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If people aren’t paying you for your financial plans, you’re actually doing them a disservice.
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Recently I’ve had advisors ask about giving away a financial plan as a loss-leader to entice a person to come on board as a client. They’ve been advised to do this, and I strongly disagree with this advice!

We simply don’t value anything that’s given away for free. If you are trying to clarify to people that financial planning is a valuable exercise for them to go through, that it is one of the foundational parts of your business that you predicate the relationship upon, and then you simply say you’re giving it away for free, you’re sending mixed messages to people. You’re confusing them. You need to understand you’re providing value when you provide a financial plan!

No one expects to receive free services from other professionals. For instance, you can’t go to your dentist and say, “I expect you to treat my teeth for free this time. I’ll see how it goes, and then I’ll consider following your advice and maybe come on board as a patient.” It’s going to be a very quick appointment! I know when we had our swim school back in New Zealand if I had parents say, “We have four children. I’ll let you teach my first child for free, and depending on how the first child experiences the swim lessons, we’ll consider then enrolling the next three,” the answer would be, “I don’t think so! We have our set process that we follow, and, by the way, this is what it costs. We know what we’re doing. We do our stuff really, really well. It’s a valuable service, and you’re going to pay for it.”

As a financial advisor, you need to recognize the value you’re providing when you prepare a financial plan for someone, and you need to have them compensate you for it. Doing a financial plan takes an inordinate amount of time, and once you’ve created it, you’re expecting them to commit to it. And to do that most effectively, they should be paying you for it. If you bring them on board as a client, tracking along with a plan that they haven’t paid for, please don’t expect them to follow it. If they haven’t compensated you for doing that plan, they have no skin in the game and so that plan isn’t very valuable to them.

So, to get comfortable charging for a financial plan,

1. Do some research. Determine what people in your area are paying for a decent financial plan.


2. Set your price and stick with it. Set a price that you think is fair for the amount of time that you’re generally going to be putting into a plan for that person and charge them accordingly.


3. If they aren’t willing to pay for a plan, let them go! Remember, you’re looking for that ideal number of clients who are going to do business your way and are ready to work with you based upon a foundational financial plan. If they don’t want to work your way and they aren’t going to pay you for your expertise, let them go. You will be one step closer to finding your next ideal client who will pay you for their plan, will commit to what you’re suggesting to them, and will begin a great relationship with you as their new financial advisor.

I look forward to bringing you another Distraction-Proof Advisor Idea next week.