Free checklist for financial advisors
The first-meeting checklist for advisors ready to lead with more clarity.
A free checklist of principles for a stronger first meeting. No call required.
- Principles for a deliberate, repeatable first meeting
- Conversation structure you can actually use
- No cost, no call required to download
Built by a Barron’s Top 100 advisor
Practitioner-developed training
The first meeting
The first meeting decides everything that follows.
A prospect forms their lasting impression in the first meeting, long before they ever see a plan.
Experienced advisors know the first conversation carries an outsized weight. You have a short window to earn trust, understand what genuinely matters to a high-value prospect, and keep the discussion clear enough that the right next step feels obvious to both of you.
Handled without a deliberate structure, that same meeting drifts. Priorities go unspoken, the conversation wanders, and a promising relationship quietly loses momentum. A repeatable framework removes the guesswork so you can be fully present instead of improvising.
What the checklist helps you do
Practical principles you can put to work in your next meeting.
The checklist organizes concepts experienced advisors already value into a structure you can act on. These are principles the resource helps you organize, not guarantees of any particular result.
- 01
Prepare with intention
Walk into every first meeting with a clear, consistent approach instead of improvising. The checklist organizes the principles behind thorough preparation so nothing important is left to chance.
- 02
Lead a clearer conversation
Use a conversation structure that helps you surface a prospect's real priorities, listen more effectively, and keep a high-stakes discussion on track from the first minute to the last.
- 03
Build a repeatable foundation
Turn a strong first meeting from a lucky exception into a standard you can run every time. These are principles you can adapt to your practice and refine over the long term.
Free checklist
The First-Meeting Close Guide
A Checklist of Principles for Financial Advisors
- First-meeting principles
- Conversation structure
- Practical concepts to apply
- Preparation framework
Inside the checklist
A tangible resource, not another motivational download.
The guide is organized around the parts of a first meeting that matter most to established advisors. Here is the scope of what it covers.
- 01
First-meeting principles
The foundational ideas behind a first conversation that earns trust and sets a clear direction.
- 02
Conversation structure
A practical framework for guiding the discussion, uncovering priorities, and staying on track.
- 03
Practical concepts to apply
Usable concepts for preparation and follow-through you can adapt to your own practice.
Built by a practitioner
Training built by an advisor who did the work first.
Erin Botsford
Erin Botsford built her reputation as a practicing financial advisor and was recognized as a Barron's Top 100 advisor. The Advisor Authority grew out of that hands-on experience serving clients and building an advisory practice.
That practitioner background is the point. The checklist reflects principles refined in real first meetings, then organized into training that established advisors can apply directly to their own work.
- Barron's Top 100 advisor
- Founder, The Advisor Authority
- 2,000+ advisors trained
Who this is for
Built for established advisors, not newcomers.
The checklist is written for advisors with real time in the profession who want to sharpen a process they already run, whatever channel they work in.
Independent or institutional
Whether you are independent or part of an institution or bank channel, the structure adapts to how you already work.
United States, nationwide
The resource is intended for financial advisors practicing across the United States.
Questions, answered
What to know before you download
It is a free, downloadable guide that organizes the principles and conversation structure behind a stronger first prospect meeting. It is practical training material from an advisor-practitioner, not a motivational program or a sales pitch.
It is written for established financial advisors with three or more years in the profession, whether independent or part of an institution or bank channel, practicing in the United States.
No. The checklist is free to download on this page. There is no purchase required and no phone call needed to receive it.
Those two questions help us understand who is requesting the resource so we can keep it relevant to established advisors. Your advisor type is context only and does not affect your access to the checklist.
Once your submission is confirmed, a download link for the checklist appears right on this page so you can save it immediately.
No. The Advisor Authority is a training company for financial advisors, built around practical systems, scripts, and methods developed by experienced practitioners. The checklist is practical material, not motivation.
Get your free checklist
Download the first-meeting checklist.
Enter your details and your free checklist download will be ready as soon as your submission is confirmed. The resource is free, and no phone call is required.
- Free download, no purchase required
- No phone call needed to receive it
- Built for established financial advisors