Do investors understand the total cost of investing and advice? The problem with ideal prospects is that they tell you" they are good" meaning they are happy with their advisor. But you know they are not getting the level of service they deserve. You know they are not getting comprehensive planning, and they are definitely not getting all of the services that a comprehensive planning and wealth management firm provides. But here is the problem. You know it and they don't.

Offer a fee audit on a prospects portfolio and financial plans

How can you let them know what they are not getting, but think they are paying for. Do a fee audit, to show them what they are paying, and more importantly, getting and not getting. Honestly, how do you feel w...

Favorable introductions are easier than referrals. After 30 years in the financial industry in various roles including being a financial advisor, National Director of Practice Management and financial advisor coach, I truly believe that favorable introductions are easier for financial advisor clients than referrals. Let me explain. When I was growing my financial advisory practice, I was looking for more ideal clients, wealthy individuals who needed complex planning and advice to help them reach all of their goals. The financial industry and all top advisors said, grow your business by referrals only. But, I did not buy it, there must be more to it than sitting at your desk waiting for people to call you because they told a friend how wo...

What is on your third screen? I use three screens to accomplish my work. Two for work tasks and the third screen to focus on the most important people that I work with, and would like to work with. Let me explain. As a financial advisor, what is your daily and weekly focus? How much will you grow your financial advisor practice this year? Five percent, ten percent, twenty percent or more? When you look at how much you want to grow as a financial professional, you look at your revenue. When you look at acquiring new ideal clients you look at the number of new clients you can acquire. There is a big disconnect on how we think we will grow and what actually happens. Change your thinking. What if it only takes one or two or three clients to ...

When was the last time a client or prospect walked into your office and asked for an estate plan? The reason why people don’t ask for one is that they need a deeper clarity around their specific goals for their estate. Instead, ask this question. “Did you know about our beneficiary audit service? “The typical answer is no, what is that about. “Would it be valuable to do a beneficiary audit, to summarize on one page all your beneficiaries and the benefits they will receive, and make sure all beneficiaries are correct and coordinated with your will? If we could summarize this information on one page, would that be valuable to you?

By: Bill Bachrach www.billbachrach.com

There are critical conversations necessary to engage people in ways that predictably turn leads into prospects, prospects into clients, clients into people who take action on your advice, happily pay you for planning and advice, and refer you to their friends, family, and colleagues.

These conversations are easy to understand but hard to master. Many FAs have a basic level of ability with these conversations, but this article is about elevating from basic ability to virtuoso skillfulness. Consider what could happen to the quality of your client service and the value of your business when you can artfully engage anyone, any time, and anywhere.

Critical Conversation #1: Mastery of the first conversation.

E...

If you want clients to trust you, hire you, move all their money to you, implement the advice from your planning process, keep working with you in any market or economic conditions, and introduce you to everyone they know... you need to have strong communication skills.

In the wealth management world, I truly believe that most wealthy high net worth clients are living in a one-dimensional world with their financial advisor and wealth manager. What I mean by a one-dimensional world versus two and three dimensional is that advisors have clients convinced it is all about the performance of their portfolio. They do a great job managing their portfolio and the market keeps going up for years, so that is what the clients believe is the value and that is what advisors believe is the value. They don’t know what a two and three-dimensional world is.

What is a three-dimensional advisor?

The first dimension is products ( insurance) and performance. The second dimension is comprehensive planning and advice coor...

If you want clients to trust you, hire you, move all their money to you, implement the advice from your planning process, keep working with you in any market or economic conditions, and introduce you to everyone they know... you need to have strong communication skills.

Words matter a lot. What you say, how you say it, and when you say it can make all the difference in the world to your success or failure.

If you’d like to discover exactly what to say and what NOT to say in order to attract and retain the clients you really want, you’re invited to attend a free webinar training with Bill Bachrach on January 24 at 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET.

When you learn to speak the language of trust you can create relationships where people trust...

What is the real reason why ideal prospects do not bring all of their key financial documents to a meeting with you? Because you have not positioned it properly in their minds. Positioning according to Wikipedia” refers to the place that a brand occupies in the minds of the customers and how it is distinguished from the products of the competitor”. Most financial advisors I ask how they position to prospects to bring all of their documents with them at the meeting, that the advisor has set up, is wrong. It is usually positioned to the advisor's benefit. The advisor positions it by saying something like “ bring in all of your financial documents so we can see where you are at and it will help me understand how we can hel...

Do your ideal clients know all the services that you offer? Imagine walking into a restaurant, and after getting seated, the host rips the menu in half and says” enjoy your meal”. Do you want the whole menu or just half of it? Your ideal clients, which are your best clients want the whole menu. They delegate everything to you and are “all in” when it comes to comprehensive planning and advice. The clients who only want to use part of your services are NEVER going to be your ideal clients, so stop hoping they become one someday.

Ideal clients delegate

Imagine having two doctors you trust that compete with one another, one doctor for the top half of my body and one doctor for the bottom half. Sounds crazy to most, yet...