I had a presentation meeting with a client and his wife about a month ago. The Statement of Advice was spot on according to the clients but, that's where it ended. We did not get to the implementation of the plan because they still want to go through the Statement of Advice on their own. A few weeks and a few emails down the line and still I need to get them into the office to proceed. What will the best way be of approaching them now?

Article ID: 514

Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019

In the spirit that, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," it sounds like the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ either didn't happen or could have gone better. My advice is to listen to the recording of the original Financial Road Map® Interview while you follow along with the script for the Commitment to Implement Conversation™ to see what you can do better in this area next time.

Since it's too late to go back in time, I would suggest that you follow-up in a professional manner and hope that they respond positively and come in to implement their Statement of Advice. If they really feel that it's "spot on" and are truly Ideal Clients they will come and implement.

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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.

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?

I have long-time clients who, for the most part, have been completing Financial Road Maps® with me. When I get to Commitment to Implement Conversation™ section, I haven't been asking for that firstly because I cannot charge a hard dollar fee and secondly, if I had a form for them to sign, the form would basically not have meaning as I work for Merrill Lynch and they would not approve of a form that the client to sign for implementing a plan. How do I handle this?

Prior to hiring Bachrach & Associates, Inc., I had already created several of the deliverables on an annual basis for clients. I have been charging between $500 and $1,000 for this type of planning in addition to AUM wrap fees. Can you help me gain clarity and perhaps some verbiage on why a current client should pay 2x-3x times what they are used to?

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