Building your business with generative AI

By now, the hype around generative AI has become inescapable for financial advisors. According to a 2023 MDRT survey, 82.5% of advisors were already using such programs for at least one professional purpose. But just as with any other new technology, what matters with generative AI is how, not if, an advisor uses it. The business case of generative AI for the financial services profession is not drafting blogs or writing emails, it’s helping advisors speed up their processes to allow them to serve more clients with the same 24 hours in a day.

Expanding client service

I use generative AI almost every day in my practice, and by far the most important application is making game plans for client meetings. For example, I can plug a client situation into Microsoft Copilot or Meta AI along with my recommendations for that client. I then ask the programs to act out a client’s perspective and anticipate possible questions or objections. This allows me to enter client meetings more prepared for where the conversation could go, which often leads to more satisfied clients. Generative AI, with an advisor checking its work, can also help produce written aids for clients when discussing complicated topics, such as long-term care insurance.

Many advisors already use generative AI for content needs. What used to be up to 20 minutes composing a client email can now be 25 seconds. But the technology’s true content power lies in its research capabilities. I do not use generative AI to write blog posts, or scripts for my Complete Wealth Management podcast. I do use generative AI to research potential topics, produce outlines and provide counterarguments for recommendations I want to make. This approach avoids treating it as a content mill, which can produce subpar results, and instead treats it more like a research partner.

It should be noted that generative AI is not the same thing as a search engine, as it will provide narrower answers than Google. But it can point advisors in the right direction and help make research faster.

Using generative AI in this way has led to happier clients and smoother workdays, both of which are valuable on their own. The true breakthrough is that this tool allows me to take on more clients. By reducing the amount of time I spend on both client meetings and business content, I can effectively advise more clients than I previously had capacity to serve. This ability to make an advisor’s time more productive is what gives these programs their next-generation status in the financial services field.

Dos and don’ts of generative AI

While generative AI offers a range of benefits, advisors must also stick to some guardrails to ensure proper and effective use. Advisors should take advantage of several generative AI platforms – ChatGPT is not the only name in the game. Specifically, most advisors will have access to Microsoft Copilot, which comes with Microsoft Office, and Meta AI, which comes with either a Facebook or Instagram account. Different platforms have slightly different strengths and weaknesses, so using several can help ensure advisors cover all their bases.

One clear thing to avoid is putting any personally identifiable information about clients into any generative AI program. Names, contact information, addresses, employers and account numbers cannot be entered into queries. Not only would this almost certainly be a violation of an advisor’s own compliance regulations, it would also give the owner of the relevant platform permission to use personal client data for training purposes.

Advisors can, however, differentiate between clients in generative AI programs. I do this by starting a new “conversation” with the program I’m using whenever I switch to working on another client. This prevents the AI from confusing or mixing up information about different clients. All generative AI programs perform best when provided with the highest amount of upfront information possible, so keeping separate clients in separate threads allows for more detailed work.

Finally, generative AI programs should not be trusted to do math, especially legally important calculations such as taxes. Advisors will also need to verify any data analytics produced by these programs for internal business purposes. It may seem counterintuitive that a computer program cannot do math, but advisors should remember that generative AI is meant to simulate the English language, not fully comply with IRS regulations.

When used to its full potential, generative AI can unlock new heights of productivity for financial advisors that allow them to serve more clients than ever. Advisors can start their own journey with this cutting-edge technology by speaking with their compliance teams about how generative AI can help with both client service and external content needs.

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