The first time you meet an heir is one of the most leveraged conversations you'll have in your career. It's also one of the most commonly botched. Most advisors either avoid the meeting entirely or overproduce it — treating it as a sales pitch instead of an introduction. Both responses come from the same anxiety: the advisor isn't sure what to say.
Here's the framework to use. Three phases, each with a specific objective. It's short because it should be.
Phase 1 — Start with context, not credentials
The worst first meetings open with the advisor's CV. The best open with context the heir actually cares about. Why does this conversation matter? What does the advisor know about the heir's life and values that would make the meeting feel relevant? A sentence or two, anchored in what the primary client has shared about their family.
The goal of the first meeting is not to explain the portfolio. It is to build enough trust for a second meeting.
Phase 2 — Ask, don't tell
Spend the middle of the meeting asking questions. What does the heir care about? What do they already understand about their parents' situation? What are the things that would make them anxious or uncomfortable about wealth? Their answers are more valuable than anything you could tell them at this stage. Take notes. The firms that win retention are the ones that turn these notes into a real understanding of who each heir is.
- What matters to you right now — in your life, not your portfolio?
- When you think about inheriting, what are you most curious about? Most uneasy about?
- What's your relationship with money today? What do you want it to be in 10 years?
- How do you prefer to learn about financial topics — in person, in writing, in video?
Phase 3 — Close with a specific next step
The meeting should end with something concrete. A book recommendation. A Heritance platform invitation. A specific follow-up. Never leave the door open-ended. Heirs interpret vagueness as disinterest. The firms with the best retention are the ones that treat every heir introduction as the first step in a multi-year engagement cadence — and make that cadence explicit from meeting one.
Heritance makes the cadence operational. From the first heir meeting forward, the platform sends the right content, surfaces the right moments, and tells the advisor when it's time for the next conversation. The framework above tells you what to do. Heritance makes it scale.
