Skyrocket your practice with generative AI

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for technological advancements across industries, leading professionals to take stock of their digital capabilities and push them to the next level. For advisors, it’s especially important to stay up to date on trends — especially ones that will have benefits for clients and employees alike, such as generative artificial intelligence. 

Generative artificial intelligence is not the new hot topic, but it can produce various types of content including text, imagery, audio and synthetic data that are relevant for our industry. Leveraging this key tool can streamline internal processes so you have more time to focus on the tasks that only you can do.

Getting to know you

Working with generative AI can be a bit rocky at the very beginning because the program must get a sense of who you are and how you work. When you’re starting to tap into AI, try viewing the program as an employee who can help with mundane or clerical tasks, instead of as an all-knowing entity. Although AI does have access to a lot of information, you will still need to “onboard” the AI to align with you and your practice.

To get the best possible output, load your professional information into the program before sending your request. For example, include details like the number of years you’ve been practicing, the type of clients you serve and practice you run, your expertise, your ideal client profile, your niche, your company values, your educational background and previous projects, etc. This helps the AI get a sense of your voice, how you operate and how it can provide results that align with your practice. When sharing information, though, be sure you don’t share personal details, such as phone numbers, addresses or Social Security numbers, in case of potential data breaches in the AI program. 

Tapping into tech

The prompt you enter into your generative AI program is what will separate your results from generic answers. Asking detailed, creative questions is key. Let’s say you want to create a large project, such as a budget planning guide to share with all your clients. Start by asking the AI to create a table of contents based on the overarching message for the project. This will create a skeleton of the guide, allowing you to make necessary tweaks before it develops the full guide. Keep in mind that programs can only handle so many tasks at once, so be sure not to procrastinate in case there are too many users when you try to log in to the program.

Once the full guide has been created, review the content and ensure it is factual, grammatically correct and cohesive. Since the AI is pulling information from various resources, it’s important to make sure everything is accurate and flows well before sharing the outputs with clients. Leveraging AI to create a guide like this can help you lead clients toward continuous growth — without taking an extensive amount of time out of your workday.

A little goes a long way

Taking an extra five minutes for client appreciation goes a long way when it comes to retention and building long-term relationships, which is why leveraging AI to help show your appreciation will be mutually beneficial. Clients love receiving small gestures such as post-meeting emails or weekly email check-ins, but the time it takes to produce those can be more than what advisors with a larger client base can handle. 

That’s where generative AI comes into play — small, meaningful tasks that can take 40 hours a month when done manually can be completed almost immediately. For example, if you’re sending clients recap emails after meetings, you can simply upload the notes you took during the meeting to the generative AI program that has your profile and your voice stored, then ask the AI to create a post-meeting summary to share with clients. This will help you streamline a process down from 30-45 minutes per client to five minutes, while improving your relationships with clients.

Generative AI is perfect for busy financial advisors who remain dedicated to providing their clients with best-in-class services and showcasing their commitment to growth. Whether you leverage the tool to draft long-form content or a short and sweet holiday greeting, your clients and employees will appreciate your new focus on tasks that only you can complete. Taking full advantage of generative AI’s capabilities can help your practice reach new heights. 

Jonathan Kestle, CLU, a nine-year MDRT member, is a financial planner and entrepreneur based in Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada. Kestle is the president of Ian C. Moyer Insurance Agency, and he is also co-founder of Cascades Financial Solutions, a new fintech venture focused on the design and optimization of retirement income withdrawal strategies. He may be contacted at [email protected].