by Tony Vidler       

Clients often want advisers to deal with just one element of financial planning…their current “burning issue” that triggered the need for advice to begin with.  Getting them to engage in full advice can be tough and they need to understand what you CAN do for them, and where your knowledge and skills can make a difference in their lives.  Much of what we do is nebulous….intangible….conceptual….and full of what if’s?

We need to get the client to the AHA! moment where they get it…where they understand that considering the full advice spectrum instead of just the burning issue of the moment…is worth their while.

Nothing does that quicker than a diagram. Visuals enhance comprehension and accelerate the process while providing a far more holistic view of what an adviser can do for them, and when.  For example:

This is pretty simple, and you don’t need to be an artist to draw it in front of them. It doesn’t need to be a pre-prepared graphic or handout.

And there are actually two AHA! moments in using something like this.

The first moment is when they realise what good holistic financial advice is all about…..the mix of managing risks, and cash, and planning ahead, and having a plan for it all…but recognising that there are likely to be shifting priorities over time.  Where we begin isn’t necessarily going to be a critical part of the plan over time is in itself something which shifts client perception about the process.  Suddenly holistic advice and having a plan makes sense.

The second AHA! moment though is even more powerful….it is the realisation of the value and the skill of the adviser more than the process.

No online calculator can manage emotions, competing priorities, rapidly shifting needs and aspirations and the numbers at the same time, and on an ongoing ever-shifting basis as delivered by clients.  Showing them that ytou understand that priorities are goig to shift and cvhanges wikll be required right at the outset helps establish the long term value an adviser can deliver.

The professional adviser’s provides great value to clients not in creating a plan full of numbers, it is in adapting the plan to fit the clients world as their lives change and managing their behaviours with it.

Explain that to a client and you will usually get the AHA! you need to get them buying into a great advice process.