How to Boost Engagement in Client Meetings by Using More Visuals

Investors—especially those who are high net worth—see client review meetings as one of the most important things they get out of a relationship with their financial advisor.

Even in the digital age, client review meetings will continue to be a central part of the client experience for financial advisors, whether they happen in-person or virtually.

They’re an effective way to communicate progress toward goals, set a new purpose, and create a shared understanding.

But all too often, the conversations that happen—and decisions made—during a meeting don’t carry on into real life once the meeting ends. 

That’s because it’s hard to memorize every single thing that goes on during a meeting.

If you’re introducing new ideas in a client meeting, the chances of your client remembering everything you cover are limited. In fact, people can forget up to 80% of the new information they’ve learned after just one day.

The solution to better retention and more engaged clients? 

It’s simple. Use more visuals.

The Case for Visual-based Meetings

Who needs visuals?

It turns out, most of the population.

Some studies have shown that as much as 65 percent of the populations learn more effectively when visuals are incorporated into the teaching or educating process.

There’s also plenty of social proof that shows that people interact with, and remember, visuals more than they do only speech or text.

On Facebook, for example, image-based posts get about 53% more likes than posts using only text.

All the studies and information point to a single conclusion. If you want your clients to engage more with you during meetings, and you want them to remember more of what you tell them following the meeting, you need to show them what you want them to remember.  

3 Ways to Create Memorable Meetings

The statistics and studies are convincing. But we need to move past the theoretical and talk about the practical.

If you want to have better meetings, here are three things you can do to create a memorable client experience.

Turn on Your Video

Digital meetings are especially relevant right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, where remote is the only way to meet for most people.

When you do meet digitally, turn on your camera. Showing your voice is a way to personalize your advice and keep connected with your clients even when you can’t be there in the same room.

But video is about much more than showing your face. Using a video meeting also lets you share your screen—a critical way to stay on the same page when you can’t push a piece of paper across the table. 

Sharing your screen can keep everyone on task, and give you a way to direct your client’s attention.

Be Concise

One way to make sure your clients remember more of what you tell them? Don’t tell them so much.

You have to cover everything necessary, of course, but shorter is better—especially when you’re meeting over a computer and not in your office. 

In addition to running shorter meetings, be sure to summarize main takeaways and action items at the end of a meeting—in a visual or graphic if you can. 

Show a timeline of follow up expectations when the meeting is over, and list what you need a client to do to take action if you’re expecting them to make decisions on that timeline.

Gauge Understanding in Real-Time

You don’t want to talk for an hour and then finally ask: “Any questions?”

A review meeting should be a collaborative experience. One way to gauge understanding during meetings, in real-time, is to make the Asset-Map the center of your meeting experience. 

By using a shared document that you revisit each meeting, you increase understanding by making the experience consistent. 

It allows you to develop a shared language, and refer back to critical elements of a client’s financial picture that always need to be addressed. 

During your meeting, you can point to a specific part of the Asset-Map report to get you focused on the same asset. 

And, of course—it’s a visual to base your meetings around.

Using the three steps outlined above, you can create more visually engaging meetings—and get your clients more engaged as a result.

Looking for more proof that visuals matter? Check out our infographic here to see more reasons why your client experience benefits from images and videos.’