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Implementation Meeting

I have heard several people say they do not give the actual financial plan to the prospect. What do they give the client? And, after paying $1500.00 to $5,000.00 for a financial plan how do they communicate to the client that they are not going to be given a copy of the plan?

It’s not about the plan. The plan is simply the documentation of the combined advice from your Deliverables Team about what action your clients need to take in order to achieve their goals and fulfill their values. The clients never see the plan. You work from a prioritized action list, give your clients the appropriate advice, and complete the appropriate paperwork for them to implement your advice. This is why it’s called the Implementation Meeting!

When clients don't bring in any financial documents how do you handle the ..."so this is what I've come up with" part of the Financial Road Map Interview™?

Before you jump to it being their error, are you certain that your team has adequately prepared these Clients for this meeting by sending them a list of the documents you require when they confirm this meeting? Next, find out what is missing and ask them to deliver/courier/mail it to you by a specific date so that you can complete the plan long before the Implementation Meeting. This is similar to what you want to do if they name a goal for which they don’t have enough or the specific information needed to incorporate it into the comprehensive plan. An example is a vacation home: they don’t know how much a home costs in the area they want to buy. They need to contact realtors and discover how much they’ll need to achieve that goal. So while you’re completing the plan, they’re doing homework on their goal.

How should I handle an existing Ideal Client who refuses to give me referrals during an Implementation Meeting? I am anticipating they will not give me referrals because they have not done so in the past.

Try not to project how people might respond to a Referral Conversation™ in the future based on your past experience. In the past, you also had not done their Financial Road Map® and were not implementing more comprehensive Financial Services as you are now. Now that the quality of the experience is better their enthusiasm to introduce to others may also be better. Click on Play button to start listening to this recording

During the Implementation Meeting, the client signs the documents to transfer investment accounts. When is an appropriate time to ascertain asset allocation with the client, since it is not a discussion in the Financial Road Map Interview™?

You, or preferably, your money management Subject Matter Expert, created the right asset allocation for them to achieve their goals before the Implementation Meeting. When they sign the documents to transfer the money they are agreeing to the asset allocation. If what you are referring to is the risk tolerance conversation or questionnaire, which was done after the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ of the Financial Road Map Interview™.

I recently met someone and did a self-referral. We completed his Financial Road Map® and then asked if we could meet again for me to meet his fiancée as well as his personal accountant. We met and I helped his fiancée complete her Values Staircase™ and discussed their goals. During the meeting the accountant made it clear that she was the gatekeeper for these clients, that she'd be reviewing our statements every month and that she would need to have input on the asset allocation, etc. Any advice on how to work with the accountant? The client values her and their relationship very much.

You are the Trusted Advisor. The accountant may or not be on your team, not the other way around. Remember, it’s you who are going to make sure they get their entire financial house in perfect order and keep it that way forever… not the accountant. Explain how you work to your clients and get them on board. As you continue your journey and work through the Trusted Advisor Toolkit and attend the Values-Based Financial Planning Office™ for further Leadership development your skills and confidence in this area will improve.

After the initial Financial Road Map Interview™, when do I collect more details from the client to put together a detailed implementation plan, which is the next meeting, if the person becomes an Ideal Client? The Financial Road Map Interview™ does not collect the detailed information needed for a detailed implementation plan.

If they bring ALL of their financial documents to the Financial Road Map Interview™ and answer all four pieces of each goal you have almost everything you need to create their plan and prepare for the Implementation Meeting™. Do not waste their time asking them to fill out data in fact-finders for info like their Social Security Number when that information is contained in several of the documents they are leaving with you. If you need to do things like a risk tolerance questionnaire you have 3 choices to get that done: 1. Immediately following Commitment to Implement™. 2. As a homework assignment which they complete and return to you, preferably online. 3. During a phone appointment between the Financial Road Map Interview™ and Implementation Meeting™. It is common to speak with your client on the phone or communicate by email between the Financial Road Map Interview™ and the Implementation Meeting™ as you and your team are working on the plan to prepare for the...

I had a client who referred three friends to me at an Implementation Meeting. After my client contacted her friends, one did not want to receive the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book. I am not sure here whether I should enquire at our next meeting to see why they did not want to receive the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book.

Yes, you should ask your client to recount what transpired during that conversation.

I had a client who completed an implementation meeting but was not very effusive about the benefits of our work together so far. She is an elderly lady who is very passive and doesn't seem to have many friends she hangs out with. She sticks with mostly family who are all broke.

Maybe. But, as a rule, I don't buy it. If you want to let them off the hook and blow off the referral process, that's your prerogative. If you do, my prediction is that it will become one of many reasons why you let different clients choose whether or not they participate for different reasons. My advice: all in.

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...

I recently asked an Ideal Client to commit to the 3 meeting process by putting our next 3 meetings on the calendar. She replied, "Honestly that's hilarious! I don't even know what next week looks like". She left our meeting with only the next meeting on the calendar but I would like to get the other 2 meetings on the calendar. My reaction is to explain that to deliver comprehensive advice; that it helps to be totally organized with all my deliverables team well in advance. Is there any way to approach the comment or think about her response?

If she doesn't know what the next week look likes, buy her a 2012 calendar and put the 3 meetings for the next year on it. Advise her that when she begins to plan to the following the week during the week prior to that week's arrival, to schedule around the meeting with you. The bottom line is that you don't really explain much. You have a process and if she wants you to be her advisor she follows the process. If she has an emergency or a big conflict with a future meeting it can be rescheduled. Be strong (professional) and follow your process.

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 an Ideal Client who has given me referrals but has not contacted the referrals for permission to send the books, newsletters, and follow-up call. What’s the conversation to have with the Ideal Client so that they will follow through and contact the referrals so that I can finish the process?

See page 5 & 6 of the Implementation Meeting Referral Conversation™ script and pages 5-7 of the Progress Meeting Referral Conversation. To locate the most current version of the scripts above, please login to www.committedadvisor.com and follow the path below: Home > Resources > The Referral Process Documents & PowerPoints > The Primary Referral Process You will see two (2) scripts under ‘The Primary Referral Process’ 1. End of Implementation Meeting Referral Conversation™ (Please review, specifically pages 5-6) 2. End of Progress Meeting Referral Conversation (Please review, specifically pages 5-7) Two questions I would ask about the referral conversation 1. Did they clearly agree to contact their referrals (soon) and get back to you about sending the book(s)? 2. Did you email them a summary with clear instructions (as outlined in the script) of what to say to each referral using the M.I.S.C. information you gathered from them about the friends,...

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.

When a client hires me I usually do a financial plan for free. Your program suggest that I charge for the plan. How do I go back and charge an existing client for a financial plan when I've already done one for them in the past? How can I start to charge a client for something that I have always given them for free. Is there something more detailed that I can offer them? Can I increase my service to the existing client? I need some ideas, maybe some top notch programs that will take what I offer them to a new level? I feel that there should be a reason why I am increasing their fee. “I am changing the way I am doing things” really doesn't sound like a valid reason to me. Am I wrong? Earl Nightingale said prosperity is founded on a law of mutual exchange. Anyone who contributes to prosperity must prosper themselves. To me that means that if I want to increase my income then I need to increase my value to my clients. How do I do that in the context of charging them a new fee?

First of all, let's address what you do in the future with new clients: charge a fee for planning from now on with new clients. There are several reasons for this: 1. The plan has value, therefore charging for it is a reasonable thing to do. 2. Charging a fee is good for the client because they are more likely to act on advice they pay for, therefore getting more benefit because results come from implementing. 3. Charging a fee is good for your self-esteem and confidence because you are being compensated for the value you create in the form of the plan rather than being forced into salesperson mode to use the plan to sell financial products at future meetings in order to be compensated. 4. Charging a fee for the plan causes the client to view you as a true advisor rather than a salesperson using the plan as "loss leader" to sell them financial products later. 5. Charging a fee for the plan ensures that you are compensated for your work, whether the prospects become...

How should I handle a Financial Road Map Interview™ with potential clients who are living together but not married and who don’t co-mingle their finances?

Consider these two people as two separate prospects. You will conduct two separate Financial Road Map Interviews and they will be two separate clients if they both choose to hire you.

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. ...