What do you say to a busy CEO who spends all his time working and free time with family and does not want / cannot find time to do a Phone Consultation or Financial Road Map®. How do we create urgency without using fear to help them realize the benefits of working with us?

Article ID: 547
Last updated: 20 Nov, 2019

"Too busy" is the typical response that usually means, "I don't see the value because you didn't move me by articulating how talking to you connects with something that is highly important to me." Go back and check your conversation with the person who referred and every step in the process:

1. Did you get truly meaningful, important, significant, and / or compelling information about the person to whom you are being referred and introduced from your client?

2. Was the note on the book compelling?

3. How well put together were the talking points that you provided your client to prepare them for making an effective introduction?

4. How soon after your client meeting and referral conversation was this nicely "packaged" email forwarded to your client with these talking points?

5. What was the conversation like with your client when they called to tell you to send the book to their referrals? In other words, did you get something confirming that their referrals are expecting your call and hopefully looking forward to it?

6. When you made your follow-up phone call, how effectively did you communicate that the purpose of the call is related to what matters to them?

If all that was actually done effectively it is unlikely that you will ever hear "I'm too busy."

Also listed in
folder Before Financial Road Map™ -> Follow-Up Phone Call (Prospective Clients)
folder Before Financial Road Map™ -> Phone Consultation™
folder Before Financial Road Map™ -> Before Financial Road Map™ Misc.
private Referral Process/ Follow-Up Phone Call -> Referral Process/Follow-Up Phone Call Misc.


Others in this category
b I recently had a conversation with a (self-referred) successful business owner who had talked with me a couple years earlier (before I was in the program) about investing, insurance, and financial planning in general. He expressed an interest in having me take a look at his finances. According to the process, I sent him a book and conducted a Phone Consultation, which went well, and he seemed very interested in having me complete their Financial Road Map®. I scheduled a tentative appointment for when he thought his wife might be available, and asked him to let me know if the time wasn't going to work for her. I also sent him the list of documents to bring when they come. A few days later, I got the following email: "I am not sure this is going to work out. My wife cannot meet at the time we proposed. She is leaving for DC that day. I am leaving the next day. It is going to be hard to get her down to your neck of the woods [45 minutes away] and I am not wanting to go down there either. I understand that you want us both to be there for the financial planning but she is not involved in the finances in our family and that is partially by design. I understand the values based investing part of what you do but I would like to know more about your strategy in investing and what your track record is. I have been working with a company to do some financial planning mostly insurance and things of that sort. (They always come to my office to meet otherwise I don’t think we would be doing any business) Let’s keep in touch and see where it goes." He apparently views me as a wealth manager, but is currently unaware of what we really do (fully-comprehensive financial services). How would you respond?
b Can you please suggest an appropriate scripted reply, when my clients (often happens in the Values Staircase™ Conversation) ask me, "Are you a life coach or counselor?” I’m looking for a response that has a yes but we are also so much more impactful i.e. a wow factor that’s compelling, succinct and all about them.
b A number of my clients do not involve their spouse in the financial decision making to the point where the husband (typically) wants to be the only one present. While I recognize that this process is more about values than it is about finances, the husband refuses to let the wife attend because she isn't involved in that type of decision making. Should I insist that both spouses be there knowing that the husband won't 'open up' if the wife is there?
b I had a Financial Road Map® scheduled today with a prospect that canceled. He and his wife are indecisive as to whether they want to meet or not. He is very young, about 25, and probably not an ideal client. Should I continue to call him to reschedule the road map or let him take the initiative and call me to reschedule?
b I completed a self-referral with a prospect. My Admin Manager has mailed out the required 8 Values Based Financial Planning™ newsletters and I scheduled the Phone Consultation. When I called the prospect for our scheduled Phone Consultation they had to reschedule. My Admin. Manager stopped sending the Values Based Financial Planning™ newsletters after we mailed 8 out. I have now been calling the prospect again to reschedule the Phone Consultation. My question is should we continue to mail the Values Based Financial Planning™ newsletters beyond the 8 issues and include your new letter (which outlines I will contact them to schedule 20 minute Phone Consultation) that accompanies it until the Phone Consultation is rescheduled?
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