” with your prospective clients.

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Filed by John Craig, Advisor.ca, jcraig@advisor.ca.

(02/12/03)