Prepare for a client meeting

Walk into a client meeting knowing what has happened since you last met and what to raise. Operator prepares a briefing before your meetings, and answers anything else you want to check beforehand.

What firms use it for

• Planning your week. On Monday morning, ask Operator "Who am I seeing this week, and what should I raise with them?" See Ask Operator to prepare you.
• An annual review. Read the briefing, then ask Operator what you agreed last time and what is still open. Ask it to turn your points into an agenda document.
• A meeting about a document. Attach the client's latest super statement or insurance quote, and ask Operator what has changed since the last one. See Attach files.
• A first meeting with a prospect. There is little history to draw on. Put what you know in My Notes, and Operator uses it when it writes the meeting notes. See Get ready to take notes.
• Seeing a colleague's client. If the colleague shares their inbox with you, the briefing and Operator's answers can include their emails with the client. See Share your inbox with a colleague.

Read the briefing

About an hour before a meeting in your calendar starts, Operator prepares a short briefing for you. It is called Client Context.

1. In the sidebar, select Meetings, then select the meeting.
2. Read Client Context, near the top of the meeting page.

Operator writes the briefing from what you can see in Alcova and in your email, such as notes from earlier meetings, your recent emails with the attendees, the client's files and, for a meeting with one household, the accounts whose holdings you can see.

Each colleague invited to the meeting gets their own briefing, written from what they can see.

The briefing does not read your Tasks list, so it cannot tell which earlier actions are done. Check those with the client.

If there is no briefing yet, select the Client Context bar that says Generate. To write it again with the latest information, select the regenerate button in the section heading. See Read the client context before a meeting.

The household's Context tab shows the latest briefing too. See Read the household's context.

Ask Operator to prepare you

Use this when you want more than the briefing gives you, or to prepare for several meetings at once.

1. Open the meeting, then select Ask Operator at the bottom of the page. Alcova attaches the meeting to your request.

   To prepare for more than one meeting, start from the Operator home page instead. Select Meeting prep to see examples such as "Prepare me for my next client meeting".

2. Enter your request. For example:

   • "Prepare me for this meeting. Focus on their plans to retire next year."
   • "What did we agree at the last review, and what is still open?"
   • "Summarise my emails with Grace since we last met."
   • "Chart the asset allocation of their accounts." See Analyse portfolios and plan a rebalance.

3. Press Enter.

If Operator writes a new briefing for a meeting, it asks you before it saves the briefing to the meeting. The saved briefing shows in the meeting's Client Context.

Get ready to take notes

Use these so the meeting is captured and Operator can write good notes afterwards.

• Check that Operator will record an online meeting. If Operator does not join this meeting on its own, invite it from the meeting page. See Invite Operator to one meeting.
• Record a meeting in person. Record it with your computer's microphone, or upload a recording afterwards. See Record or upload a meeting.
• Write down what to ask. Add your questions and reminders to My Notes on the meeting page. Only you see them. When Operator writes the meeting notes, it uses your notes too. See Write your own notes.

What happens next

After the meeting, Operator writes meeting notes from the recording. To check them, send the recap and book the next meeting, see Follow up after a client meeting.

Related

• The meeting page
• Work with meeting notes
• Have Operator take notes
• Ask Operator