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 have had a number of Financial Road Map® Appointments recently where the time of the appointment has gone to two hours. By the time I have thoroughly gone through the values of each partner and then cover their goals (in both instances this has been around 5 goals) and completed the All the Money Conversation™ and the Commitment to Hire Conversation™, it is going on close to 90-120 mins. I cannot see where there is time that we are wasting. There is little chit chat, however, at times, clients discuss some of their goals and that may take a little longer. I am not sure whether I am going too far with this. Can you please provide some comments around this or strategies I can use to reduce the time I spend on each Financial Road Map® Interview?

We do not do tax preparation in our office so when preparing end-of-year tax planning are we meeting with the client and their Certified Public Accountant or just the Certified Public Accountant? This seems to be a fourth meeting. As we begin time-blocking the Three Meeting Process we are realizing that having these meetings with all 124 Ideal Clients (or their Certified Public Accountants) in September, October, and November will require a substantial amount of time. How do we keep on track with the Three Meeting Process with this fourth meeting?

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?

What do you think of this scripting when the prospective clients are talking in great detail: “I appreciate that you want to tell me the details about this, and should we decide to work together professionally, I will need to know more. For the purpose of this exercise, however, I just need to summarize the facts. I have 8 minutes budgeted for this. Would you be willing to give me a few minutes to go through your documents?"

Sometimes prospects determine to work with me at a date later than the Financial Road Map Interview™. Many times, I’m just talking with one spouse in the follow up. What’s the best way to do an effective Commitment to Implement™ in these cases?

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