Editor’s note: The Horsesmouth AI-Powered Financial Advisor program offers four live two-hour sessions that explore the opportunities artificial intelligence offers and practical ways to start putting AI to work in your practice. The sessions begin October 24. Enroll here.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved from a futuristic concept to a practical tool that’s transforming the way financial advisors get things done. This idea was central to Horsesmouth’s development of “The AI-Powered Financial Advisor program” last summer.
Following are seven practical ways advisors who completed Horsesmouth’s “AI-Powered Financial Advisor program” are using AI every day.
1. Content creation for marketing
Creating consistent, high-quality marketing content can be time-consuming, especially for advisors who may not consider writing their strength. Advisors like Terry Burke of Trader Wealth Management, Evergreen Park, Illinois, have found AI to be hugely helpful. By learning to use AI tools, they can generate engaging content for blogs, newsletters and social media without the usual hours of time investment.
For example, Burke uses AI to transform content from educational webinars into blog posts. “I’m starting to write a blog, which I never would’ve taken on before,” he says. “We’re taking a slide or two, expanding on it, posting it, and then sending the content out to clients. It’s very easy to do, especially if you already have the core information on what you’re trying to say.”
AI-Advisor impact: By repurposing existing materials, you can keep clients informed about important topics without spending hours struggling with blank pages or disjointed rough drafts. This approach not only saves you time but also helps you maintain a consistent online presence, positioning you as a thought leader.
2. Enhancing client meeting notes
Capturing the essence of client meetings and translating rough notes into comprehensive summaries is an essential but often tedious task advisors face every week. AI streamlines this process by organizing and enhancing your notes, ensuring that important details are accurately recorded and communicated.
Burke explains how he starts with his rough handwritten notes. “I just put the notes into the system and organize them in ChatGPT,” he says. “Then, after organizing and editing, the notes are much more valuable, detailed, and coherent than my usual random half-sentences. It also helps a lot with follow-ups because I take those notes, format them again, and send them to clients for a very detailed summary of the meeting with action points.”
AI-Advisor impact: By leveraging AI in a post-meeting write-up of notes, you can save one-to-two hours per client meeting. Plus, this approach improves the quality of client records and follow-up communications. Enhanced meeting documentation leads to better service, accountability, and stronger client relationships.
3. Vendor meeting preparation
Selecting the right vendors and tools is crucial for any firm. AI assists in preparing for vendor meetings by analyzing materials, generating tailored questions about the vendor’s products and services, and helping you conduct your review more efficiently.
Faced with evaluating vendors, Burke and his partner used AI to streamline the process. “We’re evaluating vendors for direct indexing,” he says. “We’ll use it to generate questions and upload their material to really consume the information, tee up the different vendors, and develop a quicker framework of how we evaluate them.”
AI-Advisor impact: This strategic use of AI ensures that you get more productive meetings and more informed decision-making that ultimately serves your needs, those of your clients, and benefits your bottom line.
4. Data extraction from documents
Advisors often deal with complex documents, such as PDFs containing important information about asset managers and their investment vehicles. Manually extracting data from these documents for a client meeting can be time-consuming and prone to error. AI simplifies this task by quickly converting data into usable formats, such as spreadsheets.
Burke says he recently used AI to extract data from a PDF provided by Schwab, saving significant time and effort.
“I had options expire for a lot of different clients,” Terry explains. “The format they gave us through Schwab was a PDF only, and I needed to reinvest that money. Rather than retyping it into a spreadsheet, I just threw the document into ChatGPT and said, ‘Give this to me in a spreadsheet format.’ And it did. It saved me at least a half-hour’s worth of work.”
AI-Advisor impact: By using generative AI for data extraction, you or your staff can save time and focus on higher-value tasks and reduce the risk of errors.
5. Strategic planning and thought partnership
Complex strategic initiatives often require extensive brainstorming and planning. AI serves as a thought partner, helping you organize your ideas, explore new perspectives, and develop comprehensive action plans. This collaboration accelerates project development and brings fresh insights to your thinking.
Giselle Crout, Corvus Wealth Advisors, in San Luis Obispo, California, used AI to design a training program for her firm’s younger advisors. By interacting with the AI model, she could clarify her thoughts, fill in gaps, and accelerate the planning process.
“What really blew my mind was how we could use it almost as a thought partner with some of our younger advisors as we’re training them,” she says. “I leaned on the AI model to come up with a training program for my team. I had specific pieces I wanted involved. It came up with a training program; I tweaked some things. Again, I was the human in the loop.”
AI-Advisor impact: Having AI as your collaborator is hugely valuable for a range of challenges. This approach allows you to tackle complex projects more efficiently and effectively, without suffering the initial, taxing cognitive load associated with starting big projects.
6. Articulating your firm’s value proposition and messaging
Effectively communicating your firm’s value proposition is essential for attracting and retaining clients. AI helps you craft fresh, personalized and authentic messaging that resonates with clients, moving beyond standard scripts to more meaningful interactions.
Crout used AI to help her team express the firm’s offerings in their own words, enhancing their ability to connect with clients on a personal level.
“I came up with prompts to help my team better articulate our value proposition in their own words,” she says. “They tend to use the language they’ve heard and repeat it. I was trying to help them make the language their own so they could connect better with clients.”
AI-Advisor impact: Personalized communication fosters stronger client relationships and differentiates your firm in a competitive market where the public often observes how financial advisors often “all sound the same.”
7. Crafting sensitive and empathetic communications
Communicating with clients during difficult personal times requires empathy and grace. AI can assist in composing messages that convey genuine care and understanding, even for advisors who may struggle with finding the right words.
Steve Harvey, The Harvey Group in Alexandria, Virginia, says AI helped him write an empathetic email to a client facing a sudden and serious health issue. “I wanted to write an empathetic email back, and I’m not the most empathetic guy in the world,” Harvey says. “So, I turned it over to ChatGPT, and it was actually a work of art. The client immediately responded, almost in tears.”
AI-Advisor impact: When you train your AI model in your own personal style and tone, it can be a powerful and persuasive writer. The AI model can assist you in showing a high level of personal attention to your clients, regardless of the context. But you don’t want something going out under your name that doesn’t match your style. That’s why you must always be the “human in the loop” and maintain oversight when using AI tools.
Embracing AI for a competitive edge
The integration of AI into financial advisory practices is proving to be transformative. As these advisors illustrate, AI isn’t about replacing the human touch—it’s about enhancing your capabilities, improving efficiency, and providing better service to your clients.
Now is the time to explore how you can use AI in your daily workflow. Start by identifying routine tasks that could be sped up with AI or complex projects that could benefit from AI’s assistance. Remember, the key is to remain the human in the loop—guiding the AI to serve you and your clients better.
How are you using AI?
Share your experiences with AI and let us know how you plan to incorporate it into your practice. Use the comments area below.