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.
Presently, I offer a College Planning Workshop. This workshop has produced a steady stream of clients. Now I want to upgrade my practice and one way to do so is to offer the first meeting with potential clients as the Financial Road Map Interview™. I can see that a stark revision would be to offer a 20-minute phone conversation before we set the meetings.
Is this script OK for inviting groups?
"We offer a complimentary consultation which is a process designed for you to make the best possible choices about your money that are in alignment with your most important goals and most deeply held values.
After today’s workshop, you are invited to schedule your appointment."
Should I just jump to the 20-minute telephone interview before inviting them to my office for a meeting?
Yes, your script is fine. I would suggest that you schedule the Financial Road Map® Interview.
I am a new advisor starting from scratch as an independent advisor with Lincoln. I have lived in my home town of Pinehurst, North Carolina for 41 years. I can easily ask 150-250 families to help me practice my Financial Roadmap Interview™. But they won't have their financial documents with them. As you say, it's like going to the dentist without your teeth. Is this approach still okay?
No. After you do just a couple of practice Financial Road Map® Interviews, then shift to inviting your friends to come in to complete a real Financial Road Map® and bring their financial documents to experience the full benefit. There is no obligation to hire you and they will get value from the experience whether they hire you or not and whether or not they have another Financial Advisor.
I am calling people I haven't spoken to in two years. I was involved with bringing these prospects to be new clients at a trust bank I was working for at the time.
How would you propose I best introduce them to the New World? I have tried the Old World New World™ introduction. I can get a meeting with many of these people but have not been able to get them to bring either their spouses or their documents. I feel I would do far better with an intermediary stage and what I understand of the self-referral process.
You are correct that there is a more comprehensive approach to contacting your previous prospects with our self-referral process which you will learn as a member of the Committed Advisor Program and have an opportunity to practice and build skill with that at the January Academy. The Old World New World™ conversation is something that primarily happens in the Commitment to Hire Conversation™. You don't lead with this when making a call to someone you have not spoken with in a long time. The Old World New World™ conversation is really for your existing clients. I suggest that when you contact your past prospects that you focus on the value to them for completing their Financial Road Map®. As you know from you experience conducting Financial Road Map® interviews, there are many benefits of having a complete Financial Road Map® for both spouses. Make the call, make the offer to complete their Financial Road Map®, answer their questions, and schedule as many appointments as you can....
I have a client who I have never met with, and I spoke to him for the first time to schedule a Financial Road Map Interview™. He told me that he and his wife were too busy to meet because of their hectic work schedule, but he wanted me to mail him literature on the Financial Road Map®. What do I do in this situation?
To directly answer your question, there is nothing to send in writing. As far as what to say in that moment when someone says they are too busy, consider, "Of course you are and I understand that completely. Which is why I would never call you to invite you to my office to do something that would not be enormously valuable." Continue by explaining both the generic reasons why having a Financial Road Map® will benefit them and, especially important, communicate why you believe the Financial Road Map® will be of value to them personally, based on what you know about them from your existing relationship with them. The more Financial Road Map® interviews you complete, the more examples of success you will have, personally. As your clients and prospects share positive comments about their experience from you facilitating their Financial Road Map®, the more confident you will be in explaining to existing clients and prospects how they will benefit by coming in to complete their Financial...
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.
I completed a self-referral with a prospect. My Admin Manager has mailed out the required 8 Values Based Financial Planning™ newsletters and I scheduled the Phone Consultation. When I called the prospect for our scheduled Phone Consultation they had to reschedule. My Admin. Manager stopped sending the Values Based Financial Planning™ newsletters after we mailed 8 out. I have now been calling the prospect again to reschedule the Phone Consultation.
My question is should we continue to mail the Values Based Financial Planning™ newsletters beyond the 8 issues and include your new letter (which outlines I will contact them to schedule 20 minute Phone Consultation) that accompanies it until the Phone Consultation is rescheduled?
Yes! I recommend that everyone in your prospect pool receive the newsletters monthly until they either become clients, move out of the pool, or you complete your Ideal Client Community.
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,...
Can you provide some scripting for the AM to use when calling the prospect on the phone.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE AM script: "Hi . What an incredible experience you are going to have on the phone with Dean exploring how the concepts in the Values-Based Financial Planning book might help you ! The purpose of my call today is to confirm that you received the email we sent you describing a couple of key points that will help you have the best experience on that call. Did you get the email? (If they were having any "buyer's remorse" about scheduling this phone consultation they should no longer feel this way after speaking with your AM!) Prospective Client: "Yes." AM: "Do you have the appointment scheduled in your calendar for o'clock on day, the ?" Prospective Client: "" AM manages the rest of the conversation confirming that they will...
How many days before the Phone Consultation would you have the email and phone?
Send the email confirming the details for the appointment immediately following the phone conversation where the phone consultation was scheduled. It should include THEIR reasons for scheduling the PC. Send the next confirming email 3 days prior and your AM should call 2 days prior to confirm. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE
Would you send the email first, for example 2 days prior to the phone consultation and then also have the AM make the phone call to confirm the Phone Consultation?
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Yes.
Can you please comment if the email below can be improved upon.
Hi Delbert,
This is a courtesy reminder of your scheduled phone consultation with _____________; he will call you at work at the following number: xxx-xxx-xxxx.
Date: Thursday, September 17
Time: 1:00 PM
Duration: 20 minutes
To help you get the most out of your experience, please have your Values-Based Financial Planning Book and Financial Road Map handy when he calls, you do not need to read the book.
The purpose of the Phone Consultation is to go over some of the key concepts in the book and how they can favorability impact the quality of your life.
If an emergency should arise that prevents you keeping your appointment, please contact me as soon as possible so we can reschedule for another time.
John is looking forward to speaking with you!
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Replace "favorably impact the quality of your life" with the specific reasons that are relevant for him / her. You learned this from your client who made the referral, during the self-referral conversation, and / or your follow-up phone conversation where you scheduled this phone consultation. If an emergency should arise that prevents you keeping your appointment, please contact me as soon as possible so we can reschedule for another time. Use "another time" instead of a time that is more convenient for you. John is looking forward to speaking with you! Instead of "John is looking forward to speaking with" use something that is benefit-oriented for them: John looks forward to the opportunity to help you discover how some of...
We are refining the process and scripting the AM uses when sending both an email and scripting on the phone when reminding a prospect of their upcoming Financial Road Map™ Meeting. The goal is to have the Financial Road Map™ meeting confirmed so it occurs. Would you send the email first, for example 3 days prior to the Financial Road Map™ and then also have the AM make the phone call to confirm the Financial Road Map™ meeting? How many days before the Financial Road Map™ meeting would you have the email and phone?
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Your AM is accountable for making sure that they show up prepared for the appointment. Does he / she know that? How far in advance does your AM say he / she needs contact them in order to make sure they show up prepared? Immediately following the appointment being scheduled by you, your AM should make contact by email and phone. The email is to remind the client what they agreed to with you on the phone to be prepared for a successful experience. The phone call, made the following day of the email, is to confirm they received the email, have read the email, understand what to do, agree to do it, and to offer assistance to make sure it gets done so they show up prepared for the Financial Road Map® interview, which is your AMs accountability, right? ...
While completing the Phone consultation, I asked the question, “Do you have the book handy?"
Client - “YES."
Advisor – “Perfect. Have you had a chance to read any of it?”
Client - “YES."
Advisor - “OK, do you have any questions?”
Client – “No, the book is great. It’s too bad I did not meet you 3 years ago when I switched advisors.”
What would you say to this?
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Nothing. Just continue the process and facilitate the phone consultation.
I conducted a Phone Consultation this evening with a couple. I made the offer to complete their Financial Road Map®, which they accepted.
When they come in for the Financial Road Map®, experience, do I pre-populate the values staircase for them, have them review it, and begin with the scripting from that point, or do I do the whole values staircase conversation again?
If you did both of their Values Staircases on the phone, you pre-populate and begin with Pre-Commitment with each spouse.
When making the calls to schedule Financial Road Map® interviews with current clients, I've received the same reply numerous times. The client will often say something to the effect that he/she needs to check scheduling with their spouse and will get back to me with a time that works for the two of them. I reply that it is fine and confirm when I can check back in. I then send an email to the client I spoke with to serve as a reminder. Is there anything else I should be doing? I imagine that pressing to set an appointment on the phone, with language like, “Let's set a time that works for you, you'll check with your spouse and we can reschedule if necessary” is too “salesy”?
Nope, not too "salesy" at all. That's a great way to handle setting the appointment... I would not refer to implementing an effective way to schedule an appointment that will benefit them as "pressing."
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