Only 17% of advisory firms track and record time spent on clients, according to the 2024 DC Advisor Benchmarking Study by WinMore Plans.
Without this visibility, many firms struggle to match service levels to client needs — or to scale in a way that reflects their brand and business goals.
As your business grows, delivering consistent, intentional service becomes harder — especially when expectations vary by client and team responsibilities are unclear. That’s where a service matrix comes in. By aligning your service tiers with client segmentation and brand promise, you can create a structured experience that sets expectations, deepens loyalty and helps your team deliver excellence at every level.
On this page
“A well-executed service matrix helps you prioritize taking care of your best clients and aligning your team.”
— Jon Wainman, Advisor Practice Management Consultant at Capital Group
An enterprise-level service matrix defines service levels by segment and maps them to specific team roles. This clarity allows you to prioritize activities, elevate service for ideal clients and streamline the path to growth.
Use the interactive tool in this lesson to build a tiered experience aligned to your segmentation and brand and reflect on whether you have the capacity to create the service experience you’re after for every client. The goal is to gain more efficiency, deliver greater value and ensure every client receives the service that’s right for them.
Data snapshot
Track time by client tier
Where are you spending the majority of your time? If you track it, the answer might surprise you.
Track both your time and your team’s to get a baseline. From there you can create a service matrix, which is a roadmap for how you and your team will allocate your time going forward. Compare actual time spent with your intentions as a way to increase efficiency and free up more time to spend in service of your ideal clients.
INSIGHTS
Bringing your service matrix to life
In this video, Jon Wainman talks about implementing a service matrix — and how a well-designed one can unlock capacity for advisory practices, helping you reach and serve your ideal client.
Jon Wainman
Advisor Practice Management Consultant
3MINVIDEO
Primer
Build your service matrix
For many advisory teams, the idea of offering differentiated service according to client type or tier makes perfect sense in theory. The challenge is turning that idea into a living, breathing system that guides daily actions, aligns the team and preserves capacity as the firm grows.
That’s where a service matrix becomes indispensable.
A great service matrix acts like a bridge between the client experience you envision and the one your clients actually receive. It takes the priorities you’ve defined through segmentation and elevates them into a structure that ensures every client, from your most complex A clients to your rising next-gen clients, is served with intention, consistency and care.
Without a clear matrix, service often becomes reactive. Some clients may receive extraordinary attention, while others experience gaps or inconsistency — not by design, but by default. Over time, this unevenness can wear down trust, strain your team and dilute the value you’ve worked so hard to create.
A service matrix changes that. It invites you to think critically about what each client segment truly needs and how your team can deliver that in a scalable, sustainable way. It helps you move from memory to mastery, from good intentions to deliberate execution.
Three steps to creating a world-class service matrix
Step 1: Choose your segmentation type
To do this, you’ll want to analyze your CRM and internal data. Consider factors such as revenue, AUM, services utilized, wallet share and number of referrals. Based on this data — combined with your firm’s goals — select the best segmentation type for your business. For example: platinum, gold, silver and bronze; A, B and C; or gold, red, green and yellow. Keep it simple and streamlined.
Step 2: Build your service matrix
To design your matrix, you’ll want to standardize service levels for each segment. This includes:
- Aligning team roles and responsibilities for every client engagement.
- Deciding and documenting when you’ll communicate, e.g., when onboarding and for client reviews.
- Assigning ownership of the client contact.
- Incorporating all this into your CRM.
Step 3: Communicate with clients
After you’ve built your matrix, connect with your clients to make sure their expectations align with the segment you’ve grouped them in. And then remember to measure for their ongoing alignment. Their needs may change. Communicate regularly to maintain mutual agreement and satisfaction.
When done thoughtfully, a service matrix becomes your operating guide. It brings clarity to the team, reliability to the client experience and efficiency to your calendar. Most of all, it reinforces the promise at the heart of your business — that every client matters and that how you serve them is never left to chance.
This lesson includes a tool to help you build a matrix that reflects your unique practice, values and goals. With it, you’ll move from an abstract vision of great service to a precise, executable plan. One that grows with you, empowers your team and delivers on the full potential of your client experience strategy.