A man rings an adviser about a sum of money. He is businesslike, he has the figures ready, and he mentions almost in passing that his mother died in February.
The adviser goes straight to the options. He does not come back, and he could not explain to anybody why.
The checklist
Handle these and the enquiry becomes a client for twenty years.
1. Acknowledge the circumstance first
Before any figure, any option or any service. One sentence recognising that this money arrived because somebody died changes the entire conversation.
2. Say that there is no rush
Most people feel they ought to be doing something. Telling them plainly that waiting is usually sensible is the most valuable and least commercial thing an adviser can say.
3. Establish what has actually happened
Whether the estate has been distributed, whether it is in progress and whether anything is still to come. People enquire before the money exists, which is the practical ground in pension transfer enquiries and why they take time.
4. Establish whether there are other beneficiaries
Siblings, a surviving parent or a complicated family. It affects the emotional weight and sometimes the planning.
5. Ask what they are worried about
Not what they want to do with it. People arrive with a specific anxiety, frequently about making a mistake or about what somebody else expects of them.
6. Publish what a first conversation covers
Circumstances, objectives, the options in outline and what a piece of work would involve. And whether it costs anything.
7. Never advise in the enquiry
What to do with the money, whether to repay a mortgage, whether to invest or what the treatment would be. All of it is the advice and none of it belongs in a first reply.
8. Be careful with tax questions
People arrive with them and they depend entirely on circumstances. Capture the question, do not answer it and explain why.
9. Publish the fee position plainly
Whether a first meeting is chargeable and how work would be priced. People who have just inherited are unusually wary of being taken advantage of.
10. Handle the sudden wealth case differently
A large sum relative to somebody's circumstances brings its own difficulties, including pressure from others. It needs a person rather than a process.
11. Cover the other windfall types
A settlement, a business sale, a divorce or a redundancy. Each has a different emotional context and the page should not assume bereavement.
12. Escalate anything distressing immediately
Anybody grieving, in difficulty or clearly struggling needs a human quickly, which is the discipline in couples and family therapy enquiries handled sensitively.
13. Capture only what is needed
Approximate amount, timing, circumstances in their own words and the best way to reach them, which is the structured approach in receptionist screening questions.
14. Answer at the hour people think about it
Late at night, after a day of paperwork, which is the same moment described in retirement planning enquiries that arrive at night.
Getting started
Publish a page that acknowledges the circumstance, says there is no rush and states the fee position, then capture enquiries at any hour without advising. SpideyChat for financial advisers answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about routing on the features page.