Every financial advisor must have a structured process for filling his or her prospect pipeline, says Sara Gilbert, founder on Strategist Business Development in Montreal. Having a set plan for the way you engage and interact with your prospects is as important as having a communication plan for your clients.

“A prospecting process demonstrates that you have discipline,” Gilbert says, “and that prospects will be taken care of. It starts from day one.”

Note that this process will not be identical for every financial advisor, Gilbert says. You will ultimately choose the method and timing that best suits your practice and your personality. The time it takes to convert a prospect into a client also varies among advisors.

Gilbert provides an example of one prospecting process, as a guide, which you can modify to suit your business:

1. Start with a “thank you” email
Let’s say you’ve met a potential prospect and you have that person’s contact information. Send him or her an email three days later, simply expressing thanks for the discussion. Do not include any information about your practice.

2. Connect on LinkedIn
Use LinkedIn to learn more about this person and allow him or her to gather more information about your practice through your own profile and your LinkedIn team page.

Five days after the initial conversation, send your prospect an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

3. Arrange a casual meeting
About 10 days after connecting with this person through LinkedIn, touch base to see if that person is interested in chatting over coffee. This is an opportunity for both parties to learn more about each other. Your aim at this point is to find out what kind of financial planning needs this person has, and to explain the services you provide.

4. Offer a proposal
During a subsequent meeting, offer a more detailed and personalized explanation of how you could help this person. Some advisors ask to see the prospect’s portfolio statements so they can offer a second opinion, Gilbert says. Others will use the information they have already learned to brainstorm some investment or planning suggestions.

Your timing for this step could be a month after the initial introduction. However, you must determine whether you have built the trust that is required to suggest that you could be this person’s advisor.

5. Signing the client
If you feel that your new prospect is a good fit for your practice and you would be the best advisor for him or her, your next step is making the advisor/client relationship official.

You would undergo the proper onboarding process but there is even more you can do to make your new client comfortable. Take steps to reassure your client that you will make the process of transferring his or her assets painless.

Inform your client that you will handle any documentation that goes along with the process, Gilbert says, and that you will be in touch every other week to update him or her on the transfer. Also, offer to meet with the client as soon as the transfer of assets is complete to review the situation and answer any questions.

This is the first part of a two-part series on developing a prospecting process.

Next: Keeping your process on track.