What should I say to survival clients after I conduct the Financial Road Map® and they do not fit my Ideal Client Profile, but I intend to keep them for survival revenue as I build my Ideal Client Community?
Just tell them the truth. Offer to be hired to serve them, but don’t invite them to join the Ideal Client Community. At one of your Progress Meetings in the future, probably when you are less than a year from being done, you can invite them to join your Ideal Client Community by adjusting their behavior to meet the personality criteria of your Ideal Client Community or by paying the minimum fee.
Because I am both building my Ideal Client Community AND accepting survival clients until I reach “critical mass”, how would the Commitment to Hire Conversation™ script go for these survival clients after, “So we’ve come to the point in our time together for you to decide whether or not you want us to create a written financial strategy for you. Now let me tell you exactly what you’re going to get….”. I don’t intend to provide the same level of deliverables and service to them as to Ideal Clients, and I also want to communicate the goal of Being Done™, the point in time when I will no longer be able to serve them. Scripting suggestions?
Just tell the truth of about what you are going to do for them and how much they will pay for that. I wouldn’t explain all the details about being done and that there will come a time when you will no longer be able to serve them during Commitment to Hire Conversation™. This may be more appropriate in the Implementation Meeting Conversation™.
Given that we currently do not charge any fees for preparing a plan (although maybe we should) How do you gain commitment from someone that has no assets to move to us until they retire a few years down the road?
Keep in mind that you are building an Ideal Client Community. Wouldn’t a person who meets your Ideal Client Profile be able to pay you… right now?
Is it possible to have clients that are not Ideal Clients yet, but may be Ideal Clients in the future?
We teach you to build an Ideal Client Community rather than what most advisors have: a mish-mash of exception clients that don’t really provide you the income you need. Keep it simple. They either fit your Ideal Client Profile or they don’t. If they do, they are part of your community. If they don’t, tell them the truth and encourage them find a community where the do fit. Everyone fits somewhere; some people not with you. This is an important step on your journey.
What do I say to a client when they want to know why they are not a "good fit"?
Tell them the truth. Say, "We’re just very selective about who we do business with and chemistry is very important. I didn’t really feel that we connected to well. What did you think?" Other alternatives are, "We work only with what are called “financial delegators” which means that you trust me completely and do whatever I advise you to do, pretty much no questions asked. I don’t get the sense that this is the kind of relationship you want to have with an advisor. Did I read you wrong about this?" Also, "We love to help people make smart financial choices and we have a business to run. Our minimum annual fee is $5,000 and based on your financial situation I would not be comfortable charging you that much. Therefore, I think I can give you some good advice on how to find an advisor who will be a better fit for you." Please click the attachment below for Bill Bachrach's audio version of this answer.
I am struggling having potential clients meet me in my office to do their Financial Road Map®. We are working on scripting and memorizing the Financial Road Map®. The challenge is three fold. 1. This is a our second time getting back in Values-Based Financial Planning™ and all of our customers have some, if not a lot of exposure to the Values- Based Financial Planning™ book, newsletter, Financial Road Map®, our desire for limited client base, etc. 2. We are at a point where I need survival clients. 3. We have developed various pieces of our own Intellectual Property and Brand Identity. So at this point I have questions regarding melding that all together. The core script does not lend itself to those situations fully, but I may be missing something. I believe I can still make it work, yet your teachings seem to discourage that - Thoughts?
First of all, believe it or not, a big part of your problem is that you use the term “customer” to refer to your clients. Customer is a transactional term that is most appropriate in a retail sales environment. Ie: Walmart has customers. Trusted Advisors have clients. Your mindset has to shift in order to succeed with a Trusted Advisor, client-centered method like Values-Based Financial Planning™. I understand that you may need some survival clients, but you probably need fewer than you think if you’ll seriously, consistently, and diligently apply what you are learning from us. As for your business model...scrap it. Your brand is that you are a Values-Based Financial Planner™ who helps your clients get their entire financial house in perfect order and keep it that way forever. Values-Based Financial Planning™ is a complete turn-key business model. You need to decide if you are going to use our method – which is proven to work brilliantly, or yours – which has no significant...
Is there a point at which I don’t request an Financial Road Map with existing clients (accounts too small, don’t want to work with them, etc).
Yes. Use your judgment. If you are fairly certain that an existing client does not and will not meet your Ideal Client Profile, it is okay to not set a Financial Road Map Interview™ with them. In Values-Based Financial Planning™, we strongly recommend that you assess your Existing Client list regularly for those Clients that are costly and plan to replace them with Clients with whom you want to work with. This is the principle behind creating your Ideal Client Profile. Keep the best-of-the-best and let go of the rest. Then, build a practice on purpose that only takes on Ideal Clients. You cannot achieve your goals, actualize your Success Road Map®, and live your Ideal Life by serving non-ideal Clients. However, this process does not happen overnight. You are transitioning your entire practice to one based upon Values-Based Financial Planning™, and that takes time and careful planning. This transition will happen in steps. It sounds like you are dealing with what we term...
I recently had a client say that she did want to hire me, but as she'd just paid a large legal bill and was in need of financial advice to create income from her assets she was unable to pay my usual up front $3000 fee right away. What do you recommend I do to test or create her commitment to follow through with payment and implementation such that I could confidently proceed to create her plan?
As her financial advisor where would you recommend she draw the money from to pay you? If she really couldn’t afford to pay you, you would not have offered to be hired. Instead, you would have said, “After reviewing your financial situation I don’t believe you can afford a Financial Advisor, or you can’t afford for me to be your Financial Advisor. My advice for you going forward is…” and you would either refer her to a Do-It-Yourself website / process or to a less expensive Financial Advisor. However, if you have completed her Financial Road Map® and offered to be hired, then you must know the facts about her financial situation. Knowing those facts, you would say something like, “As your Financial Advisor my advice is that you pay your Financial Advisors fee from…” The options are checking account, savings account, money market account, etc. If she is already not following your advice from the very beginning this is not the way to begin a good client / Financial Advisor...
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.
In a Financial Road Map® with a potential client we got to Commitment to Hire™. The husband said that he had a pretty good handle on everything and most of their finances were in his head. In going through what we do, I saw many flaws in their financial plans.
In the end I asked the question regarding, “on a scale of 1 - 10…” The husband was an 8 and the wife was a 6-7. What would you say when you can see many flaws in a prospective client’s current planning and when there is a difference in the partners’ opinion on their financial house position? The husband is a lawyer and after hearing your latest webinar can understand why they may not be good fit.
The husband said they needed some planning but not at the fee I had set. The potential clients could see the value for “certain people” for this service however cost seemed to be a major issue for them. These people fit my Ideal Client Profile.
There is no need to point out "flaws." All that matters is that they are not a ‘10’ and want to be. If they do not desire to be a ‘10’ and / or are unwilling to pay your fee they are not Ideal Clients. The sure sign that someone is actually an Ideal Client is that they hire you. That's what Ideal Clients do. If they did not hire you... they are not an Ideal Client... period. I believe you are in a degree of Ideal Client denial in that you want people who are not Ideal Clients to be Ideal Clients. This is understandable, but not acceptable. You must see people for who they really are, not who you want them to be. If you wanted to have some fun, you could ask the question, "If it's all in your head, what happens to your wife if something happens to you?" Or, ask her, "How do you feel about your financial future being in your husband’s head?" Or, say to him, "You're kidding, right? Are you really sitting here, with a straight face, justifying that you don't need to hire me because 'you...
I am new to the Ideal Life Evaluation Program. A large percentage of the clients who fit my Ideal Client Profile are out of state. What should I do?
Ideal Clients are not out of state. You are probably focusing on the money part of your Ideal Client Profile and that's only half of the criteria to be an Ideal Client. The other half is personality based, which includes being willing and able to meet in your office, with their spouse, and all of their financial documents. During your Evaluation period we advise you to complete as many Financial Road Maps as you can. Try not to get too hung up on those people who can't participate in the Financial Road Map® and focus on those who can. Your true Ideal Client Community will likely be within a few miles of driving distance of your office.
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