Home / Playbooks / How Often Should a Financial Advisor Contact Clients?
How often should a financial advisor contact clients?
Most financial advisors should contact top clients at least monthly, hold two to four review meetings a year, and reach every other client at least quarterly with a personal touch plus one annual review. Add extra calls around market drops, life events, tax season and RMD deadlines. Prospects and centers of influence need a lighter, steady rhythm, about every one to two months.
Clients rarely leave over performance alone. They leave when they feel forgotten, when the only time they hear from you is the quarterly statement and the fee line. A clear contact plan fixes that, and it is the simplest client retention strategy you can run.
This playbook sorts your book into tiers, gives each tier a cadence and a channel, and maps a year of touches to the moments clients actually care about: tax season, RMDs, market swings, and family milestones. Set it up once this week, then run it in about 20 minutes every Friday.
On this page
Who to contact and how often
| Tier | Who | How often | Channel | What to send |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A clients (top households) | Your highest-value and most complex households: large AUM, business owners, retirees drawing income, families with estate or tax planning needs, and clients who send you referrals. | A personal touch every month, plus two to four review meetings a year (at least one full annual review and one midyear check-in). | In-person or video for reviews, phone calls for check-ins, handwritten notes for milestones, email for follow-ups and agendas. | Meeting agendas tied to their goals, a short call after any big market move, RMD and tax reminders, birthday and anniversary notes, introductions to their CPA or estate attorney, and an invite to include adult children in a review. |
| B clients (core households) | Solid relationships with moderate assets and straightforward plans: pre-retirees, dual-income families saving for college and retirement, steady 401(k) rollovers. | A personal touch every quarter, plus one annual review meeting and a midyear email or call. | Video or phone for the annual review, email for quarterly updates, a quick text or call for life events (check with compliance on texting). | A quarterly note with one or two items relevant to them (contribution limits, 529 reminders, beneficiary checks), annual review scheduling, and a personal note when you learn of a new job, baby, or home. |
| C clients (service households) | Smaller or simpler accounts, legacy clients you inherited, and households that want little contact but still deserve attention. | At least two personal touches a year plus one annual review offer, on top of your regular newsletter. | Email and phone, with group events or webinars to stay visible without one-on-one time. | An annual review invitation, a year-end planning checklist, a market-drop reassurance email, and a birthday note. Watch for life events that could move them up a tier. |
| Centers of influence (COIs) | CPAs, estate planning attorneys, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, and business bankers who share your kind of client. | Every one to two months, with a deeper conversation once a quarter. | Coffee or lunch, phone, and email for shared-client coordination. | Shared-client updates (with client permission), useful planning notes for their own clients, thank-you notes for referrals, and occasional referrals back to them. |
| Prospects and former clients | Warm prospects who took a meeting but did not sign, referrals still deciding, and former clients or orphan accounts you have not spoken to in a year or more. | Prospects every four to six weeks for a few months, then quarterly. Former clients once or twice a year. | Email first, phone if they reply, event invitations for low-pressure contact. | A useful article or checklist tied to what they told you, seminar invites, a simple reconnect note, and a check-in when markets or tax rules change. |
The 12-month plan
| When | Focus | Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 (January to March): Tax season and fresh starts | Help clients get organized for taxes and set the year's priorities. | Send a tax document checklist and confirm when 1099s will be available. Remind clients about prior-year IRA and HSA contribution deadlines. Coordinate with CPAs on shared clients. Schedule spring annual reviews for A and B clients. Send a reconnect note to former clients and stalled prospects. |
| Q2 (April to June): Reviews and life milestones | Complete annual reviews and catch life changes early. | Hold A client reviews and B client annual reviews. Run a beneficiary and account title check. Send congratulations notes for graduations and weddings. Host a client appreciation event or webinar. Take one COI to lunch and thank anyone who referred this spring. |
| Q3 (July to September): Midyear check-ins and family planning | Midyear touchpoints and next-generation conversations. | Call every A client for a midyear check-in. Email B and C clients a short midyear update. Send 529 and college funding reminders for back-to-school. Invite adult children to a family meeting. Prepare for Medicare and benefits open enrollment questions. |
| Q4 (October to December): Year-end planning and gratitude | Tax moves, RMDs, giving, and thanking clients. | Send a year-end planning checklist (tax-loss harvesting, RMDs, charitable giving, Roth conversion conversations). Confirm RMDs are scheduled for every client who needs them. Help with Medicare open enrollment questions. Mail handwritten thank-you or holiday cards. Ask happy A clients if they know someone facing a similar decision. |
Messages to send
One message is easy. Hundreds of people, all year, is the hard part. Capstone Outreach puts everyone you know on a rhythm you pick, from weekly to every three months. When someone is due, a message like these is already written in your voice from your history with them. You approve it, and it goes from your own email or phone. See the CRM for financial advisors.
Start 14 days free, then $25/mo
Everyone on a rhythm. Who is due, and when. Recorded in the app on a demo account.
1. 90 days after onboarding
Subject: Checking in after our first few months
Why it works: New clients are most likely to have quiet doubts in the first months, and an early check-in answers them before they grow.
2. During a market downturn
Subject: About this week's market drop
Why it works: Clients remember who called them when markets fell, and reaching out first prevents panic calls and bad decisions.
3. Annual review scheduling
Subject: Time for your annual review, [Name]
Why it works: Tying the review to their goals and life changes makes it feel like their meeting, not a sales pitch.
4. Life event (new grandchild, retirement, new job)
Why it works: A personal note about a milestone shows you see the person, not just the account, and often opens a planning conversation naturally.
5. Year-end planning
Subject: A few year-end items before December 31
Why it works: A short, specific list proves you are watching their details and gives them a clear reason to book time.
6. Reconnecting with a former client
Subject: It has been a while, [Name]
Why it works: Levin, Walter, and Murnighan (2011, Organization Science) found that reconnecting with dormant ties can bring real value, and a no-pressure note makes reconnecting easy.
7. Thank-you to a center of influence
Subject: Thank you for the introduction
Why it works: Prompt thanks and coordination tell a CPA or attorney their clients are safe with you, which is what keeps referrals coming.
Write yours in 20 seconds
Free, no signup. The example is filled in: press the button, then replace it with your own situation. In Capstone, a message like it is written for each person you know when their check-in is due.
The weekly routine
- Open your CRM and pull this week's list: A clients due for a monthly touch, B clients due this quarter, and anyone with a birthday, anniversary, or RMD date coming up (5 minutes).
- Send three to five personal touches: a call, a short email, or a handwritten note, each mentioning one specific detail about that household (10 minutes).
- Scan the news and your notes for triggers: market moves, tax changes, or life events clients mentioned, and flag anyone who needs a call (3 minutes).
- Reach out to one center of influence or one stalled prospect with something useful (3 minutes).
- Log every touch and set the next contact date so nothing depends on memory (3 minutes).
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating quarterly statements and a mass newsletter as client contact, when clients want to hear from a person.
- Going quiet during market downturns, which is exactly when clients most need to hear your voice.
- Giving every client the same cadence, so A households get too little attention and you burn time on C clients who want less.
- Only calling when there is a product to discuss, which teaches clients to brace for a pitch every time your name shows up.
- Ignoring the spouse and adult children, then losing the assets when the primary client passes away.
- Texting or messaging clients on personal channels without first confirming with compliance how those messages are archived.
What to track
- Days since last personal contact for each household, sorted by tier.
- Annual reviews completed versus scheduled, by tier.
- Referrals received and which client or COI sent each one.
- Households lost and the reason given, plus how long since their previous contact.
- Life events logged in client notes (retirements, births, moves, health changes) and whether you followed up.
- Number of COI meetings held each quarter and introductions made in both directions.
Did that review call turn into a follow-up? Capstone sends a notetaker to your Zoom, Meet or Teams review. When it ends, a follow-up draft is ready with what you and the client agreed to.
Start 14 days free, then $25/mo
A study of 20 million LinkedIn members found that acquaintances, more than close friends, led to new jobs (Science, 2022). Capstone keeps those people warm. You approve every message, and it goes from your own email or phone.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a financial advisor contact clients?
Contact top clients at least monthly with two to four review meetings a year, and reach other clients at least quarterly plus one annual review. Add extra contact around market drops, tax season, RMDs, and life events. The right cadence depends on complexity and what each household prefers, so ask clients how often they want to hear from you and note it in your CRM.
What is the 80/20 rule for financial advisors?
The 80/20 rule for financial advisors is the idea that a small group of clients tends to produce most of your revenue and referrals. It is a rule of thumb, not a law. In practice it means tiering your book, giving top households the most proactive attention, and serving smaller clients efficiently with group events, email, and a reliable annual review rather than ignoring them.
How often should a financial advisor contact clients during a market downturn?
Contact clients right away when a sharp drop hits, ideally before they call you, then follow up every week or two while volatility lasts. Call A clients and retirees drawing income personally. Send B and C clients a calm, plain email explaining how their plan accounts for downturns. Avoid predictions or promises, and have compliance review any market commentary you send broadly.
How often should a financial advisor contact clients after onboarding?
Contact new clients more often in the first year: a welcome call in week one, a check-in around 30 days, a short review around 90 days, and a full review at six or twelve months. Early contact confirms they chose well, catches paperwork or account transfer issues, and sets the expectation that you will be proactive going forward.
Can I text my clients?
Maybe, but check with your compliance department first. Many firms allow texting only through approved, archived systems, and some limit what can be discussed by text. Once you know the rules, short texts work well for appointment reminders and quick personal notes. Keep anything about accounts, trades, or recommendations in approved channels.
How many clients can one financial advisor serve well?
It depends on your service model and team, but there is a natural limit to deep relationships. Dunbar (1992, Journal of Human Evolution) is the source of the idea that people maintain roughly 150 stable relationships. Many solo advisors find that once their households pass what they can personally know well, tiering, service staff, or a minimum account size becomes necessary to keep contact personal.