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Commitment to Implement Conversation™

I do a Financial Road Map® with all my existing clients when we meet for a review. Sometimes they balk at committing to implement the updated plan. What should I do - Close the meeting or do the plan anyway?

Plans are only created only for people who commit to implement them in advance. If they are unwilling to make a commitment to implement the plan that will actualize what is sitting on their Financial Road Map® right in front of them, then you either did poor job with the Financial Road Map® or they are the wrong people to do business with or continue doing business with. Listen to the recording, follow along with the Financial Road Map® script, and be honest with yourself about how well you followed the script without adding anything else or leaving anything out.

I have a client who has been handled very improperly by her previous advisor. The fact is that moving her variable annuity under my umbrella is going to cost her a lot of money. What verbiage should I use during the Implementation Meeting when we get down to signing papers and moving her annuity to me?

Tell the truth. Summarize the situation. Perhaps you want to go easy on the former advisor by saying something like, “Different advisors have different philosophies about how to help clients achieve their goals. These are the changes that are necessary in order for me to be your advisor.”

How should a Trusted Advisor respond when a client rejects a recommendation made during the Implementation Meeting or Progress Meeting, and this decision goes against one of their values?

First of all, follow the process and script for the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ during the Financial Road Map Interview™. Listen to your recordings of the Financial Road Map Interview™ and I’ll bet you’ll find that you could do a better job with the Commitment to Hire™ and the Commitment to Implement Conversation™. If you follow Commitment to Implement Conversation™ as we teach it then they are prepared to come to the Implementation Meeting to implement. Many advisors find that they lack conviction during the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ and prepare their clients for a plan presentation versus and implementation. When you prepare your clients for the plan presentation the presumption is that they are supposed to decide what to implement and what not to implement. When you prepare them for an Implementation Meeting, the presumption is that they are going to follow your advice and implement. I’ve heard this responded to many effective ways. One, is to simply...

When gaining client’s commitment to implement, is it advisable to talk with clients about our annual advisory fees? As a matter of integrity, I have been outlining to client these fees and assessing then and there their level of commitment to implement. Noting that (from what they have shown me on their Financial Road Map®) if they are not an ideal fee paying client, their ongoing service will be provided to them from another staff member in my business, and we will discuss these fees and services in more detail at our next implementation meeting scheduled in two weeks time.

My experience is that they usually ask what you charge when you bring up the implementation and ongoing relationship. Are you sure you aren’t just jumping the gun and bringing this up before they would have asked anyway? Listen to your recordings. We don’t recommend that you have multiple advisors serving different levels of clients for different fees. As a business person assessing risk and return, the risk isn’t worth the reward. Ask me more about this when you see me at your next Academy.

During our Commitment to Hire™ and Commitment to Implement Conversations™, the clients expresses their concern that, “we not go too fast.” They agreed to all the money, but, that does not mean all the money RIGHT NOW (Or even the day we are scheduled to begin implementation). We are talking here about the entirety of their life's work, their health and the rest of their lives, their savings, investments, home, their children and grandchildren's future - and they are justifiably cautious about making a global decision - Trust - but verify. It is only prudent and wise financial planning! Are top advisors taking All The Money on that first implementation day? How does THAT happen?

The main reason that it’s not happening for you is because you don’t believe it’s a good idea for them to move everything to you. Therefore, you are telegraphing that in your way of being. And, YES, many advisors have their clients agree to move EVERYTHING to them during Commitment to Hire™ and Commitment to Implement™ and the clients actually follow through during the Implementation Meeting™. The question is, “is it better for the client to move everything so one advisor is the orchestra conductor?” And the answer is yes. Why? Consolidate. Coordinate. Simplify.

Sometimes prospects determine to work with me at a date later than the Financial Road Map Interview™. Many times, I’m just talking with one spouse in the follow up. What’s the best way to do an effective Commitment to Implement™ in these cases?

I would have both spouses come back to the office to complete the paperwork that facilitates hiring you and have the Commitment to Implement Conversation™. At the very least, both spouses should be on the phone at the same time for Commitment to Implement™. You have correctly assessed that you cannot do Commitment to Implement™ with one spouse.

Prior to hiring Bachrach & Associates, Inc., I had already created several of the deliverables on an annual basis for clients. I have been charging between $500 and $1,000 for this type of planning in addition to AUM wrap fees. Can you help me gain clarity and perhaps some verbiage on why a current client should pay 2x-3x times what they are used to?

At this point you may not be able to justify why they should pay more money. As you continue on your Values-Based Financial Planning™ journey, however, you will be learning about a level of client experience, client service, and value delivered that will easily justify a higher, maybe significantly higher, fee. Whether a client chooses to come to your New World and pay the higher fee for the greater value is for you to work out with your clients. The clients who come into the New World will be your base from which you build your entire Ideal Client Community, by referral only. On the other hand, you may already be charging too low of a fee for the value you provide. In which case, the language might sound like, "After doing some serious numbers crunching in my business it has become clear to me that I've been charging much too low of a fee for the service and value that I have been providing. As such, we will be right-sizing our fee to $ / , effective . Do you have any questions...

We do not do tax preparation in our office so when preparing end-of-year tax planning are we meeting with the client and their Certified Public Accountant or just the Certified Public Accountant? This seems to be a fourth meeting. As we begin time-blocking the Three Meeting Process we are realizing that having these meetings with all 124 Ideal Clients (or their Certified Public Accountants) in September, October, and November will require a substantial amount of time. How do we keep on track with the Three Meeting Process with this fourth meeting?

Your job is to make sure it gets done, not to do it for them or to necessarily meet with their accountant. This is also something that your Director of Client Services would coordinate to be sure it happens. (At this point you may not yet have a Director of Client Services.) It's definitely not a 4th meeting. That being said, for some of your clients in certain situations you may get involved with them and their accountants, lawyers, and / or other outside experts to help them deal with or resolve issues related to them getting their entire financial house in perfect order and keep it that way forever. For example your client might be a business owner who working through the sale of their business or a wealthier person navigating more complex estate planning issues. As you transition into the Committed Advisor Program you will go deeper into the Trusted Advisor Toolkit™ and participate in the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Office at every Academy where you will learn the entire...

I have long-time clients who, for the most part, have been completing Financial Road Maps® with me. When I get to Commitment to Implement Conversation™ section, I haven't been asking for that firstly because I cannot charge a hard dollar fee and secondly, if I had a form for them to sign, the form would basically not have meaning as I work for Merrill Lynch and they would not approve of a form that the client to sign for implementing a plan. How do I handle this?

The Commitment to Implement Conversation™ has nothing to do with fees or forms. It's a conversation about their commitment to implement your future advice. I suggest you review the script again and apply it in your future Financial Road Map® interviews to discover the benefit for your clients and for you by having a candid conversation about their commitment to implement.

I have had a number of Financial Road Map® Appointments recently where the time of the appointment has gone to two hours. By the time I have thoroughly gone through the values of each partner and then cover their goals (in both instances this has been around 5 goals) and completed the All the Money Conversation™ and the Commitment to Hire Conversation™, it is going on close to 90-120 mins. I cannot see where there is time that we are wasting. There is little chit chat, however, at times, clients discuss some of their goals and that may take a little longer. I am not sure whether I am going too far with this. Can you please provide some comments around this or strategies I can use to reduce the time I spend on each Financial Road Map® Interview?

The occasional long Financial Road Map® interview happens. Unless your experience is that all of your Financial Road Map® Interviews are taking this long, I wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully, after a 2 hour Financial Road Map®, you either added a new Ideal Client or generated substantial survival revenue.

I have my first Financial Road Map® with a prospective client next week. Assume he hires me to prepare a plan for him during Commitment to Hire Conversation™. During Commitment to Implement Conversation™, if he says something like, "How can I commit to implement an investment strategy that I have not seen? I have no idea how you intend to invest my money?" How much explanation should be sufficient for an Ideal Client to say “yes”? What does that sound like?

Ideal Clients won't ask that question. They will answer your question and will talk about their commitment to implement their plan.

I joined the Ideal Life Evaluation Program a couple weeks ago. I am starting to have my initial Financial Road Map® Interviews. During the Commitment to Hire Conversation™ (and/or Commit to Implement Conversation™) the subject of what services we provide will come up. What are the 143 Deliverables Checkpoints that we are going to provide once we are fully armed with the Values-Based Financial Planning™ process? Should we provide that list to a prospective client to show them exactly what they will get from us?

Answer the questions that actually come up during Commitment to Hire Conversation™ with the truth about what you currently do for your clients.

What do you think of this scripting when the prospective clients are talking in great detail: “I appreciate that you want to tell me the details about this, and should we decide to work together professionally, I will need to know more. For the purpose of this exercise, however, I just need to summarize the facts. I have 8 minutes budgeted for this. Would you be willing to give me a few minutes to go through your documents?"

That sounds great!

We charge an Initial Planning Fee of $4,000. We also plan on charging a flat fee for the Three Meeting Process™, 5 Critical Reports™ and for helping them keep their financial house in order. When do we start charging the flat fee which we plan on billing quarterly? We are taking three weeks to get the initial plan done.

Start the annual fee at the Implementation Meeting.

I had a presentation meeting with a client and his wife about a month ago. The Statement of Advice was spot on according to the clients but, that's where it ended. We did not get to the implementation of the plan because they still want to go through the Statement of Advice on their own. A few weeks and a few emails down the line and still I need to get them into the office to proceed. What will the best way be of approaching them now?

In the spirit that, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," it sounds like the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ either didn't happen or could have gone better. My advice is to listen to the recording of the original Financial Road Map® Interview while you follow along with the script for the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ to see what you can do better in this area next time. Since it's too late to go back in time, I would suggest that you follow-up in a professional manner and hope that they respond positively and come in to implement their Statement of Advice. If they really feel that it's "spot on" and are truly Ideal Clients they will come and implement.

I have several existing clients and prospects that have zero debt and range typically from $3-$10 million in liquid net worth. Many of them have believed in “Term and invest the rest” mentality and therefore don't like to discuss insurance needs and their term policies have expired. By this, I'm referring to clients who are past the accumulation phase and confident in their mind that they have been adequately insured and no longer need much insurance (I realize this may not be true), and have the notion typically to only buy term and put the rest of their money into savings. When we get to the Commitment to Hire Conversation™. Many of my existing clients have zero debt, more cash then they need to have sitting around (I realize this needs to be addressed), and don't feel they need much help with insurance. Therefore the step-by-step plan addressing these four areas only has one area where they typically want, or feel, they need help in creating a plan. I'm curious if it would it make sense to change the "What you get” discussion to something that could provide a little more value than the 4 bullets currently in the script? Can you please tell me perhaps a different word track then the Financial Road Map® script since two of the four areas are not of much interest to these types of clients?

I wouldn't change anything. Whether they believe in insurance or not doesn't change the fact that it's your job to review their situation and give advice. Even if they can afford to self-insure, they may choose to lay that risk off to an insurance company. Many very financially successful people still buy insurance. Keep in mind that we're not just talking about life insurance here. As you progress in the Committed Advisor Program you will learn to present the offer of the Full Values-Based Financial Planning™ Value Proposition as well as answer the "pivotal questions" that we know from experience some prospects and clients will ask.

I am struggling not discussing an ongoing fee in Financial Road Map® Meeting. During this conversation the clients ask me how much? The Financial Road Map® Meeting has been around 45 minutes so far and going well. I say $5,000 for the initial plan. They say what do you get? I then run through my 2 page letter of engagement which outlines upfront and ongoing service offering and takes another 45 minutes. After 1.5 hours I feel like the clients are tired and the "would you like to proceed” has lost its presence because of the meeting time. How do I avoid this? I would love to skip the letter of engagement all together, should I just briefly talk about deliverables team (which I have) best-in-class Subject Matters Experts. I am also struggling to understand in the Implementation Meeting how to address the ongoing fee is $1k-$3k per month and not go over the plan in any detail.

I agree with you, it can't take 45 minutes to answer the questions about the cost and what they get. Listen to your recordings and figure out a way to be more succinct. The fee is for the advice, not the plan detail.

I completed a Financial Road Map® with this gentleman and his wife. He loved the experience and was very excited to go ahead and have us create an action plan. We requested additional information needed to complete the plan. I then received this email (see below). How would you respond? Thanks. Morning, Michele and I had the opportunity to sit down with an investment adviser yesterday and discovered that Optimal Performance is not only an investment company but also a financial planning firm. Embarrassing for me, as we have worked with Diane for over five years and she has helped us manage a myriad of financial challenges over that time. To realize that I have not fully taken advantage of her years of experience her expertise was "uncomfortable" to say the least. That said, Michele and I have decided not to continue moving forward with Ideal Life and re-engage Diane since we are already paying for that service. Additional, I am sure you can appreciate that we do not want to put our relationship with Diane in jeopardy especially after she has been a cornerstone for us. I have reviewed our chequing account and as of Friday, our cheque has not been processed and we would ask that it does not happen. We are prepared to pay a small fee for the work to date (including the Value-Based book) and will issue another cheque to cover that amount. I can have that available when I come to pick up our binder. As you witnessed, we were ready to make the move to see the plan and realize this a disappointing news however this is the right thing for us and aligns with the values we hold true.

First of all, great job being in the game! You never know how people will respond, but you have to do the work, make the offers, and deal with whatever you get. Essentially, you can take one of 3 roads with an email response: Dear : I am glad you found value from your experience working with us and hope that it helps you make better choices about your money so you achieve your goals for the reasons that are important to you. There will be no charge for the work we've done together. Let me know how else I can be of service. ****** I'm not sure how accurate the following communication would be because I'm making up a few things to fill in gaps that I can't fill without more information, but you'll get the idea. Dear: Please forgive me. The fact you believe you can get the same services from an investment management firm who also does financial planning means I did a poor job of articulating the value to you of joining our Ideal Client Community. I apologize. ...

I’m a little confused about the level of commitment we are expecting from a new client once they hire us. In the script and videos it seems that during the Commitment to Implement we expect that at the implementation meeting the client will follow all of the action plan items and sign all of the documents we have prepared for signature, no questions asked. However, on the most recent Webinar, it sounded to me that regardless of what we may have said at Commitment to Implement, at the actual implementation meeting, it is more of a “traditional” approach where we are presenting our “recommendations” and it’s up to the client to decide which items, if any, they implement. To sum up, it seems that at the implementation meeting the approach is much less “take it or leave it” than presented during the Commitment to Implement. Please help me understand.

The expectation is being set they intend to implement your advice. It’s okay if they have questions, but at Commitment to Implement is where you flesh out whether they just want options or really want advice. The evidence that someone really wants advice is that they commit to implementing the advice and then actually do.