The meeting is booked and the fact find is still blank
A new client books a discovery meeting. The administrator emails the fact find, usually a PDF or a Word document that runs to many pages, covering income, outgoings, pensions, protection, property, dependants and objectives. Two days before the meeting it comes back. Page one is filled in neatly. The pension section says "will bring statements". The expenditure page is empty.
So the adviser spends the first half of the meeting doing data collection instead of talking to the client about what they want. Afterwards someone retypes the handwritten answers into Intelliflo Office, Xplan or Curo, and the paraplanner finds that three of the pension policy numbers were never supplied.
Why fact finds stall
Clients are not lazy. They open a document that asks about everything at once, much of which does not apply to them, and they stop at the first question they cannot answer from memory. A PDF cannot skip the protection section for someone who has no dependants, and it cannot tell a client that a rough figure is fine for now.
The other cause sits inside the firm. The fact find and the back office are separate things, so whatever the client writes has to be keyed in again. Because rekeying is slow, it often waits until after the meeting, which means nobody spots the gaps until the paraplanner starts work.
- One long form for every client, whatever their circumstances.
- No way to save and come back later on a phone.
- Statements requested in a separate email, so they arrive unlabelled.
- Existing clients asked to repeat details the firm already holds.
- No view of which fact finds are outstanding across the firm.
What a half-finished fact find costs the firm
The costs are quiet ones. Advisers use meeting time on data entry. Paraplanners wait for missing policy details before they can start research. Administrators write chasing emails from memory. And clients who struggled with the form start the relationship feeling that the process is hard work.
| Stage | With a static fact find | With a guided fact find |
|---|---|---|
| Before the meeting | Adviser does not know what is missing | Gap list shows unanswered sections |
| In the meeting | Time spent collecting basic data | Time spent on the client's objectives |
| After the meeting | Answers retyped into the back office | Answers already in the client record |
| Paraplanning | Waits on policy numbers and statements | Statements uploaded against each holding |
| Existing clients | Asked everything again | Asked to confirm what has changed |
What we build for your fact find
- We map your current fact find, section by section, with your advisers, and agree which questions depend on earlier answers.
- We build it as a guided online form that works on a phone, saves progress and only shows sections that apply, so a client with no mortgage never sees the mortgage page.
- For existing clients, answers are pre-filled from your back office, and the client confirms or corrects them.
- Each pension, investment or policy the client lists gets its own upload slot, so statements arrive attached to the right holding.
- Answers are written into Intelliflo Office, Xplan, Curo or your own database through its API or import route, rather than retyped.
- A gap summary goes to the adviser before the meeting, listing unanswered sections and missing documents.
- Reminders go to clients who have started but not finished, with a link straight back to where they stopped.
The form collects information. It does not score risk, suggest products or make any judgement on what the client should do. Those stay with the adviser and your firm's own process.
How the first meeting changes
The adviser walks in knowing what the client has, what they have not provided and which questions need a conversation. The meeting is spent on objectives and priorities. Afterwards nothing needs retyping, and the paraplanner can see at a glance whether statements for every holding are in.
For review clients, the same form becomes a quick "what has changed" check each year instead of a full re-collection.
Does this sound like your firm?
- Fact finds regularly come back with whole sections blank.
- Someone retypes fact find answers into the back office by hand.
- Policy numbers and statements arrive weeks after the meeting.
- Existing clients are asked for details you already hold.
- Nobody can say which fact finds are outstanding today.