How to automate client onboarding at an advisory firm, step by step
Which parts of advisory client onboarding to automate, the document checklist to ask for, a reminder schedule that works and the mistakes to avoid.
By Daniel Lubin. Published . 6 minute read.
The short version
- Automate the task list, document requests, reminders and status tracking. Keep advice and custodian paperwork with people.
- Trigger everything from the signed advisory agreement.
- Ask clients to upload to a secure portal, and keep documents out of email.
- Remind on day 3, 7 and 14, then hand it to a person to call.
You can automate most of the administrative side of client onboarding at an advisory firm: the task list, the document requests, the reminders and the status tracking. The advice, the custodian paperwork and the final read of anything sent to the client stay with people. This post walks through the steps in order.
Which parts of onboarding can be automated?
| Step | Automate it? | How |
|---|---|---|
| Advisory agreement signed | Use it as the trigger | Your e-signature tool marking it complete starts everything else |
| Internal task list | Yes | Start your CRM workflow template, with owners and due dates |
| Document request to the client | Yes, with approval | One list, one secure place to upload |
| Reminders | Yes, with approval | A fixed schedule that stops when the item arrives |
| Account opening and transfers | No | Your team does this in the custodian's own tools |
| Status tracking | Yes | One workflow step per item in the CRM |
| First planning meeting | Scheduling only | A booking link goes out once the documents are in |
What should the document checklist ask for?
Your list depends on the service you offer, so build one per client type. For a planning client it usually looks something like this:
- Statements for every investment and retirement account
- The two most recent tax returns
- Estate documents: wills, trusts and powers of attorney
- Insurance policies and annuity contracts
- Employer benefits summary and a recent pay stub
- Social Security statement
Ask for uploads to your client portal or document vault. Statements and tax returns hold the personal information that Regulation S-P requires firms to safeguard, and email attachments are a poor place for it. Say so in the request, because some clients will reply with attachments anyway.
What reminder schedule works?
A reasonable starting point is day 3, day 7 and day 14 after the request, then a task for a person to call. Each reminder lists only what is still missing. Three polite emails is about the limit before it reads as nagging, and a phone call can find the reason email will not, such as a spouse who has the paperwork or an old account nobody can log in to.
How do you build it, step by step?
- Write down your current process as it really runs, including who does each step and where it stalls.
- Build the internal task list as a workflow template in your CRM. In Wealthbox, the API can start a template on a contact.
- Connect the trigger: the signed agreement in your e-signature tool.
- Write the document request and the three reminders once, and have your compliance officer approve the wording.
- Connect the arrival of each document to its workflow step, so the reminders know when to stop.
- Test the whole run with a made-up client before any real one sees it.
What goes wrong, and how do you prevent it?
The most common failure is a reminder sent for a document that already arrived. It happens when the status in the CRM lags behind reality, so make sure the arrival of a document updates the status before the next reminder is scheduled, and give staff one click to mark an item received by hand.
The second is a broken trigger. Someone edits the agreement template in the e-signature tool and the automation stops noticing signatures. Monitoring should alert a person when an expected run does not happen, which is harder to spot than a run that fails.
What should you measure?
Count the days from signed agreement to complete documents, and the number of reminders each client needed. If the first number does not fall, the reminders are being ignored and the request itself is probably unclear.
Advisor Ready builds onboarding together with lead response as one fixed-price system. The client onboarding page shows the sequence.