How a Virtual Meeting Tool Ramped Up My Client Education Efforts

Using tech to connect

I’m a financial advisor in La Jolla, California, and have been in the business since 1995. I did take a little break to raise some kids, two beautiful daughters, and I’ve been back to building my business in the last two years. I’ve always been a tech geek, so I use a lot of technology to help me be more efficient in my practice and streamline my efforts. I’m a mom, the soccer manager, and the Girl Scout troop leader; I do a lot of stuff in my community and with my family. To manage all of that, I have to use the tools I’m about to talk about.

I’ve been using join.me to hold virtual meetings with clients and sometimes their CPAs as well. It’s helped me to become more time-efficient and get everyone on the same page without having to coordinate a physical meeting.

I learned about join.me from an insurance company I used to work with; they used it during our meetings. As I started building my practice out in the field, I realized that time is of the essence and it’s hard to get everyone physically together. I thought to myself, “Wait a minute, I remember join.me and they have a free version, so you can try it out without having to commit to any financial output.” I did that, and it’s been really helpful.

Visual learners

One of the things I’ve learned is that no matter how sophisticated the client, most people are visual and they need to see the numbers, the concepts, and the illustrations more than they need to see your face. Using something like Skype, to me, isn’t effective unless you plan to hold up every document you’re talking about, which isn’t realistic.

The other problem with Skype is that it’s possible to overdo it with the visuals. I used Skype in a meeting the other day because that’s what the client and her third party wanted to use, but it wasn’t as effective as join.me. I don’t need to see the other people’s faces or watch them speaking when going over their finances. Now, maybe if I was interviewing someone and I wanted to see their body language, Skype would be more helpful.

But for the purpose of going over concepts and numbers and ideas, it is not really effective. In fact, I found it disruptive because the third party frequently had to stop and say, “Hold on, I’ll have to email you this document I’m talking about and keep referencing.” She had to email us every document, we had to leave the room to print them out, and then bring them back—and then it’s what page are we on? There were a lot of distractions. With join.me that isn’t a problem, because you easily share your screen. We could see all those documents right on screen and it would have kept us all focused.

Being prepared

The join.me setup allows me to prepare my screens in advance. That’s a tip: I highly encourage everyone, if you’re going to use this platform, to be prepared. Get the presentation and whatever cloud applications you’re going to use ready to go before starting the session with the client. That way, you can access those programs very quickly.

The reason I do that is two-fold. One, I want to respect the privacy of other clients. You are sharing your screen during the conversations, so theoretically, the client can see anything you’ve got up there. So I don’t want them to see another client’s assets or any other sensitive information. And two, I want to make the presentation very clear and expedient.

The clients see your presentation materials while you’re talking and discussing them. Better yet, you can actually transfer the annotation tool to the client, so if they say “Wait, stop there…” or “Go back,” they can highlight or circle whatever it is they want more detail on. It really drives the focus and speeds up the presentation time with the client compared to a physical meeting.

Nothing to fear

There’s no sense being scared away from tools like this, even if you’re a bit of a technophobe. To prepare, test it with someone else in your office—or maybe even with your children, since they’re so quick to learn these things. Any teenager can get you up to speed on something like this in no time. Those who are nervous should play with it with their families; test out the interface from one computer to the next. It’s very easy.

There are some advanced features for when you get into it more; for example, you can change the screen that they see when they’re waiting for the meeting to take place. Obviously, you can input your logo, your face, and your contact information. Even better, you can create your own user link. In my case, my clients would use join.me/advisorforlife to join my meetings. I use that link because “Advisor for Life” is my tagline. So you can make it very personable.

Meeting impossible

I have clients that are business owners. They have nine restaurants in Arizona and one in San Diego. Their CPAs are based in Arizona. They live in San Diego, and I’m out in La Jolla. We needed to get together to discuss some things on the agenda, so I used join.me to do it. They each received phone numbers to call in their area—they can call in without needing any fancy phone equipment.

After we all called in, everyone could see my screen. We got through all our concepts in 40 minutes. It was much easier than meeting in person. First, it would’ve taken months to get us all coordinated for a date between the two states. Second, it’s easy to get distracted meeting face-to-face, with all the different papers shuffling around and tangents people go on.

Because we had the computer and the presentation to guide us through the set agenda, we could move quickly. It was a matter of “OK, I think we’re all on the same page, we know what the action items are.” The CPA was a new contact for me, and this meeting really solidified our relationship; I know he left thinking “Wow, this advisor really is efficient. She’s organized and she knows how to make things happen logistically so we get everything done.”

Conquering time and distance

I’ve been using this tool for clients out-of-state, in-state, and even within the city. For instance, I do a retirement plan for a San Diego company that has expanded in Atlanta, and I now have to do an enrollment meeting for new employees in both places. I don’t have to drive to San Diego or fly to Atlanta, I can just do the IRA presentation over join.me.

But this has as much to do with time as it does with distance. My ultimate goal is to meet with the client, so if they are not able to physically come in, I understand that—but they do have 30 minutes at their desk. Now, I used it with a client who’s a program director. She only lives 20 minutes away, but she was swamped; she just wasn’t able to leave her office and get to me.

Eventually I said, “You know, we really need to meet and discuss this. Do you have some time, even on Saturday?” And she has an elderly mom that lives with her, so she said, “I can’t come down on Saturday.” I said, “No, no, you stay in your home, I’ll just share the screen, but we can talk about it on Saturday when you’re home and you’re more relaxed and you don’t have the stress of the office.” For her, it was a huge relief because she’s a very cautious, methodical kind of person who likes to go through her finances slowly.

Raising the engagement level

Using this tool actually raises the engagement level beyond what you might get in a face-to-face meeting. I did not realize that would happen when I started using it. I’m not a psychologist, so I’m not sure exactly why this is true, but we’ve all gotten used to looking at screens; just go out into the city and see everyone looking down at them.

It felt like in my big meeting with the CPA and the business owners were much more focused and interactive. We got through a lot in 30-40 minutes. And that was with pleasantries! I suspect if we met in person, it would’ve taken an hour and a half. I do think it helps that it’s a kinesthetic experience, where they’re hearing you, they’re seeing the screen, and they’re using the tools to make notes. It is very interactive for everybody, everyone is collaborating. It puts action behind the concepts.

If I just had those clients in my office, printed out some papers, talked to them, showed them some ideas and then said, “Take this to your CPA, have him call me or email me if he has questions,” it wouldn’t be very impactful. With everyone there together, looking at the same screens, everyone left the meeting ready to action.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. When clients can see things, ask questions, and interact with the material, it makes for a much better partnership. They start feeling more like you’re a team. You’re working together and that your advisor is staying on top of technology to find ways to make it easier to do business and stay involved in your financial life.

The next generation

I’m always keeping my eye out for inheritance issues with older clients, which means keeping an eye on that younger generation. If an advisor is not embracing and staying on top of the latest tools, they’re in trouble, because millennials want to work when and wherever they want to.

The studies have shown that and as long as they have a phone, they don’t feel like they need to even be at a desk. Nowadays, they can do everything from their phone. It’s really attractive to someone who is looking to inherit that money when they know that their advisor uses those tools, too. It’s smart to utilize these tools as a way to keep those assets in your office instead of going to another advisor who is better with technology.

Just trying it

My advice would be to try it. Every good idea is just an idea until it’s implemented. Try it with your kids, grandparents, your husband, your spouse. See how it works, and don’t be afraid. Give it a shot and see if it helps you better manage your time. It’s a highly interactive tool, so you’ll build deeper connections and better relationships with your clients.