How Many Qualified First Meetings Does Your RIA Need Each Month?

Part of a series on pipeline math. The previous post was “Your next 20 clients look like your top 20.”

To find how many qualified first meetings your RIA needs each month, divide your 12-month new-client target by your close rate from first meeting to signed client, then divide by 12. Most firms can run this math in about 10 minutes.

No client sits down with you and says “I want to retire comfortably” and leaves it there. And if they do, you don’t let them. You turn it into a number: “$5M by 62.” Then you work backward: how much to save each month, what return to plan around, and whether this year is on track.

You would never let a client run their plan on “I want more money.” But most RIAs run their own growth exactly that way. “We want to grow this year.” Very few can answer a simple question: how many qualified first meetings do we need each month to hit our goal?

Here is how to find your firm’s number in 10 minutes. The figures below are an example, not a benchmark. Use your own.

Step 1: Start with your growth goal

What to do: Pick a 12-month new AUM target, counting new clients only. Divide it by your average new client size.

Example: $20M ÷ $1M average client = 20 new clients this year.

Step 2: Work backward to meetings

What to do: Divide the number of new clients you need by your close rate from first meeting to signed client.

Example: 20 clients ÷ 25% = 80 first meetings a year. That is about 7 a month.

Look for: Your real close rate, not your best month. Use your average over the last 12 months.

Step 3: Compare it to today

What to do: Count how many qualified first meetings you had last month.

Example: You need 7. You had 3. That is a gap of 4 every month.

Why this works

Once you know your number, every growth decision gets simpler. You stop asking “should we try this?” and start asking “will this get us to our monthly number?”

What to do this week

Run these three steps this week. Write your monthly number on a sticky note and put it where you will see it every morning. If you don’t have a real number by the end of the week, you don’t have a real growth plan.

This closes the series on pipeline math: know who your next clients look like, and know how many qualified first meetings you need each month.

Common questions

How do I calculate how many first meetings my RIA needs?

Divide your 12-month new AUM target by your average new client size to get the number of new clients you need. Then divide that by your close rate from first meeting to signed client, and divide by 12 for a monthly number.

What close rate should I use in the formula?

Use your real close rate averaged over the last 12 months, not your best month. A single strong month will make the meeting target look smaller than it is.

What is a meeting gap and how do I find it?

Your meeting gap is the difference between the qualified first meetings you need each month and the number you actually had last month. In the example, a firm that needs 7 and had 3 has a gap of 4 every month.

This is general information for advisory firms, not legal, compliance or investment advice.