You are conducting a Follow-Up Phone Call and the book recipient responds, “Before I agree to schedule the Phone Consultation™, I’d like to read the book first”. I normally tell the person at this point that the purpose of having the 15 minute Phone Consultation™ is to save them the time and trouble of having to read the entire book, that we will get the major concepts of the book out to them quickly so that they can more quickly be freed up to have more time for Meaningful, Important, Significant and Compelling Conversation. However, they almost always say that they want to read the book first. How would you handle this?
I’ve listened to many follow up call sessions and this has rarely come up, so I appreciate the question, but be careful about presuming that something you hear a few times in a short period of time is some kind of trend or something that will happen often. I would take him at his word and say something like, “No problem. By when do you think you will have finished the book?” Depending on how they respond, schedule the appointment or continue to explore giving them time to read the book and work toward scheduling the phone appointment for some time in the future after they have read the book. Depending on how the discussion is going, I might ask something like, “Do you really want to read the whole book before you talk to me or are you just looking for a polite way to get rid of me? (With a sincere interest to know the truth and a Trusted Advisor way of being versus a sarcastic salesperson trying to be in their face.) Listen to what they say and take it from there. If they...
The scripting at the end of the 15 minute Phone Consultation™ has us inviting the referral in to do the Financial Road Map®, when we told our client that we're sending this as a gift and we told the referral that our call was to help them get value from the concepts in the book. How do we convey with our words and our Way of Being™ over the phone that them coming into our office with all their documents to do their Financial Road Map® is not interpreted as a solicitation?
Follow the script. There’s nothing in the script that states or implies that you are offering to be hired. It’s part of the value that you provide. And follow the Financial Road Map Interview™ process and script. If during the Financial Road Map Interview™ you decide that you would like to offer your services based on the experience the client is having which indicates that they would be a good fit for your business then you offer that by doing Commitment to Hire. If not, you don’t. This is a decision made during the Financial Road Map Interview™, not before, therefore you are not “soliciting” business. You are providing a service which may lead to doing business and that’s not solicitation.
I have three people that I would like to introduce to Values-Based Financial Planning™ by sending your book. While I know these people, I do not know enough Meaningful, Important, Significant, & Compelling (MISC) information to write a compelling note on the book and to make a meaningful Follow-Up phone call. I want to make sure I know how the concepts can be valuable to them when I call.
I want to call these people and ask them the appropriate Meaningful, Important, Significant, & Compelling questions to be able to do just that. I would appreciate you giving me your suggested words for how the initial part of my phone conversation should go with them to lead into the Meaningful, Important, Significant, & Compelling conversation.
Tell the truth, succinctly and directly, in a way that’s all about them. What you should say is very close to how you just worded your question to me.
Can I have my assistant call a referral and have them schedule the Follow-Up phone call and the Phone Consultation™ on my calendar, or should I always do both of these calls?
You should make these calls.
How do I alert a prospect that the remaining call time is running is out?
You have 2 options: "In the minutes we have left…" Or: Just let them know that the call is going to run longer than planned by minutes and ask if that’s okay.
A few times I have received the response of "I would like to read the book first before we speak over the phone about it" even after I have shared with them that reading the book is not a pre-requisite to our Phone Consultation™. The response has come from "self-referrals" when I call to assess whether the book would be of benefit to them or not.
I would appreciate your input on this matter.
I would take him at his word and say something like, “No problem. By when do you think you will have finished the book?” Depending on how they respond, schedule the appointment or continue to explore giving them time to read the book and work toward scheduling the phone appointment for some time in the future after they have read the book. Depending on how the discussion is going, I might ask something like, “Do you really want to read the whole book before you talk to me or are you just looking for a polite way to get rid of me? (With a sincere interest to know the truth and a Trusted Advisor Way of Being versus a sarcastic salesperson trying to be in their face.) If they sincerely want to read the book and then talk to you they will work with you to determine a time-frame and set a phone appointment to have the discussion about how the book will have a positive impact on something that’s Meaningful, Important, Significant, & Compelling to them. If they are just looking...
How do I respond when book recipients say, "Call me in a later next month (etc.)"?
Always schedule the next Follow-Up phone call for that contact.
I'm struggling with Meaningful, Important, Significant, & Compelling (MISC) conversations for Self-Referrals. I've had 3 or 4 follow up discussions cancel within the last week alone without a rescheduled date and I'm positive this is the reason why. Any suggestions?
You’re doing fine. It’s all part of the learning process. The key is to remind them, every time you talk to them or leave a message, what the connection is to the book and something that is meaningful for them. You also have to accept that many of the people you engage will not become clients, some of them not even taking the next step that may or may not lead to them ultimately becoming clients. Keep doing what you are doing until you are in the habit of engaging everyone you meet in a meaningful conversation. This is a skill that will serve you well your entire life, personally and professionally. And, unfortunately, a skill most human beings never develop.
What are your thoughts on sending follow up emails to set-up Phone Consultations™ after numerous unsuccessful attempts to reach prospective ideal clients via Follow-Up phone call? If you think email can be used, what should the content of the email be?
The email should be the exact script that you would say in the voice message.
During the Follow Up Phone Call, is it preferable that we request that both partners be on the Phone Consultation™ but be ok if we only are able to schedule the one we're speaking too?
Schedule the Phone Consultation™ with the one spouse you are talking to and invite, but don’t make it mandatory, for the other spouse.
Occasionally after leaving a message, I receive an email back and/or a voice message back, which basically says, thank you for the book, I already have an advisor.
I am assuming we should check with the client who referred them, about how they contacted their friend, (or if they even did), however, how should we respond to the email/voice message? Call back again?
First action would be to communicate with your client who referred you. Make sure they have contacted their referral and explained Values Based Financial Planning. ™ Make sure your client explains that this is a GIFT process and the value they would be receiving by getting their Financial Road Map® completed, whether they become a client of yours or not. When you do speak to those clients who already have advisors, there is a specific script to follow for clients who already have an advisor. Re-examine this script and follow the process we teach.
Could I get an example of wording in regards to making a self referral call to an acquaintance in which he did not have enough M.I.S.C. information about them to introduce Vales-Based Financial Planning™ to them?
Call them and tell them that you want to send them a book that you think might be of value to them, but you don’t want to waste their time if it’s not. In order to determine if it might be of value you want to ask them a few questions. Ask them some of the M.I.S.C. questions that you learned in Academy 2. If there seems to be a fit, tell them so, send them a book, and schedule the 20 minute phone appointment. If there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to send the book, don’t. Follow the process: do the phone appointment and, if appropriate, invite them in for a complete Financial Road Map®.
What language do you use to set up a Financial Road Map® with prospects?
That could vary depending on how you are finding your prospects. When you and your Accountability Coach decide that you are ready for Mastery Series 2, which teaches our referral process, you will learn a complete system for filling your appointment calendar by referral. In the meantime, when you are scheduling appointments with your prospects it is important for them to come to your office with their spouse and bring their financial documents. This is so they can have the best experience possible. Communicate that they will get something, their Financial Road Map®, which will be valuable to them whether or not the two of you choose to do business together. They will experience a meeting where they will both have total clarity about what’s important to them, define all of their financial goals, and benchmark their current financial reality. This will help them to be in a position to align all of their financial decisions with their most important goals and their most deeply held...
I am just starting on my journey with 6 ideal clients and calculated the number of phone call meetings I need to make(to be Done in 4 years or less)as 5/day.
What activities do you suggest I be doing now/ASAP, to ensure I am getting these numbers so I can fill my activities calendar each day?
1. Do a great job for your 6 Ideal Clients implementing comprehensive Financial Services and ask for referrals, per our process, at every Implementation Meeting and Progress Meeting. (Do whatever you have to do to memorize the referral script.) If you attended the July 2010 Academy 2, listen to the mp3s from that Academy again. 2. Follow our process to have your clients make warm introductions to their referrals. 3. Make the Follow-Up calls to everyone you are referred to following our process and scripts. 4. Implement our self-referral process. Watch the October 4, 2010 Committed Advisor Study Group webinar again and script your process and questions to create your own self-referral process. Carry this script with you everywhere you go, keep your client acquisition radar up everywhere you go, use your process for self-referral everywhere you are. Practice asking your questions with everyone you meet, whether you think they meet your Ideal Client Profile or not. 5. Make it your...
I need to make sure I am on the right track. Is the purpose of the self referral conversation to set a Phone Consultation Appointment? Is it important to go deep even if the prospect is welcoming to receive the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book and Newsletters and agrees to the Phone Consultation?
The purpose of the self-referral process is to determine if it makes sense to make the offer of putting the Values-Based Financial Planning book and 20-minutes on their calendar to discuss the concepts in the book. If there is relevance for them, based on what you discovered when you asked questions, you will schedule the 20-minute Phone Consultation, send them or give them the book, and mail them newsletters.
I am creating the Self Referral: Phone Call scripts for friends and professional acquaintances. I understand the flow chart handed out in Jan 2011 Academy 2. I have created the openings statement and purpose for call, questions & conversation and make offer text sections. I have a list of contacts and am ready to make phone calls.
During A2, we covered Value of the Offer. 4 points were provided.
*Free up mental and physical space and time to focus on the things in your life that are more important than money such as Quality of Life Enhancer Exercise.
*Get your entire financial house in perfect order and keep it that way forever.
*Align your financial choices with your most important goals and most deeply held values.
*Have a 10 level of confidence that no matter what happens in the market, economy or world, they will have confidence about achieving their most important goals.
I'm confused about how the Value of the Offer points should be incorporated into my scripts. If the contact rejects my offer to receive the Values-Based Financial™ book, Quality of Life Newsletters and a 20 minute phone call, I've scripted “Thank you for your time. I wish you well in experiencing all the things that are most important to you” and end the call.
If the contact accepts my offer to receive a book, Quality of Life Newsletters and a 20 minute phone call, I don't understand how to incorporate the Value of the Offer points into the Script.
You only make the offer if the answers to your questions indicate that making the offer is relevant for them. If so, you simply communicate with them why you believe that the general "Value of the Offer" points connect with what they specifically said is important to them. eg: "Based on what you told me about you wanting to spend more time teaching doctors in Paraguay how to better care for their people and enjoying more time with your grandchildren, I believe you will find some of the concepts in this book I'm going to send you will have some impact on freeing up time for you to do more things like this in your life."
I recently had a Phone Consultation with a high school classmate who I believe has been financially successful. When we got to the place where I asked him, "What do you think the value would be for you and Rita to have a complete Financial Road Map® that you built together?" His response was, "Well I mean...we pretty much have a pretty good road map...I mean...I feel like we do anyway." And my inadequate response was, "Well, okay." I have gotten a similar response a couple of other times and would appreciate your help with how to respond.
I can't tell exactly where you are in the process from your question. You could be calling a classmate per the self-referral process, in which case, you would be asking questions to determine the relevance of putting Values-Based Financial Planning™ in their world. If relevant, THE OFFER is to send them a copy of the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book and schedule a 20-minute Phone Consultation to discuss how the concepts in the book would help them . (fill in the blank with something they said that causes you to believe that putting Values-Based Financial Planning™ in their world will be relevant and valuable for them). In the above scenario there is no offer to do their Financial Road Map®. The only place where THE OFFER is the Financial Road Map® is at the end of the Values-Based Financial Planning™ Phone Consultation. In which case, if they said they already have a road map say, "I don't mean a general idea that you can sort of call a 'road map.' I'm talking about...
When making Self referral phone calls to people I know, some people know me from community work such as coaching, and don't really know what I do. After the opening as you & Doug Carter recommend they ask:
What do you do?
My answer has been:
“Because we believe that there are more important things in life than money…… we will ensure that every financial decision you make for the rest of your life will be completely aligned with your most important goals and your most deeply held values…..
With that in mind_______, what is one thing in life that is more important than money to you?”
Is this ok, or would you recommend something different?
It's not bad, Jack. The best measure is how it's working in the real world. My answer to that question would probably be more like: We do two things: 1. For everyone we know, or are referred to by our clients we help them discover how the concepts of Values-Based Financial Planning will help them live a better life in alignment with their most important goals and their most deeply held values. We do this free of charge and whether or not they ever become a client. 2. For our clients we make sure they get their entire financial house in perfect order and keep it that way forever. The impact is that our clients have a 10 level of confidence that no matter what happens in the markets, the economy, or the world they will achieve their goals. I'm just curious, on a scale of 1-10, what number best represents your confidence factor that no matter what happens in the markets, the economy, or the world you will achieve your goals? Would like for your confidence about the future to...
How frequent should I follow up with a client referral? With a self-referral?
Every day until you connect with them or whenever they come up in your Follow-Up Phone Call cue, whichever comes first.
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