Many advisors believe that when a new client has signed on, you've won the battle for their affection and trust.

In truth, you've only won the first skirmish in that battle. That new client trusts you enough to give you some of their money, perhaps even all of their money. Very often, however, they are unsure about their decision. In the early stages of working with a new advisor, clients are looking for evidence and validation that they have made the right decision. Your job is to give them that evidence.

Here's what one Chairman's Club advisor does to welcome new clients in the first 90 days:

1. When clients sign on, he sends them a welcome letter along with a binder in which to keep statements, annual reviews, correspondence, etc.
2. One week later, he calls to be sure that they have received the confirmation of their initial purchase or transfer in the mail and to ensure that there are no questions on these.
3. A month out, he calls again to check in, just to be sure that everything is okay.
4. Just before the first statement goes out, he calls clients to let them know they'll be receiving the statement and sets up a time to discuss it with them on the phone. He does this even though earlier, at the initial meeting with new clients, he does something which few advisors do. At this meeting, he walks clients through a sample statement, using a yellow highlighter to draw attention to key points. Having done that, he still calls after the first statement arrives to make sure everything is clear and that there are no questions.
5. He calls personally to invite new clients to the quarterly sandwich luncheon which he hosts in his boardroom -- talking about what's happening in the market.
6. Ninety days out, he schedules a short, 20 to 30 minute check up meeting. That meeting can take place at either his or his client's office or the client's home - he starts the meeting by asking the clients to complete a short five question report card on how he's doing, focusing on how he's delivered on his commitments, quality and frequency of contact, how any questions or problems have been addressed and their overall satisfaction. Without exception, he gets very high ratings on all of these - in effect, he has dispelled any doubts that clients might have had about whether they've made the right decision.

At the end of the check up meeting, the advisor does one final thing. When clients first signed on, he talked about what they could expect in terms of the frequency of contact - let's suppose that the clients agreed that an annual meeting and quarterly phone calls in between made sense. The difficulty is that the early experience has raised client expectations - what the advisor now has to do is to reset expectations of contact to a sustainable level by reminding clients that the next meeting will be in nine months and that they will get a call from him in three months (although he is, of course, always available to take their calls).

There is no perfect pattern for a 90 day welcome process - one advisor who spoke at the recent Top Advisor Summit sends clients flowers to welcome them on board, another invites new clients to a get acquainted lunch or for large clients dinner in the first 30 days.

Although this 90 day welcome process works for this advisor, chances are it won't work for you in exactly the same way. What's important is that you put in place a welcome strategy that's right for you and that ensures your new clients will be confident they've made a good decision.