Have you ever been to a good therapy session?
If you have, you know the therapist doesn’t start by asking about your deep childhood traumas.
That would be insane.
Instead, they build trust first. They talk about the weather. Maybe ask about your day.
Then they work to understand your context. What’s happening in your life. What’s changed recently. What patterns are emerging.
Only after this groundwork do they dive into your problems.
Why?
Because without trust, people give surface-level answers.
Without context, problems get misdiagnosed.
Without safety, people hold back their real issues.
Client interviews work the same way.
Build trust first.
Understand the context next.
Then create space for deep sharing where clients can open up without feeling judged.
This structure helps you understand the problem that caused clients to leave in their own words.
You’ll use this approach when interviewing the right clients: churned retired business owners, passive heirs, and the same segments among active clients.
In this article, I’ll walk through an interview with a churned retired business owner. The same principles apply to the other segments.
Before getting into the interview, it helps to answer one simple question.
Do you need an interview script?
Yes. You need a script.
You should have two core scripts: one for churned clients and one for current clients. The script for current clients should then be tailored to each persona.
That said, don’t treat the script like a checklist. The goal isn’t to get through questions. It’s to understand the problem in the client’s own words.
The script also serves a practical purpose. It can be reviewed by compliance to ensure you don’t ask questions that create legal risk.
With that in place, the interview itself takes about 45 minutes and is divided into three phases.
Let’s walk through each one.
Phase 1: Building trust (5-10 minutes)
This phase is about establishing rapport.
Start with a few minutes of small talk. Ask about their day or weekend plans. Keep it light.
Remember, churned clients expect a sales pitch. Many are frustrated before the call even begins. Address that upfront.
What to say:
“Thanks for the time. I know you’ve moved your accounts, and I’m not trying to win you back. I’m a Product Manager. My only job is to understand where we failed you so we can improve how we serve clients in similar situations. You have the perspective we need.”
Next, ask for permission to record the interview. Be clear that the recording is for internal research only.
What to say:
“I’d like to record the interview to focus on listening instead of taking notes. The recording is for the internal product research only and won’t be shared with sales or marketing. Is that OK?”
Phase 2: Understanding the client’s context (10 minutes)
In therapy, this is where the conversation starts broad.
The therapist asks about routines, recent changes, and what life looked like before things shifted.
Do the same here.
Start by establishing the baseline. Ask the client to recall a time when things were working well.
What to say:
“Think back a few months when things were smooth. Walk me through a typical week working with us.”
What you’ll hear:
The relationship manager was always available and acted as a trusted owner of the client’s entire financial life. They had a deep understanding of the client’s assets, liabilities, family context, and long-term goals.
Next, identify the shift.
What to say:
“What changed? When did the experience start to feel different?”
What you’ll hear:
Interactions with the relationship manager became more frequent. When the manager was away, the client couldn’t reach anyone. They didn’t know who the backup was or whether one existed.
This wasn’t an issue before as transactions were infrequent and predictable. Waiting a few days felt fine.
Now it didn’t.
One critical rule here: don’t correct the client.
If they say, “The bank has no backup for my relationship manager,” and you know a backup team exists, don’t challenge them.
Focus on the client’s reality – even if it’s incorrect.
This is how you uncover the real issue: not that a backup didn’t exist, but that it was invisible to the client.
Now narrow in on why they were trying to contact their manager more frequently.
What to say:
“Tell me more about why you needed to reach your relationship manager more often.”
What you’ll hear:
Last year, the client became a snowbird. They started spending winters in the US. That shift changed everything.
Before, banking was simple. Transactions were infrequent and predictable.
Now they were building a second life. Setting up a second home. Buying a US car. Handling major expenses across the border. This meant moving a lot of money between Canada and the US regularly.
But there was a catch.
Large transfers required relationship-manager approval due to bank limits and cross-border regulations.
Suddenly, reaching the manager wasn’t a convenience.
It was critical.
The snowbird insight is key. When insights like this emerge, follow the thread. Set the script aside and explore it fully. This is often where the most valuable discoveries surface.
Phase 3: Deep sharing (25-30 minutes)
In a therapy session, this is when the client feels safe to discuss specific moments where the relationship broke down.
This phase uncovers the core problem that caused churn.
Spend 25-30 minutes here, as this is where the most valuable insights come from.
Dig deeper into their challenges with higher transactions.
What to say:
“When you realized your relationship manager was away, how did you handle that large transaction from Canada to the US? Walk me through it.”
What you’ll hear:
The client called the general support line.
Usually, this is straightforward. When they call from their Canadian number, the system recognizes them instantly. They get fast-tracked to the high-net-worth team with zero wait time.
But this time, they were calling from a US number. The system didn’t recognize them. It treated them like a regular client.
General support line agents had to ask multiple security questions to validate their status before routing them to the high-net-worth support team.
What to say:
“What happened next? Did the high-net-worth support team assist you with the transactions?”
What you’ll hear:
The support team couldn’t approve the transfer.
Due to cross-border compliance rules, only the relationship manager could approve high-value transactions. They were the only person with full visibility into the client’s risk profile and history.
The support team looked for the manager’s backup. But no formal backup was on file for this client.
Since the manager was away, the authority to sign off couldn’t be transferred to anyone else.
The client was told to wait for the manager to return to work.
Eventually, the case was escalated to senior management. But that added more reviews and more delay.
What to say:
“I’m sorry to hear this. Since you couldn’t wait, how did you move your funds?”
What you’ll hear:
The client used another bank with operations in both Canada and the US.
What this interview revealed
Earlier, you learned that retired business owners value ownership.
They want one person who carries their financial context and takes responsibility over time.
This interview shows what happens when that ownership disappears.
When the relationship manager was unavailable, trust eroded. Backup existed, but the client couldn’t see it. Support teams were helpful, but lacked authority.
The issue wasn’t transaction limits.
It wasn’t a missing process.
It was the loss of personal accountability.
These clients don’t just need access. They need someone who carries their context and can act when it matters.
When continuity broke, the relationship collapsed.
And with it, the bank lost advisory fees, referrals, family relationships, and years of future value.
Next Article: How to Extract Insights from Client Interviews (Part 1) – Making Sense of Each Interview
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