Objections

Let’s first understand where objections come from. It’s typically from two places. And, because people are never simple, there is a lot of gray in between the two opposites. At one extreme the objection(s) are completely emotionally driven. It (or they) can be unrelated to anything you said and instead be entirely due to the prospect’s psychological makeup. It is common for many people to offer up one or more objections simply because they need time to think and don’t like making decisions quickly. They are looking for comfort and time to gain confidence in their decision.

At the other end of the scale are objections relying entirely upon factual bases. In this instance they are looking for an organized, point by point, factual recitation of the reasons why the right choice is to choose you.

But, how do you know which it is? Or is it a combination of the two? Unless you are sure, the best practice is to split the difference and respond in a manner that honors both.

Before you even begin responding, remember the body language lessons from earlier! You must honor Gail’s emotional side. To do this you mirror her body language so she feels as comfortable with you as possible. If you are unsure what to do, default to a relaxed posture; sit back unless she is really energized and leaning forward, and even then only sit up straight and use a few mild gestures. Let her process the information and make the decision in her own way at her own speed. The important thing is not to “chase” her … you’ll just prolong the process because she’ll continue to move away – emotionally and physically – until she is ready to decide what to do.

You’ll respond to Gail’s questions in a low key, honest, straightforward and conversational manner. Do not become defensive or annoyed. Honor Gail’s words and feelings, e.g. “That’s a good question. Let’s take a look at this chart together and I can clarify this for you.” Blend in factual responses to each objection as appropriate, but don’t make your response overly detailed. Provide enough specificity so Gail can understand the points you are making, and if she wants to drill down any further she can ask.

Objections are a very common part of business development. They are best met head on in the manner described above. Far from being entirely negative, they frequently offer insight into what the prospect is thinking and where their priorities are.

The fundamental problem that causes objections that aren’t entirely emotionally based is that we have offered one or more solutions that either don’t address a need the prospect finds sufficiently important, or the solution we proposed is perceived as falling short in terms of efficacy or value vs. cost.

Finally, many studies have shown that when a prospect tosses up multiple objections (assuming you have done a reasonably competent job identifying their priorities and offered reasonable solutions and value) that they are objecting emotionally and simply stalling for time. If you receive multiple objections I recommend you don’t allow yourself to get bogged down. Don’t let No Decision become the decision of the meeting because you ran out of time. Address the one or two that you judge to be the most important and then proceed without responding to those you have decided are minor. The odds are that if you do this Gail won’t bring the others up again; they were just to stall the process while she gathers herself up to make a decision.

In the next post we’re going to begin talking about the Moment Of Truth this has all been leading up to: How do you get the prospect to actually hire you to perform accounting services for them? In sales parlance, it’s time for The Close.

Setting And Talking About Fees - Part 3

How should you broach your fees during our hypothetical meeting? Either the prospect will ask (“What are you going to charge me if you do my tax work?”) or you can introduce it. I suggest the latter because when you discuss fees in the meeting is important.

Quoting Fees Rule #1: Do not discuss fees until you are ready to do so. If you are part way into the meeting and the prospect says, “We could save some time if you tell me how much you charge because if it is too high we won’t be working together anyway.” Don’t respond directly! Instead, say something like, “Charlie, we’re both busy and believe me I’m not in favor of wasting time for either of us, but at this point I don’t really have a sufficient understanding of the issues to give you any numbers. Just bear with me a bit longer and we’ll discuss fees in detail.”

When fees/costs are eventually discussed, I suggest you don’t try to minimize or hide it (“Say, how about those Red Sox? Uh, your taxes and stuff should cost about $2,000. Do you think they’ll make it to the World Series?”), nor should you give it center stage spotlight treatment (“I have a rate card here that lists our entire fee structure in glorious color. As you can see – there, where I’ve made the underlines - I’d estimate your annual fees for my services will be approximately $2,000. Of course, if your work for any reason exceeds the scope discussed today, additional time will be charged at the hourly rate – listed over here on the card – of $175 per hour.”)

The reason you don’t respond directly when first asked is because extensive studies (empirical field studies with actual sales people and real prospects) were conducted in the ‘80s with the goal of discovering the most effective methodologies for broaching price. Both examples in the preceding paragraph scored poorly.

Which brings us to Quoting Fees Rule #2: Always discuss fees in the context of matching fees to specific activities or goals. This rule is so important that you’ve already read it in two prior posts. You want the prospect to connect what they will be paying to accomplishing the things that are important to them.

Essentially, what was demonstrated to work best is a two-step process.

I have good news … you’ve already accomplished the first step: your questions of the prospect have already identified their financially-related issues/challenges/ problems are and how they prioritize them.

The second step is to link your fees/fee structure to solving/addressing each of them. For example, let’s assume Christine and Doug are in their 50s; fairly well off from appreciation and cash flow from three apartment houses they own and manage, blessed with three children, all of whom are in their 20s, and two grandchildren.

An activity-based fee proposal might sound something like this: “Based upon my review of your prior year’s returns, I’d estimate the fees for your annual federal and state personal returns to be $1500. Preparing trust returns for the two grandchildren will be $500 each. The annual P&Ls and balance sheets for the three apartments will be $650 each assuming we can clean up the cost collection issues you brought up earlier. In that regard, Wanda, one of our associates at the firm, is an expert on Quick Books, and is familiar with their application to income producing property. I’d like her to take a look before I commit to a specific dollar amount, but I think it would take her about five hours to clean things up. Her rate is $125 per hour, so it should be around $625.”

This has been empirically determined by multiple studies to be a much more successful approach when compared to, e.g. “Doug, I’ve looked at the returns and we can do it all – the various returns and clean up the cost collection problem – for an estimated $5075.”

In the past I have participated in spirited discussions about which task & fee module you mention first. The issue is whether you mention the most important one first (start off with a bang) or last (end with a bang)? My observation is the majority of experienced business developers believe the first item you price should be the activity the prospect appears to care the most about. The idea behind this is that the prospect will have a higher probability of finding this price reasonable because accomplishing this task is important to them and this, the argument goes, will tend to lead them to conclude the subsequently mentioned task & fee items are also reasonable.

Finally, remember that everyone; you, me, everyone, is generally willing to pay for something they want. Obviously, one purpose of the questions you ask the prospect is for you to determine what work needs to be done, but of equal importance is establishing what their priorities are so you can develop a successful pricing proposal. If you don’t, the odds increase that you won’t get the job and you will have to chalk up the meeting to experience instead of adding the prospect to your book of business.

Setting And Talking About Fees – Part 2

What are the plusses and minuses relating to the choice of quoting hourly rates, e.g. “my hourly rate is $150”, versus task rates, e.g. “preparing your personal tax returns will be $1500”? From the prospect’s perspective, an hourly rate is considerably more open ended than a firm price for completion of a given task. Therefore, if the client isn’t really “sold,” and/or perhaps still hasn’t arrived at that point where they feel they know and can comfortably trust you, the hourly rate quotation clearly represents a greater potential for uncertainty than a task price. In an earlier post I noted that extensive research has demonstrated clients are more accepting of price when it is directly related to completion or accomplishment of a goal or deliverable they care about. These are strong arguments for quoting task pricing for “everyday” work such as personal tax returns, quarterly corporate compliance work, calculating balance sheets and P&Ls. The risk for you is small because you are sufficiently experienced with these activities to estimate very closely what your time investment will be.

One pricing technique that not only embraces good business development technique but also retains pricing flexibility is as follows: With a new client first ask them for a verbal description of the work. Let’s assume it is doing both personal and a (small, simple) business return. Ordinary stuff. You then quote a range, noting that the fee(s) will tend to the lower number if their raw data is complete and well organized. If that is acceptable, then have them send (or give) the data to you. Tell them you will call if there are any surprises. If you get into their data and see there is more work – perhaps due to an issue they hadn’t mentioned - you can justify a price increase because of scope creep. When you call to explain the increase and finalize the fee, their default is to agree to the price increase – of course, there’s a reasonableness test – and have you go ahead and do the work because a) by virtue of giving you the data and verbally agreeing to the tentative price they have already invested a degree of trust and belief in you and, b) it is a hassle to first have you send the data back, find another accountant, explain everything, give them the data, maybe get charged more, etc. etc.

Again, notice how you are coupling what you are charging to a given activity the client values and not just letting the price float around, e.g. “Our basic hourly rate at Solo, Venti and Grande is $175 per hour.” (client thinking: “Man, that’s a lot more than I make … do they charge that for everything … is there some kind of limit … what about for making copies?”) All you’ve done is create a barrier that must now be overcome.

On the other hand, it can often be very difficult to quote planning, consulting and project work on a task basis. If you know you will be attending a half-day meeting at your client’s company, it’s no problem. But, if instead the description is to meet for lunch to discuss acquisition strategy for the new product line and then keep talking into the afternoon as necessary, well, there’s no way you can quantify this in advance. The only way to approach this is some time = fee equation, whether you charge, say, $750 for a half day and $1400 for a full day, or by the hour.

You improve the odds of obtaining the work if you can reduce fee uncertainty. If the prospect – either a new client or an exiting client looking for unique or one-off services – can see an upper limit they feel much safer agreeing.

The technique described in the second paragraph above also adapts quite nicely to planning, consultation and project work. And, it provides the additional benefit of giving you a logical and client-friendly mechanism to adjust pricing upward if circumstances so necessitate. Here’s an example of the technique in an open-ended situation.

Bob calls you and you answer the phone:
“Hi, Bob. Have you decided when you want to get together to talk about the expansion funding?”
(he tells you he would like it to be on the 9th)
“Let me check my calendar.”
(you check your calendar)
“OK, that works. I’ve marked it down. Let’s make sure I understand the requirement so I know how much time to earmark for this project. Here’s my recollection: the two of us will meet for an hour or so to discuss the overall strategy and the relevant numbers, then I’ll prepare the funding options and we’ll meet again in a couple of weeks – this time with the bankers to get their input – and after that meeting I’ll narrow the options to the one that is most suitable and flesh out all the details with the goal of having everything finalized before the 1st of next month. Is that correct?”
(Bob agrees that this is what he wants and asks how much this will cost him.)
“I think the two meetings will total about 3 hours. The initial work up of the options will be around 4 hours, and I’m assuming preparation of the final option will take another 2. That’s 9 hours, so we’re probably in the $1,800 - $2,000 ballpark. It could be somewhat less, but if the bankers get overly involved and require more than one submission it could be as high as maybe $3,000. We can talk about it as we go through the process and I’ll alert you if it looks like we’re going to be any meaningful amount over $2,000.”
(Bob listens; agrees the time estimates are reasonable. He’s used to hourly rates in the vicinity of $200, so the hourly rate isn’t a shock. His experience is that bankers can be unpredictable, so that part also makes sense. You’ve told him you’ll keep him informed if it looks like he might have to pay more, so he feels he has some upside protection. He agrees to your proposal.)

Summing Up And Positioning To Make Your Winning Pitch – Part 3

Because it is so important to effective business development, I want to revisit the overarching strategy we’re employing here. If you have something you want to sell – accounting services in this case – the question becomes how to do so with the highest probability of success?

You are not selling a physical product, but in many ways the most effective practices to sell toothpaste, trucks, computers, etc. are the same as selling professional services. If you look at a mainstream ad on television or a billboard you will not simply see a picture of the product and off to the side the size and price. Instead, the ad will attempt to portray how your life will be enhanced if you buy the product. That’s why the ‘20s-something studly man with his big smile showcasing very white teeth is flanked by a gorgeous ‘20s-something escapee from the pages of Playboy while nearby a tube of Colgate toothpaste is prominently featured. The ad is selling boy-are-you-going-to-be-good-looking-and-attract-the-babes, it is not selling toothpaste. In other words, the product will improve your life. Madison Avenue has it right – decades of feedback from millions of ads has empirically proven the effectiveness of this approach.

This is why you don’t go into a meeting with a prospective client armed with a story about what you do, ready to explain why you are better than those other providers of your service and to defend your fees. The only way this works is if your competitors all take the same approach. And then what happens is the prospect will select the individual(s) they feel OK with that has the lowest fees. This is a terrible way to sell your services!

Instead, you want to sell your ability to help them achieve greater success in life. Rather than the (relatively ineffective) approach described at the beginning of the prior paragraph you will primarily focus upon the prospect, their financial circumstances and the connection of those circumstances to where they want to be in their life … a much more effective approach. After you acquire that knowledge, THEN you talk about your services, but framing them within the context of how those services help them get where they want to go.

I’ve suggested in prior posts that you might open the discussion up with a statement & question such as, “I’ve had the opportunity to review the financial documents you sent over and saw no surprises. You have a mainstream business with mainstream financial and tax challenges, and we/I am very experienced and comfortable with all the issues. So I can put our discussion in context, can you give me an overview of where you are with your business and where you want to be in, say, two years?”

If the person doesn’t have a business, you might say something like, “Bob, I’ve looked at your tax returns from last year and everything appears to be very straightforward. You and Rosa have about 25 years between now and when you probably will want to retire. So I can discuss how our/my services can be of the most value to you both, could you please give me an overview of where you currently are financially versus where you’d like to be and also project into the future a few years and describe where you want to be?

In both examples above you are seeking an understanding of where they are and where they want to be in their life.

As they respond, gently steer them so they stay on course. Ask questions as necessary so you obtain a fairly clear picture of what they perceive to be important (remember: perception is their reality) and what future goals have the highest priority.

Take notes. Write down their priorities and use some sort of a code to underscore those that appear to be the most important – perhaps a small star off to the side or simply an underline.

With about 10 – 15 minutes remaining in the hour you have to make your case for why the prospect should choose you. Glance at the issues you’ve written down. The one that has the highest apparent priority is the one you address first. Your initial statements incorporate this priority, e.g. “Helen, the number one thing you are trying to do is expand your hairdressing salon, and finding the funds is proving to be difficult. Naturally, our services include filing tax returns and other routine state and Federal requirements, but where I think we can really add value is helping you navigate through your current financial challenge, etc. etc.” You go on to propose some planning; some analysis of her costs to look for ways the salon can increase its margins, doing some projections with an expanded operation, etc. With each issue you have identified you weave your services with solving one of Helen’s problems or taking her where she wants to be.

As she listens, Helen will see you as someone who helps her get where she wants to go in life, not as someone to just do her tax returns, etc. When she reaches that point, you will win the engagement unless a competitor is even cleverer at this process than you are. But you’re going to get so good at this that that will never happen, right?

Summing Up And Positioning To Make Your Winning Pitch – Part 2

The summarization process I talked about in the last post doesn’t sound all that difficult or complicated as you read the words, but the first few times you try to translate that into action while you are having a real time, face-to-face discussion with a prospective client will prove surprisingly difficult for most people.

Here’s what almost invariably happens when you are trying to learn these techniques: You will do your research on the prospect; possibly receive and analyze some basic P&L and balance sheet information, and make preliminary decisions about lines of inquiry and discussion for the upcoming meeting.

You show up well prepared and on time. You remember to do a couple of the proven behaviors that will help the prospect relax and open up. Once they are settled you ask the “tell me about your business and where you want to go with it” question and sit back. You’re poised with your pen to record key elements of the prospect’s succinct and on-point answer.

They respond: “Well, the business is doing OK, I guess. It’s summer, so Elke is there working the office and because she’s in college she’s becoming more independent and I’m starting to get the evil eye from Kay. Ann says its only for three months, and just work with it. I mean, Kay’s been around for years and I’ve talked with her. She knows its only temporary, but I think that’s why I had trouble with Bob and that kind of led to you being here. So the bottom line is that it’s OK and who knows what the future will bring, but I’m optimistic. I just don’t want Elke to be the only one who makes out, so a lot of what I care about is making sure Anna has the same opportunity.”

To say the least, this was not what you expected to hear. And, because you are new to the process your brain has suddenly switched to overload; eyes have glazed over, and you don’t have a clue what to write down or, now that you think about it, a clue to what they just said (I promise you that with some experience this isn’t a problem). You don’t want to interrupt, but you don’t want their rambling stream-of-consciousness to continue. You make a few tentative attempts to focus in on what you want to discuss, but the prospect keeps straying off the reservation. Time seems to be passing more quickly than possible, more and more it feels like you are out of control and so at some point you toss out the entire plan and instead revert to whatever it is you’ve always done because it at least feels natural and comes easily to mind.

The disconnect between intellectual understanding and doing can be wide and deep. You can have a complete, sophisticated understanding of aerodynamics and how the controls of an airplane work, but hopping in and being able to fly competently is quite another thing. If you read a book on skiing or ice skating would that adequately prepare you to go to the ski slope or ice rink and instantly excel? It is the same thing with business development. Like skiing, you are going to have to fall down a few times before becoming competent (actually, the client will never find fault because if you can effectively employ even one of the techniques we’ve covered to this point you will be that much ahead of the majority of other accountants he’s ever dealt with). Don’t expect to be a whiz at interviewing prospective clients until you have skinned your knees a few times. Learning new behaviors is difficult for everyone.

A novice skier would start out on the bunny hill, and so I suggest you do the same. In other words, you might set a goal on your first attempt to use these techniques to a) prepare properly for the meeting, b) remember to do at least two of the four recommended behaviors calculated to put the prospect at ease and help them feel that you are someone they could work with and, c) discover at least one primary reason they want to switch accountants or one thing they consider important in their life that is related to their finances.

Then, in subsequent client engagement opportunities you work up to remembering all four behaviors and at least two important things. Keep gradually raising the bar. After six, eight or ten prospect meetings your awkwardness will morph into confidence and you will enjoy an uncommonly high closing rate.

Next week we’ll assume you have been successful capturing at least one important thing during the meeting and I’m going to walk through summation strategies in some detail as you position yourself for the moment when you ask for the engagement.

Summing Up And Positioning To Make Your Winning Pitch

You’ve gained the prospect’s trust and spent the last 40 minutes talking about her (let’s call her Sarah) accounting/tax issues and successfully connected these to her life priorities, goals, wants and needs. You feel you have a decent handle on both aspects and you’re down to 20 minutes left in the hour meeting.

Ultimately, of course, your goal for the meeting is to walk out with the engagement. How do you transition from the knowledge you have gained in the prior 40 minutes to the point where Sarah says she wants you to provide her future accounting services?

It begins with remembering what she said. It sounds really basic, but I strongly encourage you to take some notes during what I call the discovery phase of the meeting. It is crucial you remember and prioritize the key elements of what you learn. She will be telling you many things; numerous subjects will be touched upon, numbers will be flying around and it is easy to lose track. My recommendation is to have a clipboard or similar with a standard, lined pad affixed by the pressure clip and simply put it across you knee and take notes.

Won’t it look strange if I sit there and take notes? No, it won’t if you do it reasonably unobtrusively so it doesn’t break the flow of the conversation. At a gut level Sarah will be favorably impressed that you care enough, and are organized enough, to make sure you don’t miss any of the important facts. If she is concerned about paying for the new van she needs for her business, you can simply write: “van – how pay?” You won’t need much detail to keep it in mind until you make your summary.

What is it you want to make sure you don’t forget? Anything she perceives is an accounting-related problem is one thing, e.g. “My (former) accountant and I had communication problems regarding what data he needed from me. Then it became a last minute thing and we’d need an extension. I hate filing things late.” Another is anything that she says is important to her personal future, e.g. “I’m getting burned out; I really want to walk away from this somehow and have fun with my husband before it’s too late.”

OK, but why remember these particular things? Because in the final 10 – 15 minute you are going to blend these into your proposal to provide Sarah’s accounting services. Regarding the examples above, you might say: “Sarah, you said more accurate communication and on time filing is important. Because I’ve worked with so many smaller businesses, I think I have a good idea of how some of the most efficient companies collect and record raw financial data and bring the data into their bookkeeping system. I am confident we can find some areas where we can simplify and/or automate some of these functions for you. We can also ensure the data you collect will match what we need to work up and complete your filings. This should have the effect of lessening your overall work load and also help remove at least one of the elements that have contributed to the sense of impending burn out that you mentioned.”

In the same vein, a follow on statement might be, “You also said you want to carve out more time to be with your husband. I know from many of my clients that running a successful small business can be incredibly stressful and time consuming. It sounds like this might be a good time to set a goal to begin cutting back, or perhaps even retiring early. I believe you will have the highest probability of achieving this if you take a comprehensive and long range approach to planning your financial future. An important component of this is to begin now to align your short terms business plans and decisions with long term goals. In my experience, I believe the most effective way to do this is to establish a set of milestones annually. They should be reviewed – and possibly adjusted - at regular intervals; typically every four or six months. I help a number of clients align their financial and business goals to support longer range life plans for retirement and a host of other goals. I would be happy to provide the same service for you.”

In the two preceding paragraphs you are essentially pitching Sarah to engage you to help her modernize and streamline her internal financial processes and help her accomplish some long term financial planning for her business. You will also, obviously, mention preparation of tax returns, quarterly compliance and P&L/balance sheets.

What separates you from other accountants is that you connected these accounting service functions with what matters to her. She heard you illustrate how your accounting skills can help her achieve her personal priorities. She has an understanding of how what you’re proposing connects to her future success. She feels you are tuned into her needs.

This is so much more powerful when compared to your competitor saying something like, “Sarah, I know you want to hear about what we have to offer for accounting services. To summarize, I and the staff at Drizzle, Fogg and Snow have the capability and experience to prepare your quarterly, blah, blah, personal tax returns, blah, blah done accurately and on time. We provide similar services for many fine companies throughout the tri-counties region and believe we are among the best accounting firms in this area. In fact, this might be a good time for you to take a look at our brochure. It outlines all the client services we perform.” (he reaches down into his briefcase … she looks at wall clock)

Next post we will continue our march to the moment of truth every business development effort inexorably leads to: she either says “yes” or she says “no.” It always comes down to that moment. You either walk out to your car as a hero or you withdraw from the field of battle bloodied but hopefully unbroken. Let’s make sure it’s the former.

Isn't That Question A Bit Personal?

I received some feedback from readers expressing reservations about asking questions concerning aspects of the prospect’s personal life. Won’t it create resistance and possibly cause them to shut down if the accountant asks personal questions along the lines I’ve suggested in the prior two posts?

There is no doubt (and I’ll bet you and I are exactly the same in this regard) that I can be offended when a stranger asks me personal questions out of the blue. I distinctly recall once going to a Chevrolet dealer in Sacramento, California. I was thinking about buying a used pickup. After wandering around and kicking a few tires, my solitude was predictably broken by the approach of a salesman. He was a walking cliché (overly tight sharkskin pants, shirt decorated with what appeared to be part of his breakfast, endangered species cowboy boots and a toothpick hanging out of one corner of his mouth). After we exchanged names the very first thing out of his mouth was, “So, how much do you make?” Stunned into silence by this display of cutting edge sales technique, I was a bit slow on the uptake. In fact, my mouth may have dropped open. As I struggled to formulate a reply that would be acceptable in polite company, he helpfully added, “I need this information so I can calculate how big a payment you can afford.” I recall thinking “Gee, that makes me feel a lot better.“ I didn’t buy a car there.

There are at least three reasons why this won’t happen to you. To explain: From the very beginning when you walked into their office you have deliberately behaved in a manner calculated to impress the prospect that you are a friendly, respectful, humanistic, pleasant, organized person who cares about them. Is this manipulative? Well, perhaps there is a good argument that it is, but it has nothing to do with trying to get someone to do something they don’t want to do. Instead, the goal is only to put you and the prospect on the same wavelength.

From the moment you meet the prospect you are following a comprehensive approach where all the elements relate to, and are dependent upon, each other. The process is designed to initially accomplish three specific things. The first is to get the prospect to feel comfortable with you. If they do, every survey I’ve ever seen says that they are far more likely to engage you for personal services. The contrary is true: if they don’t’ feel comfortable with you, they will almost never engage you for personal services if another reasonably acceptable choice is available. The second is to establish a working, conversational rapport. This is accomplished by a blend of what you say and how you act (mirroring and matching). If you and the prospect are in sync, the connection between the two of you will be greatly enhanced. This directly leads to the prospect concluding that you are someone who “feels” OK and they can work with. The third thing is that the prospect’s acceptance of you leads to lowered levels of defensiveness which results in their willingness to answer your questions containing both financial and personal elements.

Remember, the differentiator between you and your competitors is your understanding of how the prospect’s personal priorities, needs, etc. link up to their financial circumstances. It enables you to propose accounting solutions that connect with, and enhance, the prospect’s life, not just their income and net worth.

By forming this linkage, you aren’t proposing to merely maintain a sort of impersonal financial score card for the client, you are instead positioning yourself to step into the role of trusted advisor whose input is an important component of the client’s plan to realize their life’s goals and aspirations. The value the client places upon this latter relationship is head and shoulders above where a hired number cruncher will stand.

Once again, when you can make this connection, the perceived value of your services is greatly enhanced. Not only does this mean you have a much higher probability of obtaining the engagement, you can even charge more (if you aren’t already aware of this, many accountants charge one (lower) rate for compliance and routine tax work, and another (higher) rate for consulting and planning. If you aren’t doing this, give it some thought). In the future, when we discuss fees, I’ll give you some examples of this.

When you begin to conversationally tie the prospect’s life and finances together, it may feel better if you start slowly. For example, asking about funding the children’s college is a much “gentler” way to broach the connection than asking how much retirement income they think they’ll need.

That very first question after you sat down together remains a key to setting the table for this part of your discussion. Their response to your question, e.g., “Before we get into the details, it would be helpful for me to be able to put things in context. Could you could give me an overview of where you are with your business and where you’d like to be, say, five years from now?” is really a key component in the interview because it should provide a good starting point to assess how and when to initiate the personal connection.

Take the plunge. Start slowly. You’ll see that it works. In short order you’ll find that it not only helps your business (higher fees, greater client loyalty, better quality referrals, etc.), it also provides real value for the client because ultimately they get superior advice.