When gaining client’s commitment to implement, is it advisable to talk with clients about our annual advisory fees? As a matter of integrity, I have been outlining to client these fees and assessing then and there their level of commitment to implement. Noting that (from what they have shown me on their Financial Road Map®) if they are not an ideal fee paying client, their ongoing service will be provided to them from another staff member in my business, and we will discuss these fees and services in more detail at our next implementation meeting scheduled in two weeks time.

Article ID: 237

Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019

My experience is that they usually ask what you charge when you bring up the implementation and ongoing relationship. Are you sure you aren’t just jumping the gun and bringing this up before they would have asked anyway?
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We don’t recommend that you have multiple advisors serving different levels of clients for different fees. As a business person assessing risk and return, the risk isn’t worth the reward. Ask me more about this when you see me at your next Academy.

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I have a client who has been handled very improperly by her previous advisor. The fact is that moving her variable annuity under my umbrella is going to cost her a lot of money. What verbiage should I use during the Implementation Meeting when we get down to signing papers and moving her annuity to me?

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.

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.

I joined the Ideal Life Evaluation Program a couple weeks ago. I am starting to have my initial Financial Road Map® Interviews. During the Commitment to Hire Conversation™ (and/or Commit to Implement Conversation™) the subject of what services we provide will come up. What are the 143 Deliverables Checkpoints that we are going to provide once we are fully armed with the Values-Based Financial Planning™ process? Should we provide that list to a prospective client to show them exactly what they will get from us?

How should a Trusted Advisor respond when a client rejects a recommendation made during the Implementation Meeting or Progress Meeting, and this decision goes against one of their values?

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