How do you come up with the fees? I know what I would like to charge to meet my business plan goals. But that may not be the price the customer may be willing to pay. Based on my Predictable Minimum Annual Recurring Revenue calculation, I need to charge my clients about $20,000. Will clients be willing to pay that amount for the role of an orchestra conductor?
The short answer to your question is yes. There are many people who will happily pay $20,000 / year to have a professional help them get their entire financial house in perfect order and keep it that way forever. There are a huge number of people who pay a lot more than 20k / year for a lot less. Your next step is to complete your own personal financial plan so you know how much money you need to fund your present personal lifestyle and how much you must save for your future lifestyle. Then you gross that up for taxes. Gross it up again for business expenses and you have the number that represents what your business revenue goal. Now you can create an Ideal Client Profile that is consistent with your personal and professional goals and implement your plan to build a community of Ideal Clients.
What process can be put in place to organize the Values-Based Quality of Life™ Newsletters so they are sorted and distributed with a flow that avoids duplication of the same Newsletter to the same prospect and also prevents wasting unused Newsletters in a given month?
This is an excellent process for one of your admin subject-matter-experts to create using the Best Way Process™ creator in Module 8 in the Mastery Series™.
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...
In my conversations, people have tried to draw the analogy of the Bachrach & Associates approach to that of setting up/implementing a "Virtual Family Office". Your comments?
Opens up an unnecessary conversation. All they care about is getting help with their money to achieve their goals.
What is the course of action if the Ideal Client agrees to move forward after the Commitment to Hire Conversation, but does not carry a check-book (very few people these days do)? Are documents accepted? Is the follow-up meeting planned? Work started? Etc.?
When you schedule the appointment ask them to bring their checkbook. If they don’t bring it, just have them mail one.
The participants in happy relationships can sometimes have different ideas about the value of money, goals and how resources can/should be used to accomplish goals. How is this handled by the Bachrach & Associates process?
The Financial Road Map® handles this reality perfectly. Both of their value sets are captured on the two values staircases and there is no expectation that they be the same. (In fact, they never are.) The same is true for their goals. All of their goals are captured on the Financial Road Map® whether they are shared or a goal that is primarily more about one partner than another. You can tell that you are dealing with a couple in a good relationship by how well they each support each other in goals they would not have if they weren’t in that relationship. As far as “different ideas about how money should be used to accomplish goals,” that will no longer be relevant when you are their Trusted Advisor because they will have both agreed to follow your advice.
How is the Financial Road Map® shaped for business owners focused [initially, at least] on their professional interests? Note: they do not want their spouses involved
Personal financial planning always precedes business planning because until you know what a business owner and his / her family want to accomplish it’s impossible to know how to structure the business to make that happen. Keep in mind, that a primary purpose of a business is to serve the owners. Not the other way around. When you help business frame it this way you will become a much valued and Trusted Advisor to them. Don’t let the business owner suck you into business financial transactions first. The way you approach this is to say, “Is your objective to have your business running you and your life or to have you running your business to serve your life?” Business Owner: Unfortunately it often feels like my business is running me instead of me running it. But, I would like for my business to serve me better / more. Advisor: Don’t feel bad, that’s very common. I can help you with that. Most business owners are so involved with their business that it’s easy to put the...
I may have the opportunity to be introduced (by an attorney center of influence) to his expat clients in the United States. Since many of these people have multiple interests and advisors abroad, and some are only in the United States for a finite amount of time (a few years), is there a place for them under the Bachrach & Associates system? How should such [potential] clients be "handled"? (I.e. can I get their United States financial house in order exclusive of the other parts of their lives?)
You would handle it like any other client by making sure that you have an expert resource on your team for every situation. You will learn much more about this when you graduation from the Evaluation Program into the Committed Advisor Program. However, this sounds like an unnecessary business and life complication that I would not recommend. We will help you build an Ideal Client Community without having to have much complexity in your life. Like all the roads in the world, it’s not necessary to pursue every opportunity. Many of them don’t take you to a place you really want to be.
Under my current model, there are different means of compensation, depending upon the deliverable (I.e., planning fee, % of AUM, insurance commission, other). It seems that the planning fee would logically be part of the Commitment to Hire. When would the other pieces be brought into the discussion?
It is. Almost every time you offer to be hired they will ask how much you charge. Just tell them. It tends to unfold very similarly to how it unfolded with Robin and Larry on the DVD in Mastery Series #1.
As a "newbie" to the Bachrach & Associates process, I have been told that the focus of this initial part of my education is on the Financial Road Map® presentation. However, assuming the success of my training, I will be getting clients. EXACTLY what is it that I can offer these people that I can deliver on that is consistent with the Bachrach & Associates training?
First of all, PLEEEASE do not call it “the Financial Road Map® presentation.” There is no “presentation.” The Financial Road Map® creates a compelling and emotional interview experience for your clients and prospective clients. Your goal is to create an experience by asking really good questions and listening, NOT make a presentation. During the evaluation phase, you simply do whatever you have always done after you are hired. Now that you have their Financial Road Map® make sure that all of your financial planning and recommendations are in alignment with their most important goals and most deeply held values. At the Implementation Meeting (notice I did NOT call it the plan presentation meeting) you start the meeting with a recap of their values and goals and give your advice in the context of how it will help them achieve their goals for the reasons that are important to them. Your objective during the evaluation phase is to do at least 25 Financial Road Maps and achieve at...
My RIA Financial Plan Contract specifies the delivery of a written financial plan that addresses certain specified areas. Implementation is totally separate and not included with the plan. I am having problems reconciling what I am now learning, with the requirements of my RIA (including a "complete" plan with recommendations). What do you recommend as a temporary "bridge' between the two approaches? (Note: both are "values based", they just go about it differently).
I see no conflict here. Adding the Financial Road Map® which clearly defines their goals and values will only help you create a better plan which your clients will more enthusiastically implement.
I have been advised that there is a psychology that comes into play when a client pays for services (They are much more invested in the process if they pay for the service, no matter how little/much). If the payment does not take place until implementation [%AUM], does this minimize their commitment to the process? (Your experience here, please).
What if there is no formal agreement to sign until implementation and the transfer of assets? What affect does this have? Do you have something that can be used? I am trying to find a "workaround" to the Financial Planning Agreement of my RIA, while still being compliant.
I am not so concerned about the psychology of the situation. I just think it’s good business to get paid when you get hired. If you are able, with your current licensing and / or registration, to collect a fee during the Commitment to Hire conversation of the Financial Road Map® interview then do that. If not, do whatever works within the parameters of the law / regulators for you. We don’t have “work-around.”
I want to keep accurate numbers and had a question about just what qualifies as Ideal Client Acquisition Time. I'm involved in Self Referrals. If I am talking to someone and during the conversation, I realize that they don't have the resources to become an Ideal Client, would it qualify for Ideal Client Acquisition time if I would then offer to send the book, potential Financial Road Map®, etc. I'm struggling with not counting that as Ideal Client Acquisition time vs. counting it because "everyone deserves a Financial Road Map®". Your thoughts, please.
I believe you will be much more productive if you do not include doing Financial Road Maps® for people who have no possibility of becoming Ideal Clients as part of your Ideal Client Acquisition time.
I want to keep accurate numbers and had a question about just what qualifies as Ideal Client Acquisition Time. I'm involved in Self Referrals. If I am talking to someone and during the conversation, I realize that they don't have the resources to become an Ideal Client, would it qualify for Ideal Client Acquisition time if I would then offer to send the book, potential Financial Road Map®, etc. I'm struggling with not counting that as Ideal Client Acquisition time vs. counting it because "everyone deserves a Financial Road Map®". Your thoughts, please.
I believe you will be much more productive if you do not include doing Financial Road Maps® for people who have no possibility of becoming Ideal Clients as part of your Ideal Client Acquisition time.
How do I implement corporate assets into a clients Financial Road Map®? I have a client that has retained earnings in her business that I also manage. How does this work into the Financial Road Map®? How would I work with them as an Ideal Client? This client earns over $300k per year and she draws 120k out as her salary per year. Her husband is not a shareholder in this business and she prefers to keep personal and business separate. Would I do a Success Road Map® for her business instead?
Retained earnings from a business do not have a place on the Financial Road Map®. Money from the business is only relevant to the extent that it is distributed to the owner to spend, save, and / or invest. What does have a place, however, is the current market value of the business and a system for measuring the future value of the business. Business equity is often a substantial asset to fund future goals. As you evolve working with the Trusted Advisor Toolkit and Mark Little you will learn more about these kinds of specifics.
I have been running a "quarterback" model business for the last few years so hiring me to do what I’ve already been doing BUT much better shouldn’t even be questioned. However, most clients I have on a AUM fee, discretionary agreement. I'd like to present a new "flat fee" discretionary agreement, with formalizing me as the Trusted Advisor. Do you have an outline of items recommended in the agreement or examples I can give my attorney to create one for me. AND should I use the Commitment to Hire part of the Financial Road Map® meeting to have them sign to commit?
We're not lawyers, so we avoid giving legal advice. My general advice is that your agreement should clearly indicate the amount of the fee and what they get. Your agreement should be signed by the client during Commitment to Hire and everything related to being hired should be completed before Commitment to Implement.
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.
Should the implementation of a clients plan be done in a single Implementation Meeting or should it be done over several meetings as to not overwhelm the client with information? Currently my dealer has developed something called the total client experience which calls for meeting with the client 5 times in total. Here is an overview of the meetings; 1-introductory meeting,2-portfolio management meeting,3-risk management,4-banking relationship review,4-tax/estate planning, and 5-progress review meetings. I like how it breaks everything down. The things that I have changed based on what I have learned here already are; replacing the initial meeting with the Financial Road Map Interview™ and getting rid of everything like useless fact finders that ask the same thing over and over and leading (probing) questions. I am just not sure what you would advise on the number of meetings to implement.
You are generally correct that you can’t help people get their entire financial house in perfect order in one meeting. It takes several meetings over 12 – 18 months. We teach something called the 3-meeting process to accomplish this. You will learn more about on the 5th day of your Academy.
I was on the phone with my Accountability Coach, we did my 8++ hours of Client Acquisition Time and it equaled 21 hours. I've been doing an average of 8 hours even during the Academy weeks. Is there a list of activities I can get ideas from to fill the remaining hours?
My advice is to review the flow charts in the PowerPoint from the January Academy 2 that were posted online at www.committedadvisor.com under the "Resources" tab and then "The Referral Prcoess." What I call “points of entry” are good thought starters for building your list(s) of who you are going to call and where you are going to go to fill your Client Acquisition hours.
Even with the question of "What’s the biggest benefit of the Financial Road Map®" and who you want to give that gift to, I still receive the response, “All my friends have an advisor.” What do I say then?
There is already a script of what to say when someone says that they have an advisor or a client tells you their Family, Friends, and Colleagues all have Financial Advisors. No need to reinvent the wheel here. (It’s in the Follow-up Phone Call Script in Mastery Series 2, Pg. 103)
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