Someone asks me, “What do you do?” After I answer the question, what questions (impactful or otherwise) can I ask that would evoke an emotional response to move things forward?
One option: ask a question that relates to what you told them you do. eg: On a scale of 1-10, how confident you that you are going to achieve your goals? Another option: ask any question from MISC list: eg: wWhat are things in your life that you are most passionate? Another option: ask any of the Ideal Life Questions. eg: Tell me about your Ideal Life... wWhat does it look like?
What documents does a client need to bring to the Financial Road Map™ meeting?
This is just an example of what you could ask a client to bring: Most current investment statements for all investment accounts Most current retirement account statements for all retirement accounts Most current checking & savings account statements Most current tax return Personal Expense Projection (enclosed) Estate planning documents All insurance policies and renewal pages Listing of all debt. The following on each debt would be helpful -Balance owed & to whom -Percentage interest being paid -Payments remaining -Current payment & frequency -Listing of all Real Estate -Purchase price & year purchased -Estimate of current value In reality, the client should bring you all of their financial documents. You could create a script like the following to be used for when you schedule the appointment: “In order for this experience to be successful for you, you will need to bring all of your financial documents to our meeting. I will send you a list of...
Can you clarify when to give a Values-Based Financial Planning™ book to an existing client? I set appointments with existing clients and do the Old World, New World introduction and then the Financial Road Map®. Should I always give the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book to the clients if they hire me?
You may choose not to give your existing clients the book. Once they have experienced the benefit of Values-Based Financial Planning™ by working with you they don't really need to read about it. If they want a copy of the book for their library and ask for it, fine. Otherwise, I wouldn't offer it or make a big deal of it.
When should I NOT give an existing client a Values-Based Financial Planning™ book?
I can't think of a situation where this would apply.
A number of my clients do not involve their spouse in the financial decision making to the point where the husband (typically) wants to be the only one present. While I recognize that this process is more about values than it is about finances, the husband refuses to let the wife attend because she isn't involved in that type of decision making. Should I insist that both spouses be there knowing that the husband won't 'open up' if the wife is there?
Yes. Neither you, nor he, really know how about "opening up" until the meeting actually occurs. It's a very cool thing to watch a husband and wife relationship shift for the better due to you facilitating their Financial Road Map®.
Should I schedule/conduct Financial Road Map® meetings with Non-Ideal Clients that won’t be able to afford our service and become Ideal Clients?
I am trying to reconcile different comments regarding Non-Ideal Clients and Financial Road Map® meetings with Non-Ideal Clients
• Jeff (& Tom Moore) – do a road map with ALL existing clients
• Bill Bachrach 24/7 website – answer to a question – there are some existing clients you shouldn’t conduct Financial Road Map® meetings with
• Rick Barrera – “Non-Ideal Clients will Steal Your Ideal Life….and prolong your journey…” Disengage as quickly as possible.
I entered Ideal Life Evaluation Program and Committed Advisor Program with the approach that I will do what I am told to do and not question things (Tom M. and Peter’s O's advice). I am just having a difficult time reconciling; soaking up resources for a little more short term profit, getting FRM meeting experience, giving the gift of a Financial Road Map® to Non-Ideal Clients, Non-Ideal Clients potential referrals (although there would be a disincentive for them to refer where it would shorten their tenure as a client?), letting Non-Ideal Clients know what we are doing...
We could add one deliverable and increase revenue but I am finding that my deliverables team is already stretched (it will get better with experience) with Implementation meetings, Progress Update meetings...we only have 14 Ideal Clients so we will be able to handle a lot more Ideal Clients work load once we gain efficiency and better time management. Although I think the time management by my Deliverables Team (in-house) has been fairly good - it seems to be more an issue of efficiency with new system and reports.
I think it would be fun to do these road maps and an easy way to fill up some Client Acquisition time. While this may be easier than other Client Acquisition activities I don’t want to take the easy way out. Lastly, I think there is something to momentum and keeping busy on PRODUCTIVE Client Acquisition activities, I just want to make sure this is productive/the best use of my time.
Do NOT do Financial Road Map® interviews with all non-Ideal Clients. Follow the process of the Annual Recurring Revenue exercise to determine who you will invite to do Financial Road Maps® and who you will not. When in doubt or getting conflicting input, advice from me should be the tie-breaker.
I have recently bought about 400 policy holders from another firm. These people have not had any contact or service for at least 2 years and up to 20 years in some cases. When they come to the meeting with me they are not happy due to the lack of service from the previous advisor but do want to discuss what they have previously set up. How do I commence the meeting to acknowledge the neglect and ensure them that I will be discussing the account that they still have with me now?
When you call to schedule the appointment have whatever discussion needs to be had so they vent whatever they have to vent BEFORE the Financial Road Map® interview. Only invite people in to do Financial Road Map® interviews who you believe are ready to have that conversation. I doubt that you want to do Financial Road Map® interviews with all of your newly purchased 400 policy holders.
Before the Financial Road Map® meeting, I find myself talking about all the ways I'm different from the average advisor. I discuss the 5 Critical Reports, visualizing your Ideal Life, not being on commission, etc. I do this with people who have and have not worked with an "advisor" in the past. Sometimes it must sound like I'm too busy defending myself rather than being confident in the process. Should I even discuss how I'm different or should I just take them through the process and trust that they will come up with these discoveries on their own?
You are correct. Take them through the Financial Road Map® experience. The level of detail you get into about what you do, how you do it, and how much you charge will be in response to their questions after Commitment to Hire™.
What would you say at the Commitment To Hire Conversation™ stage when a client says they have an advisor that does all that I am offering, or the client perceives that their advisors does all this for them already? How would you approach this or what type of script would be good in this circumstance?
I think we covered this very well at the last Academy (January 2012 Academy 2). I suggest that you listen to the audio recordings about the Commitment to Hire Conversation™ where we discussed the use of the diagrams to make your points visually about what you do for your clients. These were the 3 Meeting Process™ and the Conceptual Deliverables Team structure diagrams. You might also use the chart (created by Mark Scorer) that illustrates cycling through the 143 Deliverables Check Points in the first 59 days and then cycling through them again as part of the 3 Meeting Process™ that follows the Implementation Meeting and Initial Progress Update meeting (the first 59 days). The written explanation from the Trusted Advisor Toolkit Kit™ about the 10 Client Deliverables™ could also be used, but it's a little text-heavy for my taste. If I felt that I had explained what we do well during Commitment To Hire Conversation™ already, then I might ask this question of the person who claims that...
Can you let me know if what I said in the following situation was the best possible answer or if I should have given them more detail?
I completed a Phone Consultation™ with a couple and it went well but they both indicated that they are not sure how the Financial Road Map Interview™ will apply to them. They just recently retired and they seem to keep going back to the statement that this Values-Based Financial Planning™ process applies to younger folks and not them. They are in their early 60's. She has skimmed the book I sent, and he has not. I did explain how ongoing monitoring of their financial house would be beneficial from a pro-active standpoint but I'm reluctant to go into too many details until they actually come into my office for their complete their Financial Road Map Interview™.
You:"The Financial Road Map® is a great tool to help you plan your future and works for everyone who has a future, regardless of age. Do you have a future?" Referral: "Yes, of course." You: "Then you will love having a Financial Road Map®. Perhaps it will be much more clear when you experience it then I can explain on the phone. It only takes an hour to get it done. Is there a day next week that works for you?"
I am doing a client event soon and I am extremely new to the Values-Based Financial Planning™ process. I will have about 100 clients and guests there to discuss the first half of the year and what we are looking at in the second half. Is there anything I should mention to the clients as a whole about how I have initiated this Value-Based Financial Planning™ approach, or should I save that information for one-on-one meetings?
Nice job getting into using the system so quickly. A good call to action is to mention that you have a new process for helping them make the best possible choices about their money that are in alignment with their most important goals and their most deeply held values. And that you would like to schedule their appointment to complete their Financial Road Map® this evening before they leave. Then have your staff prepared to do that. Offer the Financial Road Map® to both prospects and clients as a value-added. This will get you off to a fast start. Have fun and good luck!
When I attend self-referral functions and events and I am able to go deep and put the offer on the table, some of these people believe that they have everything in order and seem to be very organized and know exactly what they want to do with their life, or they say that their accountant does all that . I believe they would gain benefit from the concepts of Values-Based Financial Planning if they had a chance to understand what Values-Based Financial Planning was and may reconsider their own arrangements. Do you have any coaching that would help move these people to the next step in the process, that is accepting the book and a 20 minute conversation over the phone?
Use the same responses as you would when you make the Follow-Up Phone Call to a referral who says they already have an advisor or have everything in order.
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 had provided a Values-Based Financial Planning book to someone and have been trying to schedule a Phone Consultation™. What is the response to someone who says they are very private people and are not comfortable sharing all their personal and financial information with me? They say that the only person who knows all that information is their tax person.
There is no requirement to share any private financial information on the Phone Consultation™, so this should not be an issue when scheduling Phone Consultations.
I have a couple clients that I have known and worked with at Fisher Investments. They have been very close to hiring me prior to my involvement with BAI. The following is an email I plan on sending to one of them I was hoping you could review it and give me some feedback?
Don't send the letter / email. Besides the typos and grammatical mistakes, it does not clearly articulate your new value proposition. I'm not surprised about this because I don't believe it's possible to articulate the Values-Based Financial Planning® value proposition in a written communication which is why we have not done so or provided you with a template for such a written communication. It's also the reason we tell you to NOT attempt to do this on your website. It's an enormous waste of time, waste of money, causes brain damage, and does not produce prospects or clients. Instead, what we have created is a step-by-step process for both referrals from clients and to refer yourself to people you already know, like past clients or prospects. We call it the "self-referral" process. There is a flow-chart and script for the self-referral process at www.committedadvisor.com. The essence of the process, if you have enough meaningful, important, significant, and compelling information...
I recently had a conversation with a (self-referred) successful business owner who had talked with me a couple years earlier (before I was in the program) about investing, insurance, and financial planning in general. He expressed an interest in having me take a look at his finances.
According to the process, I sent him a book and conducted a Phone Consultation, which went well, and he seemed very interested in having me complete their Financial Road Map®.
I scheduled a tentative appointment for when he thought his wife might be available, and asked him to let me know if the time wasn't going to work for her. I also sent him the list of documents to bring when they come.
A few days later, I got the following email:
"I am not sure this is going to work out. My wife cannot meet at the time we proposed. She is leaving for DC that day. I am leaving the next day. It is going to be hard to get her down to your neck of the woods [45 minutes away] and I am not wanting to go down there either. I understand that you want us both to be there for the financial planning but she is not involved in the finances in our family and that is partially by design. I understand the values based investing part of what you do but I would like to know more about your strategy in investing and what your track record is.
I have been working with a company to do some financial planning mostly insurance and things of that sort. (They always come to my office to meet otherwise I don’t think we would be doing any business)
Let’s keep in touch and see where it goes."
He apparently views me as a wealth manager, but is currently unaware of what we really do (fully-comprehensive financial services).
How would you respond?
Some people get and some people don't get it. He doesn't want to come to your office and he doesn't want to bring his wife. I would respond: "No problem, . I appreciate that insurance and investment salespeople make 'house-calls.' That's not what we are and that's not what we do. If you are in the area with (wife's name) in the future I think you will both find it valuable to complete your Financial Road Map® because (insert something personal and relevant). I appreciate how busy you both are which is why you might get so much value from having a relationship with a comprehensive financial organizer. The next step is the Financial Road Map®. Let me know what you'd like to do." Put him on the monthly newsletter cycle.
What do you say to a busy CEO who spends all his time working and free time with family and does not want / cannot find time to do a Phone Consultation or Financial Road Map®. How do we create urgency without using fear to help them realize the benefits of working with us?
"Too busy" is the typical response that usually means, "I don't see the value because you didn't move me by articulating how talking to you connects with something that is highly important to me." Go back and check your conversation with the person who referred and every step in the process: 1. Did you get truly meaningful, important, significant, and / or compelling information about the person to whom you are being referred and introduced from your client? 2. Was the note on the book compelling? 3. How well put together were the talking points that you provided your client to prepare them for making an effective introduction? 4. How soon after your client meeting and referral conversation was this nicely "packaged" email forwarded to your client with these talking points? 5. What was the conversation like with your client when they called to tell you to send the book to their referrals? In other words, did you get something confirming that their referrals are...
I am a CPA and I am beginning to use the Financial Road Map® to bring more of our tax clients on as financial planning Why am I so hesitant to make calls to my existing clients? I know most of my tax clients have Financial Advisors and I am always worried that they think I am just trying to sell them something. What's wrong with me?
Don't be so hard on yourself. There's nothing wrong with you. Just make a list and call a few clients a day to offer to complete their Financial Road Map® for the reasons that will benefit them. Whether they do more business with you outside of accounting services or not, having a Financial Road Map® will help you help them. Having a Financial Road Map® will help them make smarter choices about everything related to their money and some things not just related to their money, but better life choices as well. Having a Financial Road Map® will help them interface more effectively with all of their advisors who help them with their financial life: accountants, attorneys, financial planners, investment managers, insurance agents, etc. When you make contact with your clients to offer this valuable experience come from place of service, not sales. The worst thing that can happen is that they pass on the service at this time. Your goal isn't to do Financial Road Maps® for everyone,...
How long will it take me to get as good as a 9-year old?
Watch this video of Jayce Miller, daughter of Committed Advisor, Jason Miller, and decide for yourself. < Download 'Attached Files - Future-VBFP.mp4" below >
How long will it take me to get as good as a 9-year old?
Watch this video of Jayce Miller, daughter of Committed Advisor, Jason Miller, and decide for yourself. < Download 'Attached Files - Future-VBFP.mp4" below >
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