I recently completed a Financial Road Map® for a referred couple. At the end of the Commitment To Hire Conversation™ they enthusiastically said ‘yes’ to hiring me and we completed the paperwork to get things started. I am not sure if my answer to the couple’s next question was the best response: The client said, "You know I'm the President of Bradford Christian Academy, and as such I need to make financial decisions every day. One of the things we review on every purchase or project and this includes consultants who we bring in from time-to-time. One thing we look at is our Return on Investment. Since the services you provide are not necessarily financial, other than portfolio performance, how would we determine the dollar value of our business together to use to determine the Return on Investment on the relationship?" My response was, "Well Vicki, you and Bob do not have any plan in place now for retirement, college financial planning, and other major purchases, which is what has brought you to this point in our meeting. You are also concerned with your portfolio and how it is invested because neither of you are professional investment people and you're looking for help in that area. You have big dreams and values and right now are not sure how you will achieve them with your current process. So I guess I would ask you, what is the value, monetary value, you would place on a comprehensive plan that would give you the peace of mind to rest knowing you have a plan to give you the highest probability to achieve these items on your road map regardless of what happens in the world?" I felt guilty because I turned the question back to them and they said they would have to think about that answer and hadn't thought about it that way. Do you have a better answer that you would have used? I feel that I did not really answer their question, but I am not sure I could have come up with better answer than that.

Article ID: 466

Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019

That's a great question! I think it will be very easy for you to quantify your Return on Investment in terms of quality of life. The benefits of having a Values-Based Financial Planner™ are freedom and confidence. The physical freedom from having to do the work to learn everything you would need to learn and do everything you would have to do to be your own financial advisor; mental freedom from worry, stress, and anxiety about your money; and the confidence that your financial choices are in alignment with your most important goals and your most deeply-held values. You will have the confidence that comes from getting your entire financial house in perfect order and keeping it that way forever and the confidence that comes from knowing that you will achieve your goals regardless of what happens in the financial markets, the economy, or world events. You have this confidence because you have a Trusted Advisor, that's me, supported by a Deliverables Team of Subject Matter Experts in all areas of financial services delivering truly comprehensive financial services for you.

Our relationship is an at-will relationship where you can fire me any time you feel the value does not exceed the investment. At the end of every Progress Meeting, which we have every 4 months, I will ask you the following questions:
-Do you have more confidence that your financial choices are in alignment with your most important goals and your most deeply held values?
-Do you have more confidence about your entire financial house being in perfect order and keeping it that way forever?
-Do you have more confidence that comes from that you will achieve your goals regardless of what happens in the financial markets, the economy, or world events?

Your answers to these questions will be how you measure the Return on Investment for our relationship. Does that work for you?

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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 had a great Financial Road Map® Meeting. One of my potential Ideal Clients said, “This was great we really found value, and we want to seriously discuss this before we move forward.” I get back in touch with them and they said that they are not ready to move forward for whatever reason. They like the process, and maybe it is truly just not a good time for them, or they are on the fence, have not made a final decision etc. They meet my profile for an Ideal Client. How do I continue to stay in touch and follow-up without being annoying and still keep them in my pool until I am done?

What would you say at the Commitment To Hire Conversation™ stage when a client says they have an advisor that does all that I am offering, or the client perceives that their advisors does all this for them already? How would you approach this or what type of script would be good in this circumstance?

During the Financial Road Map Interview™ when I’m telling the client exactly what they’re going to get in the way of a financial plan, the script talks about the four areas but never mentions their goals that we just spent time and energy identifying and then emotionally tying to them. Is it just assumed that the goals will be planned? Seems like I should say we’ll give you a plan for meeting your goals, which is of course, what we do.

At the end of the Commitment to Hire Conversation™, the prospect said he would like to see the plan before committing to hire us. What is a good response to this?

If a prospective client doesn’t want to pay the entire fee for a written financial strategy, should I consider offering a lower level of service, such as quarterly coaching calls? Or is it a better strategy to offer either the Financial Plan or nothing?

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