AI for Advisors newsletter
Quick take
- AI prompting is fundamentally different from quick Google searches.
- Explicitly invoking expert roles clarifies context and increases response precision.
- Selecting the right specialized role from the extensive options available improves the relevance and applicability of AI responses.
- Clearly defined roles let advisors leverage AI as a no-code, specialized assistant for everyday professional needs.
Understanding AI more clearly
As someone who trains financial advisors on using artificial intelligence, I’ve observed a critical misunderstanding about prompting.
Many advisors approach AI the same way they approach a quick Google search—short, keyword-based, and superficial. This usually leads to disappointment, prompting comments like, “AI just doesn’t get it. It’s just hype.”
The truth is, good AI prompting—especially clearly invoking an expert role—is essential to unlocking meaningful, targeted responses from AI models such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot.
Why ‘Google-search’ thinking doesn’t work with AI
Consider this: The average Google query is just two or three words. It’s built to sift through existing online content and relies heavily on keywords.
AI prompts, on the other hand, average between 15-38 words and are meant to instruct the model in creating original, tailored responses.
When you treat AI prompting like a simple Google search, you’re essentially starving the AI of context, resulting in generic, irrelevant answers. Naturally, this inevitably leads to ineffective interactions.
This could be one reason why only 87% of advisors in a recent Horsesmouth survey described themselves as less than confident in their AI skills.
The power of invoking expertise
The most effective, introductory way to enhance your AI interactions is to start your prompt by clearly invoking an expert role.
In the prompting framework I teach advisors, we start off with a simple, powerful structure: Role-Task-Format (RTF). This means explicitly starting your prompt by stating the expert role you want the AI to assume. By invoking an expert person, you are shaping the type and depth of the AI’s responses from the outset.
Invoking an expert role delivers several critical benefits:
- Clarifies the AI’s scope, resulting in highly targeted, relevant information.
- Enhances creativity by directing the AI to generate responses from a specific perspective.
- Improves accuracy and precision, especially in problem-solving and decision-making.
Simply put, effective prompting demands structured instructions, making role invocation the natural first step.
Advisor-specific roles to transform your prompts
In my training sessions (The AI-Powered Financial Advisor and AI Marketing for Advisors), I’ve found that financial advisors see dramatic improvements when they specify precise expert or professional roles rather than general ones. Here are some roles that can elevate your AI interactions:
Business development roles
- Workflow Efficiency: “Act as a Workflow Efficiency Consultant to analyze my client onboarding process …”
- Business Strategy: “As a Business Strategy Expert, evaluate my current service offering for high-net-worth clients …”
- Marketing: “As a Marketing Strategist specializing in retirement planning services …”
- Networking: “Act as a Networking Specialist who helps financial advisors build referral partnerships …”
- Client Onboarding: “As a Client Onboarding Specialist, create a sequence of touchpoints for …”
Client management roles
- Client Relationship: “Act as a Client Relationship Manager and suggest ways to strengthen long-term engagement …”
- Referrals: “As an Influence Relationship Manager, develop strategies for maintaining connections with key referral sources …”
- Communications: “Take the role of a Communications Expert who specializes in explaining complex financial concepts …”
Technical expertise roles
- Risk Management Specialist: “As a Risk Management Specialist, analyze these portfolio allocations for …”
- Investment Analyst: “In the role of an Investment Analyst focused on retirement income strategies …”
- Technology Consultant: “Act as a Technology Consultant for financial advisory practices and recommend systems that …”
Team and professional development roles:
- Training Coordinator: “As a Training Coordinator for a financial advisory team, design a program to …”
- Team Development Coach: “In the role of a Team Development Coach, suggest strategies for improving collaboration …”
- Recruitment Advisor: “As a Recruitment Advisor specializing in financial services talent acquisition …”
By matching specialized roles to your specific business challenges, you leverage AI’s ability to generate precise, relevant responses—transforming these models from generic tools into virtual specialists tailored to your practice needs.
AI prompting as ‘no-code coding’
Think of prompting as no-code coding—writing clear, structured instructions in natural language rather than computer code. Financial advisors don’t typically have a background in programming, but you certainly know your business.
Without needing coding skills, prompting allows you to “program” the AI to think like experts in fields critical to your practice—tax advising, estate planning, retirement management, investment management. Expert roles become foundational for ensuring good outcomes, transforming AI into a reliable professional assistant.
Example: A client says he wants to sell his apartment complex
Recently, an advisor in one of my AI training sessions was preparing to discuss with a client the impending sale of the client’s apartment complex.
He had never considered brainstorming with AI to create a draft agenda for the meeting. Rather than approaching AI with a broad request, he invoked an expert role and gave the AI a little background context:
“Act as an investment specialist. A client just sold his apartment building and wants to reinvest the proceeds while deferring the capital gains.”
The AI model came back with a response that explained tax implications and 1031 Exchange strategies, covering qualified property exchanges, critical 45/180-day timelines, diverse reinvestment options (from multifamily to Delaware Trusts), and how to align these choices with the client’s specific management preferences and long-term investment goals.
The advisor later shared that the subsequent conversation with his client was significantly more fruitful and insightful precisely because he had prepared with a carefully structured expert-based prompt.
Try it yourself
Let’s practice crafting a quick, expert-level prompt:
- Identify the Expert Role: Consider an upcoming client scenario requiring specialized insight. (Choose from the advisor-specific roles above or create your own.)
- Clearly Define the Task: Specify exactly what you need from the AI by sharing some background of what you’re trying to achieve.
- Create Your Prompt: Combine these elements into a clear, structured instruction.
Here’s an example to get you started: “Act as a Risk Management Specialist and analyze the potential impact of rising interest rates on a retirement income portfolio that includes these allocations …”
Try creating your own prompt following this structure and see how sharply focused and practical the response becomes.
Put ‘expert mode’ into practice
Understanding and practicing good AI prompting will fundamentally change how you interact with artificial intelligence.
I’ve personally seen advisors quickly transition from AI skeptics to enthusiasts simply by learning the fundamentals of communicating with and directing AI models. Invoking roles in your prompts is the first step.
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