How to wrap up the client’s first meeting and rise above the competition

You’ve had a successful first meeting with a client. Information has been shared, and a rapport has been established. All you need to do is wrap things up in the best way to make sure the material covered is not forgotten and another advisor is not going to come in and take over.

In his 2013 Annual Meeting presentation “Mature simplicity: Ahead to the past,” Russell Collins, Dip LI, a 45-year MDRT member from Elanora Heights, New South Wales, Australia, shared his three-step process for finalizing the first meeting:

1. I re-confirm the confidentiality of our discussion.
2. I tell the prospect I will summarize the main points of our discussion in a file note and then, within a few days, forward them a copy of the file note for comment to ensure what I heard was what he said. That is always most appreciated because we cover a lot, some clients take no notes, and the file note reminds them of their answers to my penetrating questions.
3. I tell the prospect I will put some ideas and recommendations together over the next couple of weeks and then contact them for a further meeting — although sometimes if it seemed opportune, I will set up the next meeting there and then.

Beyond that, Collins recommended asking the client, “Based on everything we have discussed during our meeting and the work that I will be doing over the next couple of weeks, could I assume that if, at our next meeting, my recommendations are affordable and acceptable, you will do the business with me?”

“With only one exception, over a period of years the answer to that question was in the affirmative,” he said. “I always included my question and the answer in the file note I sent to them to remind them of their commitment. Fortunately, as I gained more experience and was able to obtain quality referrals, I dropped that particular question from my concluding comments when wrapping up the meeting.”

Read more about communication strategies with clients in “Mature simplicity: Ahead to the past.”

Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist