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?
I am in the Ideal Life Evaluation Program. I don't have all that many clients and am through most of them with the Financial Road Map®. What is the best way to build a list of people to call? I am not into the program enough yet that I have the Referral Conversation™ available to me.
Use the Financial Road Map® appointment setting script and contact all of your past prospects and invite them to come in to complete their Financial Road Map®. You may also want to do this with your friends, family, and colleagues from your previous career - if you had one. When answering questions about the benefit to them to have their Financial Road Map® completed just speak from your heart about what you have experienced from having your own Financial Road Map® completed and completing Financial Road Maps® for your clients and others. If you are uncertain how your clients feel about having their Financial Road Map® completed, ask them this question: "What has been the benefit or value to you in having your Financial Road Map® completed?" Listen to what they have to say and incorporate what they tell you when speaking with others about scheduling an appointment with you to complete their Financial Road Map®. People will respond positively to you when you come from a place of...
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.
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®.
I have identified a script gap for when I am reconnecting with past clients and prospects and introducing them to Values-Based Financial Planning™. Do you have any wording that I could use to talk to people with whom I have no current relationship? I was thinking of something along the lines of, “Our office has been in contact with you in the past and we have undergone some major changes in how we serve our client community. On our way to completing our Ideal Client community, we know that we will positively impact all those along the way. Rather than just send you a copy of the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book, the purpose of this call is to see if Values-Based Financial Planning™ would be relevant in your world. Do you have a couple of minutes?” I would appreciate your input.
Hi, , I was thinking about you today because I remember that you (fill in the blank with something you know about this person that might, at least, be generally relevant to the benefit they might get from Values-Based Financial Planning™) Based on that, I think you might get benefit from some very interesting work that we're doing. I'm not calling to solicit your business, but rather to see if it would make sense to send you a copy of a great book called Values-Based Financial Planning. Rather than just send you a copy of the Values-Based Financial Planning™ book, the purpose of this call is to see if the content would truly add value. Do you have a couple of minutes?”
I conducted a Self-Referral and I have made many Follow-Up Calls without a return call to date. I believe I gathered good Meaningful, Important, Significant, and Compelling information and inputted it appropriately. When leaving a Follow-Up Call message after many attempts is there anything you would add to the Follow-Up Call script to try and get closure – to find out if they interested in a Phone Consultation™ or not?
No. Just make the call and leave a message following the same script / process / template. Some people will call you back after one call, some after several, some after many, some after dozens of messages over days, weeks, months, quarters or even years... and some will never call you back. In other words you will finish building your Ideal Client Community without making contact with everyone to whom you were referred. The only thing you might consider, which we have discussed in previous Academies, Committed Advisor Study Group webinars, and on this Q&A site is getting your client involved to reach out to their referral to encourage them to return your call. This could be done on the phone before your next Progress Meeting and most definitely at the next Progress Meeting. The less successful business-builder tends to over think why people aren't calling them back. The more successful business-builder makes the next call. Here is an example from one of our Committed...
I will be meeting with clients I have known for 25 years and who have been clients for six. They retired two years ago and we have been working from a Retirement Plan I prepared for them when they became clients. How do I use the Financial Road Map® with these clients?
The Old World New World™ script is for existing clients. Based on the question you are asking, I don’t have anything to offer beyond telling you to use that script to conduct their Financial Road Map®.
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™.
I am very new to this process. Because of some recent (very positive) publicity, we are receiving a number of telephone inquiries. What pre-screening questions should I have my assistant ask interested callers before making appointments with them?
Describe your Ideal Client Profile to the prospective client and tell them your minimum fee. If they would like to have an appointment with you, make sure they bring all of their financial documents and their spouse to the meeting in your office.
At the last Academy (January 2012 Academy 2), you mentioned that when someone asked us ‘What do you do, aren’t you a Financial Advisor?’, we should say ‘No.’ What do you say if you are still transitioning out of a position as a Financial Advisor- a role you plan on exiting at some stage?
If you are in the Committed Advisor Program (which you are) you have already "transitioned" when dealing with new people. Therefore, from now on, you would never tell someone new that you meet that you are what they would perceive as an old-school Financial Advisor. I think there is some golden content on the recordings from the last Academy (January 2012 Academy 2) that gives you the exact verbiage you are looking for to articulate your value proposition. If after giving them a book, conducting a phone consultation, and doing their Financial Road Map; you find that that they don't meet your Ideal Client Profile and your monthly must-have revenue worksheet indicates that you have to have to do some transactions with non-Ideal Clients to survive, follow the process I taught you on Day 6 of the Academy (January 2012 Academy 2) for doing so. Talk to lots of people and hone your skills.
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.
Often, when I am engaged in Self-Referrals with high-net worth prospects, I will encounter a prospect who expresses some interest in Values-Based Financial Planning™, however, they will wander off into a conversation about another, non-related investment topic. What scripting suggestions do you have for this circumstance?
Where they wander to is superfluous / irrelevant to making an offer to give them a book and 20-minute Phone Consultation™ based on something relevant for them. As long as the offer and the relevant thing(s) are, well... relevant, make the offer. It could sound like this, "Based on our conversation I believe that you getting a copy of Values-Based Financial Planning and us spending 20 minutes on the phone to discuss how the concepts in the book could be valuable for you because would be a good use of your time. Where would you like me to send the book? Them: What about active management versus passive management? You: That really has no bearing on the fact that based on our conversation I believe that you getting a copy of Values-Based Financial Planning and us spending 20 minutes on the phone to discuss how the concepts in the book could be valuable for you because would be a good use of your time. Where would you like me to send the book? Them: What about me having worked with...
I recently completed the Planning Process and Implementation for a new client. This process was a 7-step process that culminated in a comprehensive plan and the client implementing all of our recommendations (life, disability, P/C, Investment Management, etc.). The planning process and implementation have taken 6 months to complete. While I want to respect the client's time, he is also advocating for our services under our old model. What is the best time to move forward with conducting the Financial Road Map® Interview. Should I schedule it as soon as possible or try and conduct it at the first Renewal Meeting in about 4 months?
First of all, even if refers people based on the old process you can still begin with the Financial Road Map® interview. Most people will just assume that's what you've always done. That being said, you might want to get the existing client in to experience the Financial Road Map® because of the value of having the Financial Road Map®. The side benefit being that they would have even more on which to base an enthusiastic recommendation. Keep up the great work!
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.
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