Make a list of everyone you know. Get reasonably skilled doing a Financial Road Map®. Call everyone on your list... Ask for a favor to practice what you do. At the end: 1. Get feedback. 2. NOT bait and switch, but some will volunteer... 3. Ask who they could refer you to who might appreciate the Financial Road Map® experience who could become a client.

Clients: monthly. Referrals: Weekly for the first 8 weeks when you are most proactively engaged in following up and then monthly after that if you choose to keep them in the process. This is covered in further detail at our Academy 2.

This is a good point and if you are not careful it could come across like a bait and switch. What makes doing a person’s Financial Road Map® in this situation NOT a bait and switch is that you are sincerely doing their Financial Road Map® to help them have a good Financial Road Map® experience, help them better understand who you are and / or what you do, or both. If, AFTER, you have done a good Financial Road Map® with them, another door NATURALLY opens, like the door that makes it logical to discuss being introduced this person’s clients or friends or family or colleagues, it’s okay to walk through it. We know from experience that sometimes these doors naturally open and we teach you to be prepared for that in the event that it occurs. We do not recommend that you force a door open with your own agenda. That’s bait and switch. It’s only bait and switch if you had pre-determined that you want something from them and are using the Financial Road Map® as a tactic to manipulate...

Unless I had really been blown off in a rude or offensive way, I would be inclined to send them the Values Based Quality of Life™ Newsletter until I was done building my Ideal Client Community. In every issue I would include a 1-page update of my “Being Done” progress so they could get a feel for when their window of opportunity for becoming my client was closing. Don Van Landingham, the most recent advisor to get done, said that he couldn’t believe how many people came crawling out of the woodwork as he was got closer to being done and how many people who had been non-responsive wanted to make sure to get in for a discussion before that door closed forever. This might seem a bit inconsistent with what we teach at the Academy 2 about sending the Values Based Quality of Life™ Newsletter for 8 weeks during the first 2 months after you have been referred to someone and you are diligently and proactively following up with them to see if there is a basis to schedule a phone...

Sometimes what got you from where you were to where you are may not be the best way to get from where you are to where you want to be. Doing business over lunch may have been a strength that served you in the past and I appreciate that. As a committed implementer of Values-Based Financial Planning™ that strength is not necessary and, in fact, will work against you in the future. Secondly, him or them? If he’s married his wife should be there. Implementation Meetings like all of your meetings are held in your office. Tell him that you appreciate the idea of him bringing a referral to his Implementation Meeting, but that it’s completely inappropriate to do so. You have a process for receiving and following up on referrals and you’ll talk to him about that at the end of the Implementation Meeting. Tell him to contact his friend or colleague and cancel. I can’t emphasize enough how much I have seen advisors wasting huge amounts of time by trying to do too many things too many...

Make a list of your friends, family, acquaintances, etc. Sort the list and prioritize who you think are the best candidates to be Ideal Clients and know people who might meet your Ideal Client Profile. Follow the Values Based Financial Planning™ referral process with you referring yourself to these people. If you did know the MISC information about them you would write the note on the cover of the book with those reasons that you think Values Based Financial Planning™ will be of value to them. However, you indicated in your question that you don’t know what’s MISC to them. In this case, call them before you send the book 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 MISC questions that you learned in the Academy 2. If there seems to be a fit, tell them so, send them a book, and...

You will handle this type of referral one way or the other, depending on how you are referred to them: If they are referred by a client as someone who would get value from Values Based Financial Planning™, then follow up just as you would anyone else to whom your clients refer you. If they are referred to you as a subject matter expert in your quest to assemble the best possible Deliverables Team for your clients, then approach them on that basis. I don’t teach the specific process and scripting for building your Deliverables Team, however, Mark Little does teach this in the Values-Based Financial Planning Office™, a seminar that occurs on the Monday after Academy 2.

I like the fact that you are still willing to provide value to his referrals who do not the geographic component of your profile. This demonstrates excellent Trusted Advisor Way of Being™. And I encourage you to adhere to your Ideal Client Profile and provide value to them, but do not do business with them. Your situation illustrates several things: 1. This is normal. We all lead busy lives and if you expect to connect with the people you have been referred you will have to be proactive. 2. When you follow the process as we teach it, you get your client involved a few weeks into the follow-up process when you are having this kind experience having a challenge connecting with people. So, your next step is to call your client who provided these referrals in the first place, tell them the truth about what’s happening, and ask for help. 3. Another thing it illustrates is that building a business requires diligent and consistent effort over time. As long as you are being...

Early in your journey you just serve them as usual. At some point you can give them an opportunity to step and become an Ideal Client and plenty of time to find another advisor if that’s the path they choose. Don’t sweat it. It’s a four year journey. You don’t have every answer for every possible question super far in advance. We’ll help you get through it.

Your life will be much simpler when you follow the same process every time: send the book, conduct the Phone Consultation™, and then, if appropriate, schedule the Financial Road Map Interview™.

Yes. The phone appointment script is a little bit softer because you are not yet in a position to offer a “relationship with an advisor like me,” as in the Pre-Commitment phase of the Financial Road Map Interview™. When you are in the process of conducting the phone appointment you are helping the person to whom you have been referred get value from Values Based Financial Planning, particularly certain concepts in the book. When you are Face to face conducting the Financial Road Map Interview™ it is more about establishing a relationship and possibly hiring you to be their Trusted Advisor.

Clearly, your client is not clear about how the process works and / or doesn’t work. You have to make that clear, and get agreement about each element, either in the next Referral Conversation™ during a Progress Meeting or in a separate 1-1 meeting. The tendency, at first, is to rush through the script without making sure the client really understands what’s happening and agreeing to every element. It’s okay, it’s all part of the learning curve for you and for them. Review each part of the script / process with the client and get agreement to each and every part. When it comes to them making the call to their referrals their only purpose of that call is to say good things about you, good things about Values-Based Financial Planning™, and to inform them to expect the call. The rest is left to you, the referral, and fate.

Yes, this is a good idea. Also, since you are referring yourself to these people, it will help if you say something personal in your note to them about why you are sending them the Values Based Financial Planning Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 ™ book and why you think they will be a good fit for Values Based Financial Planning™. 

You might ask them, “Are you just looking for a quick-fix product to meet your immediate need or would you like to schedule an appointment to start the ball rolling for comprehensive financial planning?” If they are not sure, you can give them a copy of the Values Based Financial Planning™ book, explaining that this is the process you follow for financial planning, encourage them to read it, agree on a reasonable amount of time for them to read or at least start reading Values Based Financial Planning™, and schedule a phone appointment to discuss what they would like to do next. You might want to create some standards for who you do comprehensive planning with and who you just sell products to meet needs. I can appreciate that you may not want to do full Financial Plan with Credit Union members who only have $50. The offer I described is best made after you have some basic information as to whether or not they have a higher probability of meeting your Ideal Client Profile (ICP)....

I just don’t like most of your business cards because they look so FSI institutional and I think it will make you look like an investment salesperson or a salesperson of some kind. Maybe if you had a business card that was more congruent with the Value Based Financial Planning™ value prop, but that’s not likely. When they see the card they are going to assume you are soliciting their business. It’s tough enough to get that idea out of their head, without doing more things that create the impression. It’s not the kiss of death to include the card. I would just save the paper.

Great idea. Do it.

It might sound like this, after the normal opening where you introduce the tape recorder, “The first thing we are going to do is to explore what’s important about money to each of you. Jack, we had this conversation on the phone, so Susan we are going to start with you today. What Is Important About Money To You?” Start with a fresh Financial Road Map® that does NOT contain Jack’s answers from the phone conversation. After you have completed Susan’s Values Conversation™, then do Jack’s Values Conversation™ again. Even though you already had this conversation with Jack on the phone Susan did not hear it. And it’s very valuable for each spouse to hear the other’s Values Conversation. ™ If you had the Values Conversation™ with both spouses on the phone, simply use the Financial Road Map® you already started over the phone, open with the usual opening, and then say, “Jack and Susan we had a really nice discussion on the phone about what’s important to you. Susan, let’s recap what...

Yes. That’s one way to handle it. If that’s happening often, it may be a clue that taking this approach from the beginning will produce more consistent and predictable results.

When you get to Commitment to Hire™, if you get that far, just don’t offer to be hired. Tell them to take their Financial Road Map® to their next meeting with their advisor and use it as the basis to take that relationship to the next level. Call their advisor, your colleague, and give them a heads up about what’s happening. Then refer your colleague to your Accountability Coach.

I would include this with the summary / update you insert in every Values-Based Quality of Life™ Newsletter about how many Ideal Clients you added during the past month and how many more you have to go to complete your Ideal Client Community.