Focus on the client’s ambitions before their facts…

They aren’t expecting it!

They are expecting to talk about the markets, or self-managed superannuation funds, or when they’ll get their money  back or term deposit rates.

And why wouldn’t they?

When they go to their dentist they talk about their teeth, when they go to their accountant they talk about their tax.

Why should we force them to talk about their ambitions before we talk about what we’re doing with their money?

Despite the unexpected conversations, our clients have found a number of possible reasons…  

Number one reason seems to be the discussion about their ambitions helps determine why the client is engaging the firm. Whilst we might believe clients engage for what we do, we find when reviewing our clients work that most clients only care about what we do in context does it help them better achieve their ambitions – the outcomes important to them.

Another consistent reason to have the harder ‘why are we working together’ conversation before the what we do together is to help the client understand the value of the fees being charged. As we play a role on our client’s pricing committee, we continually observe that clients find it easier to digest and position the amount of fees being sought when they can compare those amounts against the outcomes they seek.

Outcomes aren’t dollar amounts and retirement dates.

Outcomes are the hopes they have for their family, their business, their community, their own independence, their hobbies, their travel, their life. Outcomes are ambitions – far bigger then dollar amounts.

Once clients understand that you and your team understand and never take their ambitions for granted (especially when you have worked with them for many years), then (and probably only then) the important conversations about what you do and the facts of their current situation can be put into perspective.

What do you reckon?

  Photo credit: Sprout Daily – best daily snaps of world’s best beach…
WordPress Image Lightbox Plugin