What is the most appropriate way to handle situations where the Financial Road Map Interview™ goes extremely well, the client fits the Ideal Client Profile, and they are very receptive to working with me, but just want some more time to talk it over before committing? My current approach is to mail them a follow-up letter summarizing our Financial Road Map® conversation, inviting them to become a client, and indicating that I will call in a week to see how they feel about it. Is that the right approach?

Article ID: 175

Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019

Consider just leaving them alone in your office for about 10 minutes to talk it over in private. Often this is plenty of time. If it’s not enough time, schedule a phone appt for a day or two later for them to tell you what they want to do. Instead of the sending a summary letter, let them take their Financial Road Map® with them. If they want to become a client they can bring it back. Remember, you are building an Ideal Client Community. The Financial Road Map® is not a sales technique to close people on hiring you. It’s a tool to help you filter out the wrong people and attract in the right people for your Ideal Client Community. Trust the process. Be a Trusted Advisor.

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Commitment to Hire Conversation™ -> Ideal Clients Resisting to Hire/"Let Me Think About It for Awhile."

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I am struggling not discussing an ongoing fee in Financial Road Map® Meeting. During this conversation the clients ask me how much? The Financial Road Map® Meeting has been around 45 minutes so far and going well. I say $5,000 for the initial plan. They say what do you get? I then run through my 2 page letter of engagement which outlines upfront and ongoing service offering and takes another 45 minutes. After 1.5 hours I feel like the clients are tired and the "would you like to proceed” has lost its presence because of the meeting time. How do I avoid this? I would love to skip the letter of engagement all together, should I just briefly talk about deliverables team (which I have) best-in-class Subject Matters Experts. I am also struggling to understand in the Implementation Meeting how to address the ongoing fee is $1k-$3k per month and not go over the plan in any detail.

What is the script that should be used for a Commitment to Hire while I am only being paid in commissions at this time?

In the Commitment to Hire™ script you say, "Would you like to hire us to create this plan for you?" I'm assuming that, as a solo practitioner with one administrative assistant, I'd say, "Would like to hire me" not "us." Or is there a reason to say "us"?

You have been speaking a lot lately on charging 1% fee for financial services instead of the typical wrap fee for just investment management. The only times I can think of that converting into a single fee for service would be the following: - I don't have any clients that can afford a Predictable Minimum Annual Recurring Revenue of $10,000+ (perhaps this is my own thinking getting in the way). - I work for another advisor who owns a franchise with our broker / dealer and I can't stray far from the compensation model he's set for his and my clients. If there's any other reasons not to make the transition to a single fee for service please let me know. Also, do advisors make the transition from earning money via wrap fees to a single fee for service all at once or over time?

I completed a Financial Road Map® with this gentleman and his wife. He loved the experience and was very excited to go ahead and have us create an action plan. We requested additional information needed to complete the plan. I then received this email (see below). How would you respond? Thanks. Morning, Michele and I had the opportunity to sit down with an investment adviser yesterday and discovered that Optimal Performance is not only an investment company but also a financial planning firm. Embarrassing for me, as we have worked with Diane for over five years and she has helped us manage a myriad of financial challenges over that time. To realize that I have not fully taken advantage of her years of experience her expertise was "uncomfortable" to say the least. That said, Michele and I have decided not to continue moving forward with Ideal Life and re-engage Diane since we are already paying for that service. Additional, I am sure you can appreciate that we do not want to put our relationship with Diane in jeopardy especially after she has been a cornerstone for us. I have reviewed our chequing account and as of Friday, our cheque has not been processed and we would ask that it does not happen. We are prepared to pay a small fee for the work to date (including the Value-Based book) and will issue another cheque to cover that amount. I can have that available when I come to pick up our binder. As you witnessed, we were ready to make the move to see the plan and realize this a disappointing news however this is the right thing for us and aligns with the values we hold true.

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