I gave a Values Based Financial Planning™ book to a prospective Ideal Client during a business meeting. I set up an appointment with him, however part of the purpose of the meeting is also to explore how he can help me build my business. When we have the actual meeting, should I do the Financial Road Map® with him or have the referral conversation.
Always start with the Financial Road Map®. Why not schedule the appointment with him AND his spouse so he can really understand? First focus on helping him and then worry about referrals.
When making phone calls, using the Financial Road Map Scheduling Script™, I get people who procrastinate about coming in to do their Financial Road Map®. In addition to the script, I am also telling them what excellent experiences other clients have had. Is there anything you can suggest to be more effective on these calls?
Yes. Consider implementing more of the self-referral process. In this process you learned to discover things that are meaningful, important, significant, and compelling about your friend, family member, colleague or acquaintance. This relevant information helps them understand why scheduling an appointment with you is in their best interest. The other thing to consider is that you should not have to work very hard or sell existing clients on coming to see you for any reason. Why do they think calling you back is optional? You’re their Financial Advisor. I would think they would call you right back whenever you call for any reason. For those people who don’t call you back you can consider a sign that they definitely are not and will not ever be Ideal Clients. On the other hand, if you really want to send a wake-up call to get them into your office and shift the relationship from something they consider optional to a more serious point of view, consider something like, “in order for...
I ask a prospect to bring in their documents and they state that they have a really detailed spreadsheet with everything on it.
What is a quick and easy response to help the individual understand why I need their documents and NOT a summary of numbers?
Documents are to financial planning what teeth are to dentistry. For the same reason that a person who is serious about their dental health brings their teeth to the dentist, a person who is serious about their financial health brings their financial documents to the meeting with the Financial Advisor. You can’t do your job unless they bring their docs. It is in their best interest to bring the documents. Tell the truth about this and the people you really want to meet with will schedule an appointment with you, gather their documents, and show up to their meeting with you prepared to meet with a real financial professional.
I am not sure if I should explain what the Financial Road Map® is about or if this is too much detail. Sometimes when we email the client a list of the documents needed for the meeting they seem surprised. What should I tell them when asked what is this all about?
Remember the formula when someone has a question? Tell the truth succinctly and directly in a way that’s all about them. So, how is it better for them to bring their financial documents to the meeting with you? Work on that answer for yourself for at least 30 minutes. Write down every reason it’s better for them. Then prioritize the reasons. Craft the most important ways it’s better for them into a succinct, direct response and use it whenever someone wants to understand why they need to bring their financial documents to a meeting with a financial advisor.
I am scheduling a Financial Road Map® Old World New World™ meeting with a very busy client and the only way to do Financial Road Map® is at his place of work which I know is not the best. Would you tell them I only meet at my office and risk the chance of the client saying no?
An Ideal Client meets with you in your office 3 or 4 times per year. If they can’t do that – for any reason – they are not Ideal Clients.
I am scheduling a Financial Road Map® Old World New World™ meeting and the client says his wife may not want to come. I know she should be at the meeting for both of them to experience the Financial Road Map® together. What should I say to overcome the objection and make both of them understand she needs to be there?
I would say, “The conversation we’re going to have is not as much about money as it about planning your future, setting goals, and determining what will become the basis of your financial plan. It’s proven that couples who plan their futures together have a higher probability of having one.”
I am a new adviser with a company where I meet with a lot of people who currently own a product with us and I do a review on that particular product ,which is typically life insurance. Is there a smooth way to transition from the review into a discussion about the Financial Road Map®?
Call them up and say, “We have an appointment scheduled to discuss your life insurance. However, I don’t think this is a very smart approach to me truly being able to give you good advice. Instead, I recommend that you and your spouse come to my office and complete your Financial Road Map® Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 . Having Financial Road Map® will help you make better financial choices in all areas, in addition to life insurance.” From here you can follow the scripts in the Mastery Series™ for scheduling Financial Road Map® appointments.
How do you "pre-qualify" referrals prior to the initial Financial Road Map Interview™ to see if they will be a good fit?
You could either go ahead and conduct the Financial Road Map® and make your own decision about this Referral. Or, ask questions to see if they meet your profile.
When I am calling prospects (not clients) that are already in my company's database, is it better to use the Self-Referral Process or the Financial Road Map® scheduling script?
The better you know the prospective clients, the more likely you would be to use the Financial Road Map® scheduling script. It is more appropriate to use the Self-Referral process if you do not know the prospective clients that well.
I recently conducted a Phone Consultation™ and it went well. However, when I asked "What do you think the value would be for you and your wife to have a complete Financial Road Map® that you build together? He replied "Well If I did not have an Advisor and have a plan, I could see value in it". I continued to offer to complete the Financial Road Map® for them (following the script) but he said "he would not want to waste my time since he already had an Advisor for 20 years that he was happy with" I let him know it would not be waste of my time if I could do something good for them; and it could only enhance the relationship with their current Advisor. He declined but thanked me. What could I have done differently?
Sometimes I think we work too hard trying to figure out how to get people to say yes to our offers. The bottom line is that in the process of getting clients, whether via Values-Based Financial Planning™ or some other method, people are going to say no. Accept it. The reason why they say no is irrelevant. No is no. In your journey to build your Ideal Client Community with Values-Based Financial Planning™ you might distribute 1,000 Values-Based Financial Planning™ books, thousands of Values-Based Quality of Life Newsletters™, and conduct hundreds and hundreds of Financial Road Map Interviews™. Trust the process and enjoy the fact that even for the many people who don’t ultimately become Ideal Clients there is the possibility, even the probability, that many of them got value even though they did not become clients. If in a year or two or three you will have a complete Ideal Client Community of people you truly enjoy helping to achieve their goals and fulfill their values. This...
After a good telephone appointment with the husband we arranged to speak a couple of days later at a specific time once he shared his experience with his wife. When we spoke he mentioned that his wife did not believe there would be much value in meeting since they already had a financial advisor. Would it be appropriate to suggest that I offer to walk his wife through the same experience or do I professionally accept their decline to receive the gift of doing the face-to-face Financial Road Map®?
Offer to conduct the phone consultation with his wife, allowing her to have an experience similar to his before deciding that she isn’t willing to meet with you. Remember, the Financial Road Map® is not just about money: it’s about the future, setting goals and determining what’s important to them so they have a higher probability of actually living the life they want.
How do I get people to come to my office for the first meeting when they frankly sometimes don’t even know if they want to meet me AND to bring their documents? I know referrals are best and I am working towards referrals only, but this other prospecting method does happen sometimes and may be happening for others as they get started building their practices.
First of all, you hit the nail on the head about referrals. Traditional forms of prospecting are very difficult to get people to come to your office or to meet with you at all for that matter. Which is why most people who enter this business fail and why most who stay in the business are not especially successful. I’m guessing that you are still in the early stages of implementation with Values Based Financial Planning™ and the Financial Road Map Interview™ and have not yet put our referral process to work for you. That’s okay, all things in due time. However, when you are consistently implementing a proven referral system and your calendar is nice and full, you don’t worry too much about other prospecting or marketing systems or how to convince people you might bump into socially to come to your office. Your first step is to work with your Accountability Coach to establish a target list of people you can do Financial Road Map Interviews™ (FRMI) with. From there you will have...
I had a Phone Consultation™ and offered to have the prospect and his wife come in to complete their Financial Road Map®. He would not commit to a tentative appointment and wanted to discuss with his wife and think about it. How long would you wait to follow-up to see if they want to go ahead with their Financial Road Map® at our office?
Eliminate all follow-up from your life by scheduling a phone appointment. Get in the habit of doing everything by appointment.
Having met a group of professionals only 1 time at a small group meeting - what would you suggest I do to try and get these individuals as Financial Road Map® Clients? What is the 1st step?
Follow the process outlined in Mastery Series™ 2. It’s a self referral. Ask the questions to understand why THEY might get value from Values-Based Financial Planning™; offer to give them a copy of the book. If they accept, schedule the phone consultation, and proceed just as we teach.
Is there anything else you would suggest to be more effective in getting my existing clients in for a Financial Road Map Interview™?
Yes. Consider implementing more of the self-referral process. In this process you learned to discover things that are Meaningful, Important, Significant, and Compelling about your friend, family member, colleague or acquaintance. This relevant information helps them understand why scheduling an appointment with you is in their best interest. The other thing to consider is that you should not have to work very hard or sell existing clients on coming to see you for any reason. Why do they think calling you back is optional? You’re their Financial Advisor. I would think they would call you right back whenever you call for any reason. For those people who don’t call you back you can consider a sign from God they definitely are not and will not ever be Ideal Clients. On the other hand, if you really want to send a wake-up call to get them into your office and shift the relationship from something they consider optional to a more serious point of view, consider something like, “in...
I am speaking with existing clients (some clients have only insurance or only investments or a combination of both) and I’m using the Financial Road Map® scheduling script for existing clients. When I say, “I wanted to let you know we are making substantial improvements to our business model… Etc.” The client responds, “We have enough insurance and/or my investments are OK.” What would you have said to keep the conversation on topic?
Honestly, I don’t understand how a client of any kind, even a product-based transaction client, turns down a meeting with their Financial Advisor. It’s really a bad sign. It makes me wonder if you are making the reason for setting the appointment all about them. Do you know something Meaningful, Important, Significant, and/ or Compelling about them? If so, are you using it as the basis for coming to see you? If not, ask some of the questions from the self-referral process and then make your invitation. You may also want to follow the self-referral process where you send them the book and schedule a phone consultation. Perhaps the better way to introduce the Financial Road Map® is during the phone consultation. If you want to pursue the direct scheduling of the Financial Road Map Interview on the phone, you might try something like, “We are scheduling appointments with all of our clients to determine whether or not we should continue to work together. We have made some substantial...
When prospecting to friends, frequently a friend will say that they don't want to work with me because I am a friend, that they would rather work with someone who isn't a friend. I have tried to get past this by suggesting that an adviser is all about trust, and it is easier to develop trust with a friend. However, this doesn't seem to work. The concern seems to be not wanting to disclose personal finances to a friend.
Yes. Do their Financial Road Map® with no strings attached instead of “selling yourself” to try to be their Financial Advisor. Even if they don’t bring their documents and you do the Values Conversation™ and Goals Conversation™ they will, if they should be clients, enjoy the Financial Road Map® experience and recognize that the combination of you and Values Based Financial Planning™ is something they will not be able to replicate with another advisor. You might even encourage them to interview other advisors to see whether or not those advisors have a process for helping them discover their goals and values so they can align their financial choices with them through comprehensive planning. Bottom line: don’t sell yourself so hard and the trust the process. Not everyone is meant to be your client, even some of your friends.
Today I had a 15 minute phone appointment with, a guy who “gets it” and who wants to come in for a Financial Road Map® meeting. However, his wife doesn’t want to come to the meeting. These are existing clients and I have always met with just him. How should I handle this?
I would schedule a Values Based Financial Planning™ book phone appointment with the wife, do the Values Conversation™ and Quality of Life Enhancer Exercise® with her on the phone so she can experience for herself that the purpose of the meeting isn’t to discuss boring financial issues, but rather to help them plan their life and take the actions necessary to make it happen. This usually has a positive affect and she’ll be eager (or at least willing) to come to the meetings. She will likely appreciate the opportunity to talk about what’s important to her and have someone actually listen. The bottom line is that in your Old World, you met with one spouse. In your New World you work with couples to help them actualize their Financial Road Maps®. If they don’t want to do that then he has to find a new advisor.
A few weeks ago I had a couple cancel their Financial Road Map® appointment and I have been unable to get them to return my calls to reschedule. From my perspective I thought the Phone Consultation went very well. They seemed engaged and eager to complete their Financial Road Map®. Do you have any suggestions for what I should say when I call them to encourage them to reschedule the appointment?
These are signs from God. Some people like to get things done and some people just pretend like they do. I might make one more call, however, you simply don’t want to have to work that hard with one individual to schedule an appointment. Maybe, sometime before you’re done, he’ll resurface and you can make a judgment call at that point if you want to let him back in the loop. This is why it’s so important to really, truly have your Values-Based Financial Planning™ referral process in full swing all the time until you are done. That way you always have plenty of people to contact so individuals don’t get under your skin.
Do you have a script for appointment setting that works with a non referred client you are in the beginning stages with, that makes them feel comfortable bringing their large pile of documents to a first meeting?
Comfort really isn’t the goal. What if a person needs to do something to achieve a goal that is not comfortable? I suggest you tell people the truth about what needs to happen, and forget about comfort. The reason a person brings their documents to a meeting with a Financial Advisor is to have a better experience and so the advisor can do his / her work effectively. Just because weak, ineffective, Financial Advisors have not asked clients to bring their documents to the meeting in the past does not mean that was a good idea. It just means there a lot of sloppy advisors in the world who do a lousy job and waste people’s time. Bringing documents to a meeting with a Financial Advisor is like bringing your teeth to an appointment with your dentist. It’s that important. After you schedule the appointment for a week or so, ask: “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...
Powered by KBPublisher (Knowledge base software)