Service standards for a small RIA: what to promise clients, and how to keep the promise
A small RIA can set four or five service standards clients actually notice: how fast you reply, how often you review their plan, how quickly routine requests are done, how you confirm money movements, and what happens when the advisor is away. Write them on one page, tell clients at onboarding, track requests against them, and check once a quarter whether you're keeping them. Promise only what a two-person firm can do on its busiest week.
Most clients don't leave because of returns. They leave because a call wasn't returned for a week, a form sat unprocessed, or they never heard from the firm between annual meetings. A few clear service standards, written down and actually kept, protect against exactly that.
Which standards matter to clients?
| Standard | Example |
|---|---|
| Reply time | We acknowledge every message within one business day |
| Routine requests | Address changes, forms and documents done within three business days |
| Reviews | A full review every year, with a check-in in between |
| Money movements | We confirm every withdrawal or transfer by phone on the number on file |
| Cover | When your advisor is away, [name] handles urgent requests |
How do you make them stick?
- Pick standards you can keep in your busiest week, not your quietest.
- Write them on one page and put it in the onboarding pack.
- Track requests with a received date, owner and due date.
- Check once a quarter: how many requests missed their date, how many reviews were late.
- Adjust: fix the process, or change the standard, rather than quietly missing it.
A worked example
Take a hypothetical two-person RIA that has never written its standards down. The owner drafts five, tests them against last quarter's requests, and finds routine requests took about five business days on average. Rather than promise three and miss it, the firm starts tracking requests with due dates and commits to five days, tightening to three once the quarterly check shows it's being met. The page goes into every new client's welcome pack.
What are the common gaps?
- Standards promised in a sales conversation and never written down.
- Promises that only work when nobody is on holiday.
- No tracking, so nobody knows whether they're being kept.
- Reviews that slip because nothing shows they're due.
When is this overkill?
For a handful of clients who all know the advisor personally, a short welcome note may be enough. As the client list grows, write it down.
How Advorra fits
Advorra keeps tasks and communications on each client, review dates on a suitability review clock and IPS review dates on a 36-month clock, so you can see what's due and what's late without a separate spreadsheet. See the product page, or read about tracking client service requests and the annual client review.
One thing to do this week: write down the reply time you'd be happy to promise every client, and check last month against it.
An operations guide, not legal or compliance advice.
Questions advisors ask
Should service standards be in the advisory agreement?
Usually not as contractual terms. Many firms share them in a welcome letter or onboarding pack instead. Your compliance consultant can advise on what belongs where.
What reply time is realistic?
Many small firms aim to acknowledge messages within one business day and resolve routine requests within a few. Choose what you can keep in your busiest week.
How often should reviews happen?
Set a cadence in your procedures, often annual with more frequent contact for complex households, and track it.
What if we miss a standard?
Tell the client, fix it, and look at why. If it keeps happening, change the process or the standard.
Is this compliance advice?
No. It is an operations guide.
See it on a demo firm
Advorra is practice software for independent RIAs: clients, models, IPS, billing and compliance records in one place, on top of the custodian you already use. Built by The CollabHub.
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