I had a great Financial Road Map® this week however the length of the meeting was way too long. I went through four goals and on one goal the clients had a disagreement on what that goal would be; a retirement date or the option to work or not. We took some time to come up with an agreement on what that goal would be. Effectively, we created one date/goal for each partner. How many goals are ideal and what do you do when they disagree on a goal?

Article ID: 486

Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019

(a) as many goals as they have (usually 2 or 3 is how many they have) and (b) Let them work it out and / or ask expanding and clarifying questions to help. One sign that a couple is an Ideal Client is their ability to work through disagreements in a constructive manner and come to a conclusion.

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A former client referred a guy (call him Bill) to me a couple weeks ago. Bill and I spoke on the phone and scheduled an appointment at my office, at which I intended to complete a Financial Road Map® for him. Bill arrived without the documents I asked him to bring. He had actually completed a Financial Road Map® many years ago but was not working with that advisor. As I started through the script, he was reluctant to proceed. I told him that I wasn`t interested in wasting his time and that we could end the appointment. He said he wanted to ask questions of me first and then we could later complete his Financial Road Map® - presumably if I answered his questions well enough. If I was at the point in my Values-Based Financial Planning™ journey that I was only accepting Ideal Clients, I probably would have not even started the meeting because he failed to bring his documents. However, prior to that time I need Survival Clients. So how do I handle the `I have questions for you before we get to the Roadmap stuff`?

I fully appreciate the script and I am incorporating that as part of my Old World New World™ Conversation. My concern is that most of my clients have come to know me as a gregarious Financial Advisor and are used to some of the relationship building that comes when they first come in the office as we engage in conversation about some of the personal things going on in their lives. It will be obvious to them that something has changed if we suddenly stop with the pleasantries and jump in with the Old World New World™ conversation. I am okay with that conceptually but need help making the transition so they do not feel put off in any way.

Is the insurance listed on the Financial Road Map® in that order for a particular reason? If yes, should the insurance grid mirror this order? As I was putting together the grid, I realized it made it easier to quickly refer to them if they were in the same order - and not risk leaving something important out. What drove the choice of order for insurance on the Financial Road Map®?

When should I NOT give an existing client a Values-Based Financial Planning™ book?

When you say, "Now let me tell you what you are going to get," and go through that language, are you showing the other items they will get? Value adds? eMoney, Newsletter, etc. Could I show the eMoney commercial at this point?

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