6th July 2020

Financial planning is NOT simply about your client’s goals

Do you want to significantly improve your client outcomes from your next client meeting?

I spoke with a financial planner client of mine recently who was about to give a presentation on financial planning at a large industry event.

He said that he had spoken to several advisers who will be attending and some of them had said how much they were looking forward to him speaking about goals.

These remarks caused him to make some changes to his presentation because, as he said:

“What clients really want is peace of mind.”

Let us conduct a little experiment (it will help if you actually do this and it takes very little time).

Firstly, write down your answers to the following question:

What would you do with an extra £3000 per month?

Next, write down your answers to this question:

What would an extra £3000 per month do for you?

Even though the questions may seem very similar, for most people the answers to each question will be significantly different.

The first question tends to elicit external goals and actions such as paying off debt, having more holidays or doing up my home.

The second tends to elicit internal values and desired states of mind such as peace of mind, more freedom or not having to worry.

Why is this distinction important?

Because external goals are a vehicle, never the destination.

People choose a particular goal because of the meaning it has for them and the feeling they think it will give them. No exception.

Most advisers tend to elicit a goal from a client (if they do it at all) and then jump in with “I can help you with that.”

But you want to slow it right down.

Explore further. For instance, you can ask questions like:

*What is most important to you about that goal?

*Imagine you have achieved that goal, what does that do for you or give you?

*What will be different in your life because of achieving this goal?

Find out through being deeply curious what the goal behind the goal is. What feelings or values are behind the external goal?

What is the point of this exploration?

Because the better you understand the goal behind the goal the more opportunity you have to help your client experience those internal states right now.

Why would you want your client to wait 10, 20 or 30 years to get the benefits of the goal?

You want them to feel the benefits right now because it is quality of life now that matters, not at some point way out in the future somewhere.

Mastering the art of exploring ‘the goal behind the goal’ is a learning curve.

Many advisers feel uncomfortable with it, so they talk techno-babble to clients instead and then wonder why they do not get better engagement.

But the learning curve is an essential part of mastering anything worthwhile and the rewards are far greater than the effort.  

P.S. Did you enjoy this article? Would you like to know how to easily add more value for your clients?

You can download a FREE copy of my 'What every adviser ought to know about Client Engagement!' report and free exclusive content by clicking here.

Business Development, John Dashfield, Dashfield Coaching & Development Ltd