My First Client Advisory Board Roundtable: What I Asked

I recently conducted my first-ever client roundtable meeting. In my most recent blog, I wrote about the process of the meeting. In this post, I will discuss the results of the meeting as revealed from a survey questionnaire which was presented to each attendee. I’ll also share a few comments which, I hope, may help you in your endeavors as an independent advisor.

In all of the following, the rankings ranged from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important).

Existing or Potential New Services

Part of the evening was spent asking clients to rank some existing and/or possible new services.

Here are the results:

Financial Planning                                    5.0

Financial Planning Updates                      4.9

Identity Theft Protection                            3.6

Holding Annual Family Meetings               3.3

Resolving IRS Issues                                3.1

Recommending Debt Reduction
Strategies                                                 3.1

Backing Up their Computers’
Hard Drives                                              3.0

Coordinating With
Other Professionals                                  2.8

Helping with their Social Security
Retirement dDecision                                2.8

Shopping for the Best Loan Deals            2.6

Other potential services mentioned         <2.5

Before I disclose the rest of the survey, some of you may be wondering why I am deviating so far from the traditional asset management services. I tell prospective clients that I am not your typical advisor. I'm really trying to position myself as the guy who takes a comprehensive approach to wealth management. Why identity theft protection, for example? Because having your identity

stolen is a threat to someone's wealth and I can offer clients a significant discount through a national service.