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Key Takeaways
A CRM should do more than store contact information, meeting notes, and account details.
Client tiers help financial advisors match service activity to a documented service model.
CRM triggers can support review prep, follow-ups, life-event outreach, RMD reminders, and documentation deadlines.
A weekly CRM dashboard can surface overdue reviews, open tasks, and clients with no recent contact.
A TAMP can support the workflow by reducing portfolio-management workload, giving advisors more time for client service.
CRM workflows, communications, and retention settings should be reviewed through the firm’s compliance process.
Your inbox is full.
Tuesday’s follow-up is still sitting in drafts.
And a key client has not heard from you recently.
You aren't ignoring anyone on purpose. The practice is just growing too fast and a bigger client book has more moving parts than memory can reliably manage.
At a certain point, memory stops being a system. The more clients you serve, the easier it becomes for review dates, follow-ups, life events, and small promises to slip out of view.
That’s the risk - because without a clear workflow, important signals can pass by unnoticed and lead to costly service gaps.
A CRM workflow gives you that system.
Client tiers, review dates, life events, engagement gaps, etc. become scheduled actions before follow-up slips.
So yes, the personal calls are still important - it’s just that the CRM shows which relationship needs attention, why it matters now, and what should happen next.
In short: A strong CRM workflow helps financial advisors manage 100 or more client relationships with a consistent service process instead of relying on memory.
What Is a CRM Workflow for Financial Advisors?
CRM stands for customer relationship management. It’s essentially the software where you keep client contact info, notes from meetings, account details, and a record of every interaction (think of it as your back-end hub).
Most advisors already have one1 – services like Redtail, Wealthbox, Salesforce, HubSpot, etc.
But just having the software can still be a problem.
Why? Because most CRMs get set up once, during onboarding, and never touched again. They hold data. They don't act on it. A CRM that just stores information is a filing cabinet with a login. A CRM that is a second set of hands watching your book for you.
That difference is the entire point of this article.
Why Do Solo RIAs Struggle to Manage 100+ Clients?
As a client book grows, it becomes harder to track3 every review date, promised follow-up, and change in a client’s life.
Imagine a solo advisor - named Sara - with 112 clients.
She knows her closest relationships well. She knows their families, goals, and planning priorities without opening a file.
The challenge shows up in the rest of the book. One client may have had a review postponed. Another may need a beneficiary update. Another may have asked a planning question that still needs follow-up.
If no workflow creates a task, that item can remain unseen4.
A quarterly advisor-initiated touchpoint across 100 clients works out to roughly 33 client contacts per month. (that's only an operating example). Each firm should set service expectations based on its client agreements, capacity, staffing, and compliance program.
A growing practice needs a process that identifies the next client action without relying on memory.
What Is CRM Triage, and Why Does It Matter for Advisors?
CRM triage means sorting by urgency and service needs before you act.
Every client won't need the same attention this month. Some have a review overdue. Some just had a life event. Some are mid-onboarding. Some have not had a logged interaction in months.
Without a triage layer, your CRM can treat a brand-new prospect the same as a 10-year client with an RMD deadline approaching.
A triage-based workflow helps advisors:
Segment clients by tier, service model, life stage, or planning complexity.
Trigger tasks from calendar events, review dates, and milestones.
Flag exceptions such as overdue reviews, cold prospects, and top clients with no recent contact.
Figure 1: Client Tier Segmentation, Dunham 2026
The goal is not to shortchange C-tier clients – it’s to make sure each client receives the service cadence your firm has defined, while your highest-touch relationships receive the attention they require.
How Often Should Financial Advisors Contact Clients?
There's no universal contact schedule that fits every advisor.
But your contact5 should reflect your advisory agreements, client needs, staffing model, compliance process, and practice management.
Most firms still benefit from setting a minimum service rhythm by tier.
Figure 2: Annual Client Touchpoint Calendar, Dunham 2026
Treat the touchpoint calendar as the minimum.
A job change, divorce, inheritance, retirement date, new dependent, or RMD deadline should trigger contact regardless of tier.
For example, the IRS generally requires annual RMDs6 once an account owner reaches the required beginning age - which is currently tied to age 73 for many retirement account owners.
Your CRM should catch those events and push a task when they are logged automatically.
What CRM Automations Should Financial Advisors Set Up?
These are the automations to build before anything else.
Annual review reminders. Set a trigger 45 days ahead of each client's review date. It should fire a prep task for you and a scheduling email to the client at the same time.
Life-event follow-ups. A retirement date approaching, a beneficiary update, a new dependent. Any of these should push a task into your queue within 24 hours.
Engagement gap flags. Any A-tier client without a logged interaction in 90 days, or B/C-tier client past 180 days, should surface on your weekly dashboard without you having to go looking.
Post-meeting action items. A follow-up checklist should launch the moment a client meeting is logged, so nothing waits on your memory of what you promised.
RMD and compliance reminders. Required minimum distributions, beneficiary review cycles, and suitability documentation should run on calendar triggers, not on you remembering the date.
What Do You Say to a Client You Haven't Called in Six Months?
Automation puts the task in front of you – but you’ll still have to make the call.
Here's example language an advisor could adapt:
“Hi [Name], I wanted to check in because we have not connected in a while. I have been reviewing your plan and want to make sure nothing important has changed on your end. Could we find 10 minutes this week to confirm everything still fits where you are?”
Keep the ask small and specific.
The call itself doesn’t need to run long. Ten to fifteen minutes of focused attention can do more for retention than another broad market email the client may skim.
And after the call, log the outcome and set the next action before closing the record – setting up the next trigger.
How Can a TAMP Support a CRM Client-Service Workflow?
A tiered CRM workflow cuts the time you spend managing communication. A TAMP7 (aka turnkey asset management platform) cuts the time you spend managing portfolios. Together, they cover the two biggest operational drains on a solo or small RIA.
TAMPs are run to help financial professionals save time by essentially delegating asset management tasks - like research, portfolio construction, rebalancing, and performance reporting - to a specialized third party. And according to research8, advisors who use model portfolios (often delivered through TAMPs) spend less than 10% of their time on investment management, compared to 18.5% to 29.5% for those who build custom models.
When Dunham runs as your TAMP9, model construction, rebalancing, etc. move off your desk. That frees up the bandwidth to run a real client cadence, since an advisor still building models on a Saturday doesn't have the hours left to execute one during the week.
The advisors most likely to be running a tiered CRM well are usually the ones who already handed off portfolio work. The two systems support each other.
Build Your CRM Workflow
Start with these six steps:
Define A-tier, B-tier, and C-tier client-service criteria.
Add a review date and next-contact date for every household.
Create templates for review preparation, life events, and post-meeting tasks.
Build a weekly dashboard for overdue reviews, open tasks, and engagement gaps.
Test the workflow with a limited group of clients.
Review task completion, communication records, and retention settings through the firm’s compliance process.
Figure 3: Six Step CRM Workflow, Dunham 2026
PS - If you are building a more consistent prospecting engine, Dunham’s six-hack prospecting guide covers practical systems for advisor growth, including SEO, referral loops, and self-reinforcing feedback loops that compound over time.
Use it alongside your CRM workflow so new opportunities, follow-ups, and client-service commitments do not live in separate systems.
Keep Service Quality High as the Practice Grows
Growth shouldn’t mean clients start feeling the gaps.
The edge is in the small things - the call before they have to ask, the follow-up that lands when you promised, the reminder that shows up when life changes.
Those little details add up. They make clients feel like you are paying attention.
So, build the tiers, set the triggers, and let the CRM help you keep that standard as the practice grows.
FAQ
What is a CRM workflow for financial advisors? A CRM workflow is a structured process that turns client data, review dates, life events, and service tiers into tasks, reminders, and follow-up actions.
How can financial advisors manage 100+ clients? Financial advisors can manage 100+ clients by segmenting clients into service tiers, setting review cadences, automating follow-up reminders, and reviewing a weekly CRM dashboard.
What CRM automations should advisors use first? Advisors should start with annual review reminders, post-meeting follow-up tasks, life-event triggers, engagement-gap alerts, and compliance-related documentation reminders.
Sources
Skool — What CRMs Do Advisors Use and What Are the Alternatives to Redtail/Wealthbox [skool.com]
360 Financial — Maximizing Efficiency With Your CRM: Best Practices for Financial Advisors [360financial.net]
Remote Scouts — Time Management for Financial Advisors [remotescouts.com]
Bedrock Financial Services — Lead Nurturing Automation Case Study: Improving Client Follow-Up for Advisors [bedrockfs.com]
This communication is general in nature and provided for educational and informational purposes only. It should not be considered or relied upon as legal, tax or investment advice or an investment recommendation, or as a substitute for legal or tax counsel. Any investment products or services named herein are for illustrative purposes only and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell, or an investment recommendation for, any specific security, strategy or investment product or service. Always consult a qualified professional or your own independent financial professional for personalized advice or investment recommendations tailored to your specific goals, individual situation, and risk tolerance. All examples are hypothetical and are for illustrative purposes only.
Information contained in the materials included is believed to be from reliable sources, but no representations or guarantees are made as to the accuracy or completeness of information. This document is provided for information purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice.
Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc. is a Registered Investment Adviser and Broker/Dealer. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services and securities offered through Dunham & Associates Investment Counsel, Inc.
