7 Essential Processes Every Financial Advisor Needs to Efficiently Run Their Firm

Every financial planning practice, regardless of size, client demographic, or AUM, relies on processes—whether documented or not. These processes are the foundation of a well-oiled business that doesn’t drain the life out of its owner. Yet, many advisors struggle with where to start when it comes to formalizing their systems.

Here’s the reality: you already use these processes in your practice, but without intentionality, they may be inefficient, inconsistent, or full of friction. Friction in business refers to anything that slows operations, creates bottlenecks, or diminishes the client experience. Small inefficiencies waste time, energy, and resources, and they’re the moment when clients feel frustration, confusion, or a lack of clarity.

Today, we will break down 7 Essential Processes every financial advisor needs. Plus, we’ll include a critical *bonus process* for advisors managing investments. Identifying and eliminating friction points from the business and client perspectives is essential. Doing this can take these processes from good to exceptional, making your practice more efficient, scalable, and stress-free. You know what I’m talking about… the business you are running instead of IT running you. 

Documenting and refining these processes creates consistency, scalability, and a better client experience. You’ll free up mental bandwidth, reduce stress, and build a sustainable and thriving practice.

Why Processes Matter

Efficient processes are the backbone of any successful financial advisory practice. They allow you to:

1. Create a Consistent Experience: Deliver the same high-quality experience to every client. This will make you feel good about yourself and be highly relevant because your clients can also count on it. 
2. Scale Your Business: Free up time and mental energy to focus on growth and make it much easier to automate, delegate, and streamline. 
3. Ensure Compliance: Stay audit-ready with clear documentation of your operations.
4. Improve Employee Performance: Help your employees know what to do, when, and how to do it exactly the way you want it done. 
5. Reduce Friction: Identify and remove obstacles that slow down your workflows or frustrate clients–make business easy.
6. Detach From Work: Feel good knowing that things aren’t slipping through the cracks and not getting done so you can recharge in the evenings and on weekends. 

Whether you’re a solo advisor or running a larger team, these benefits can transform how you operate your business.

The 7 Essential Processes (+1 Bonus Process)

1. Marketing/Prospecting

Consistent marketing ensures a steady pipeline of ideal prospects. Whether you’re doing workshops, webinars, paid ads, mailers, etc., you need a process to make it repeatable, track the results, improve performance, and ensure a consistent stream of new people to work with! 

You want to reduce the friction by not recreating the wheel every time and knowing what has worked in the past.

2. Prospect-to-Client Process

Think of your service offer like a product. Design it to be easy to explain, sell, and buy. When clients immediately understand the value and process, it eliminates hesitation and confusion, creating a friction-free experience. 

Then, design it to be repeatable and easy for you and your team to produce consistently with high quality. Aim for 80% of your process to be templated, which leaves 20% for that customization, which is the “special sauce” for your client’s custom plan. You’ll want to standardize your initial meetings, data collection, needs analysis, etc. 

By reducing friction, you’ll be able to move swiftly to maintain momentum and easily deliver high-quality plans. By laying out each step and the tasks within each step and templating them as much as possible, you’ll be able to consistently deliver your process, know where all prospects are, and delegate portions to your team.

3. Onboarding - First 90 Days

A TON of research shows how the first 3 months of the client relationship can dramatically impact the satisfaction levels of clients for the life of their relationship with you. You need to think about their experience with you and create a process that moves them through the psychological journey they are experiencing. 

By documenting this process and examining it through the lens of client experience and your back-end office experience, you’ll create a mistake-proof experience. You’ll want to complete transfers with minimal NIGOs, provide language to help your clients break up with their previous advisor, and make them feel like working with you was the best decision they ever made. 

4. Ongoing Client Service Model

Retaining clients is as important as attracting them. A well-designed ongoing client service model ensures your clients feel consistently valued and supported throughout their journey. This process should focus on proactive communication, tailored touchpoints, and regular check-ins to monitor their evolving needs.

Define clear service tiers based on clients’ needs and AUM to reduce friction. Create a set of scheduled touchpoints and standardize how these are delivered. Creating a repeatable structure means you’ll never have to scramble to figure out what to do next for your clients. This allows you to deliver a high level of care without the stress of reinventing the wheel each time, AND you can articulate easily to a client what to expect 

A streamlined service model ensures that clients feel prioritized and helps your team stay aligned with their needs and expectations are in alignment.

5. Client Experience

Exceptional client experiences don’t happen by accident—they result from carefully crafted processes designed to make every interaction feel seamless and personal. Consider client experience as the sum of every touchpoint, from the first phone call to the final review of their plan.

Reduce friction by identifying the moments that matter most to clients. Whether it’s providing clear communication, making them feel heard, or going above and beyond with personal gestures, systematizing these actions will ensure a consistent experience. Integrating surprise-and-delight moments can be incorporated into your workflow for a meaningful impact.

Clients who feel seen, heard, and valued throughout their journey are more likely to value the relationship and refer others.

6. Referral Process

Referrals are a critical source of growth for financial advisors. However, many advisors overlook the importance of having a formal, repeatable process for acquiring and tracking referrals and introductions. By creating systems for how you want to do referrals, you can increase your confidence, reduce awkwardness, and make it a natural part of the client relationship. This could be asking for referrals, creating a referral culture, or hosting referral events—whatever works for you and your business.

Set a way to thank clients who refer, how to handle referrals that are not a right fit for your practice, and how to communicate with your existing clients without breaching confidentiality. 

A structured, consistent referral process reduces friction for you and trains clients to be a referral-generating machine.

7. Employee Experience

Happy employees are more productive, engaged, and likely to stay for the long haul. Creating an exceptional employee experience starts with clear roles and responsibilities and an environment where team members feel supported in their professional growth.

Document all roles, responsibilities, and expectations to reduce friction in your employee experience. Nobody wants to walk into a work environment where everything always feels like it’s on fire! A detailed employee handbook, onboarding process, and consistent feedback loops are critical to helping your team stay engaged and on track. Additionally, celebrating successes and fostering a culture of growth will motivate employees to perform at their best.

Just like you want to create loyalty and longevity in your client relationships, you want to do the same with your employees. Tenure matters and turnover is hard! When your employees feel empowered and valued, they’ll be more equipped to deliver excellent service to your clients and stay with you for the long haul.

8.  Investment Management Process (Bonus)

A streamlined investment management process is essential for financial advisors who manage investments. This process should include the foundational steps of portfolio construction, regular reviews, rebalancing, and ongoing performance monitoring. It should also ensure compliance, scalability, and consistency in delivering optimal outcomes for clients.

To reduce friction, define your investment philosophy and strategy upfront. Once you have a clear and repeatable approach to selecting and managing investments, you can automate much of the day-to-day management—such as trading, portfolio rebalancing, and reporting—using technology. This allows you to focus on the more complex aspects of financial planning while ensuring that your investment management remains consistent, compliant, and aligned with your client’s goals.

Make sure you have a system to document and review every investment decision. This will make audits smoother and ensure transparency. Conduct regular portfolio reviews, assess performance, and adjust strategies based on changing market conditions or client needs.

By creating a structured, repeatable process for investment management, you reduce the risk of errors, streamline operations, and increase client confidence in your abilities.

How to Build and Optimize Your Processes

Step 1: Get it Out of Your Head**

Start by writing down all the steps you’re currently taking. Then, use templates, whiteboards, or digital tools to map out your workflows.

Step 2: Document Everything

Create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for each process. To make them easy to follow, use flowcharts, checklists, or step-by-step guides.

Step 3: Evaluate and Improve

Schedule a “CEO Day” to review each process. Identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. Focus on making processes faster, smarter, and more client-centric.

Step 4: Iterate Over Time

Aim for a 1% improvement with each iteration. Avoid overwhelming changes; focus on incremental progress.

Start Small, Think Big

Building efficient processes is the key to scaling your practice, enhancing your client experience, and achieving work-life balance. Start by documenting one process today and commit to revisiting and improving it over time. By identifying and removing friction points, you’ll create a business that’s efficient, client-focused, and poised for growth. Most importantly, you’ll build a business AND a life that you love.