Michelle got the email on a Tuesday afternoon. One of her senior wealth advisors was leaving. Good terms, better opportunity, standard two weeks’ notice. She called her team together, discussed who was taking which clients, and then started drafting an email. She read it back and realized it sounded like it came from a compliance department, not the relationship-focused firm she’d built.

She stopped and considered what this meant from a client perspective. Some clients had been transferred once in the past year, while others had deep relationships with the departing advisor. A few probably wouldn’t care much, so treating them all the same would be a mistake.

Michelle scrapped the generic email and built a real plan. Figure out what clients want to know and have solid answers ready. Sort the clients into groups. Have the founder call the high-priority ones. Let the new advisors reach out to their reassigned accounts. Send emails to the rest, but make them sound human. They moved fast, and within days, the outreach was done. A few clients had questions, but overall, it went smoothly because they thought it through before the clients had a chance to get nervous.

The Problem Nobody Sees Coming

An advisor leaves, and firms treat it like an operations problem. Someone exits, you redistribute the book, you update the website, you move on. Check the boxes, close the loop.

But clients aren’t thinking about your operations chart. They’re thinking about whether their money is safe, whether this departure means something’s wrong, and whether the person now handling their account knows what they’re doing.

If you’re not actively managing that narrative, clients are writing their own version. And their version usually isn’t generous.

One nervous client talks to another. A casual mention at a dinner party becomes a question in someone else’s mind. You might think you’re dealing with individual conversations, but you’re really managing a network of relationships where doubt moves quickly.

This matters even more if you have referrals or client events where clients know each other. What one person hears or doesn’t hear becomes part of the conversation with others.

Build Your Response Plan and FAQ

Before you reach out to clients, gather your team and work through the hard questions. Then create two versions of an FAQ: an internal one with real answers for your team, and a polished one you can share with clients who want written information.

Here’s what your team needs to answer:

Why did this person leave? Did things end well? What do we say if clients ask whether there are problems at the firm?

Which clients have been transferred before, and how recently? How do we talk about this history without it sounding like instability? Which clients had strong ties to the departing advisor? Who will take over each client account?

Are we hiring a replacement? Are we thinking about an acquisition? How do we frame this as an opportunity? What needs updating on the website, LinkedIn, and email signatures? Should we update internal advisor titles or bios to reflect their experience better, especially if they’ve been leading accounts?

What’s the core message every client needs to understand? What tone matches our brand?

The internal FAQ gives your team the straight answers they need when clients push back or ask difficult questions. Everyone needs to be saying the same things. Minor contradictions create significant doubts.

The client-facing FAQ can be more measured, but should still feel honest and on-brand. Some clients will want written information they can reference. Having a polished version ready means you’re not scrambling to draft something when they ask.

The founder, or in some cases the other advisors, can write a letter based on the FAQ. It doesn’t need to cover everything. Keep the tone friendly and focus on what clients care about most: why the advisor is leaving, who will take over their account, and what happens next. Every client should get an email, but customize the details. The core message stays consistent, but specifics like who’s taking over their account and who’ll be calling them should be tailored to each situation. That’s what sorting clients into groups does.

How to Segment Client Communication

Once your messaging is sorted, you must figure out who hears it and how. Firms that don’t sort their response send the same email to everyone, make a few calls to whoever seems most important, and hope for the best. Some clients feel ignored. Others feel bothered. Nobody feels like the firm understands their specific situation.

Look at multiple factors:

Transfer history. Clients who’ve been moved multiple times recently are your highest risk and need personal attention. Clients with one prior transfer are moderate risk and watching closely. Clients with continuity until now carry a lower risk, but still need clear communication.

Relationship depth. Some had a strong personal connection to the departing advisor and may follow them or need reassurance. Others had a working relationship but nothing deeply personal—they want continuity and less emotion. Some had minimal interaction with the departing advisor and care more about service quality than the specific person.

Account size and complexity. The founder must handle large accounts or complex situations, while the assigned advisor can handle standard accounts with straightforward needs.

Once you sort clients, you can match your communication approach to each group:

Founder calls are for clients who have been transferred before, have large or complex accounts, or had deep relationships with the departing advisor. These conversations explain what’s happening directly and give personal assurance about stability and continuity.

New advisor calls for clients who need to hear from the person who’ll now be their primary contact. This builds the relationship immediately rather than having them wonder who’s managing their money.

Email only works for clients with continuity, smaller accounts, or minimal interaction with the departing advisor. The message should still be clear and on-brand, but a call would feel like overkill.

Over-communicate with high-risk clients. Low-risk clients just need clear, straightforward information so they can move on.

Protect Against Multiple Transitions

The first time a client gets transferred to a new advisor, they usually understand. Things happen. People move on. They adjust, build a new relationship, and keep going.

The second time? That’s when understanding turns into suspicion. Clients start wondering if the firm has a retention problem, if there’s instability they’re not being told about, or if their accounts are just getting passed around without care. If you’ve had recent transitions and another advisor leaves, you’re dealing with clients whose patience is already thin.

One way to protect yourself is to have two advisors on key client accounts, often a senior advisor paired with a developing one. This gives junior advisors experience while building client relationships under supervision. When someone eventually leaves, clients already know the other person on their account. The departure shifts weight between two familiar faces rather than introducing a stranger during a stressful transition. The junior advisor who’s been on calls and knows the client’s situation can step up without the client feeling abandoned.

This approach costs more in terms of advisor time on each account, and eventually, the junior advisor will need their own book as they develop. But for your most important client relationships, that cost is insurance. When a departure happens, and it will, you’re managing a transition instead of a crisis.

What Good Looks Like

Firms that handle departures well move quickly and stay organized. The gap between the departure and client communication should be days, not weeks. Waiting gives anxiety time to build and rumors time to spread.

They communicate the way they always do. If you’ve built your firm’s identity around being personal and relationship-focused, you can’t send a stiff corporate memo when someone leaves. That disconnect tells clients maybe you’re not as different as you claimed. How you communicate during a departure reinforces your brand or exposes it as marketing talk.

They say what’s actually happening. If clients have been transferred before, don’t pretend this is a fresh start. Name it. “I know this is your second transition in a year, and I understand that’s frustrating. Here’s why this one is different, and here’s my personal commitment to stability going forward.” Clients respect honesty more than spin.

Why Firms Lose Clients

The most significant danger isn’t that one advisor leaves. It’s that how you handle it makes clients wonder what else you’re not telling them.

You spend years building trust. One bad transition can wreck it.

This gets worse when clients have already gone through transitions. They don’t give you the benefit of the doubt anymore; they’re watching for patterns.

Firms survive advisor departures just fine. But “fine” isn’t the goal if you’re trying to grow. The goal is coming through it with clients feeling more confident in your firm, not less.

You thought through what matters, sorted your response based on risk, moved quickly, and communicated like the firm you claim to be. Or you didn’t.

Don’t Wait for the Next Departure

Are you confident your firm can handle an unexpected advisor transition without losing assets?

Most firms find out they can’t when someone walks out the door. Clients are already nervous, talking to each other, and writing the story you should have controlled.

You either have a plan or you’re scrambling. There’s no middle ground when trust is on the line.

Schedule a confidential strategy session

We’ll look at your communication plan, what you’d tell clients, and where you’re exposed if someone leaves tomorrow.

About Dan Sondhelm

Dan Sondhelm is the CEO of Sondhelm Partners. He works with boutique asset managers to help grow AUM, stand out in crowded markets, and create more meaningful investor conversations.