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From Planipedia

Thanks to PlanPlus and WEA for sharing their material for this Best Practices Guide.

Contents 1 Changing your MO (Method of Operation) 2 Plan Content and Size will Impact your Presentation Method 3 Client to Review The Plan Prior to Your Meeting 4 Issues When Mailing The Document to the Client Ahead of Time 5 Presenting the Plan – No Preliminary Review by the Client 6 Presentation Techniques with Modular Planning 7 In Conclusion

Changing your MO (Method of Operation)

A conscious decision to offer planning services to your clients, whether they are modular or comprehensive in nature, necessitates having a process to produce written planning reports that will become the focus of your client meetings. Developing a planning report, whether you are using a software package or doing it yourself means that a change to your method of operation may well be necessary.

As you know, implementing something new in your practice often results in an uncomfortable period of change. We all have a tendency to fall back to what’s familiar and comfortable, but if the changes you are making will have long-term positive benefits for both you and your client, it will be worth the effort. So let’s assume that you have developed a planning document that identifies:

1. The client’s goals and objectives;
2. The client’s current situation relative to their net worth, cash flow and tax;
3. An analysis of their situation relative to those goals and objectives given their current situation;
4. A strategy relative to changes in current behaviour, adjustments to goals and objectives that will result in an achievable strategy; and
5. The action steps necessary to implement the strategy.

Once this document has been created, how do you present it to the client to achieve the desired outcome? While there will be many views and theories on this question, let’s look at a couple of alternatives that have been found to work well.

Plan Content and Size will Impact your Presentation Method

You presentation method will differ depending on the size of the plan. For this discussion, we’ll assume that we are talking about a comprehensive planning report that covers all disciplines of the planning process. We’ll further assume that the document length is somewhere in the middle between what’s possible and what’s reasonable, say 15 – 30 pages. Let’s look at the typical content of such a document:

Client to Review The Plan Prior to Your Meeting

When doing comprehensive planning and producing a document with the type of content described above, it may be tempting to sit down with the client and walk them through every single page in detail, explaining every number and comment. However, this could take several hours and can also be overwhelming for the client.

A viable alternative is to mail the document to the client giving them a reasonable period of time to review the content prior to your meeting (say 1 week). The document should be sent to the client with instructions for them to review the content prior to your face-to-face meeting. They should be told to make note of any questions they have so that when you meet, you can answer them. This allows you to make the action plan the primary focus of your meeting. A sample cover letter that accomplishes these objectives follows.

Acknowledging in advance that your meeting will focus on the action plan checklist will set the stage for a meeting that is implementation oriented as opposed to being primarily a review of the plan details. Some clients will want more detail than others and will require a higher degree of document review. However, if you help them to focus on the document as a whole as well as the process taken to get to that stage, you’ll be able to assist them from being side tracked by minor details that can often be an obstacle to implementation.

Issues When Mailing The Document to the Client Ahead of Time

One of the biggest challenges to using the “mail in advance” approach is that you have to be organized to allow sufficient mailing time, as well as time for the client to review the document before your meeting. This means that you have to complete the plan ideally about 10 days prior to your actual presentation date. For many advisors, this requires a higher level of discipline and a systematic process if they have been accustomed to having a plan report to come “hot of the press” minutes before their client steps through the door. Using the mail out approach can be helpful in forcing you to plan your work flow more effectively and thus give you the lead time needed to carefully consider how the implementation plan can be effectively communicated to the client so that it results in action being taken.

Presenting the Plan – No Preliminary Review by the Client

If you elect to not use the mail out method, or, if you mailed the document but the client arrives at your office for your meeting and hasn’t had an opportunity to review the plan ahead of time, then your presentation should still be primarily focused on the action plan checklist. To set the stage, however, you will have to review the highlights of the document so that the client understands the recommendations contained in the action plan checklist. Let’s compare the time it might take to present a comprehensive plan using each of the two methods described.

Obviously, not all advisors will experience these results because the presentation process is a matter of personal style and comfort. However, this example does clearly illustrate:

• How the presentation process can be dramatically expedited, without sacrificing quality, through the use of the mailing process.
• Regardless of which method is used, the highest percentage of time is spent on the Action Plan and the implementation process. This is in keeping with the objective to ensure that implementation does take place. Otherwise, as noted, the plan has no value.

Presentation Techniques with Modular Planning

When doing comprehensive planning, the focus of the presentation meeting is the implementation of the advice and recommendations. With modular planning, this doesn’t change. When we say “Modular Planning” what we are referring to is planning that is focused on a single goal or discipline such as retirement, children’s education, estate planning etc. The presentation meeting would still be focused on the advice and recommendations in the form of an action plan checklist that is more one-dimensional and focuses on the single area being dealt with. One primary difference with modular planning is the need to have a method of making a transition from the current area of concern to other aspects of the client’s situation that should be reviewed. This process has been covered in other sections of this best practices manual, but we’ll briefly review the presentation aspects here. When a client is utilizing your services in a modular way (because they asked for a specific service, or perhaps you only offered a limited number of services in the past) it can be delicate to transition that client to a broader number of services without the client thinking . . . “What are they trying to sell me now”? Using the Action Plan Checklist positions the advice (further modular services) as an action step that recognizes the need to ensure that their affairs are in order in all respects. Here’s an example of an action plan checklist that may be used with a modular retirement plan that illustrates several transition recommendations.

The action items included in this example illustrate how the need for these additional services are tied to the existing exposure that you have had to the client’s situation. You are making reasonable and logical observations and giving your client the benefit of your expertise and knowledge. While it’s true that the delivery of these additional services will frequently result in product implementation, the focus is on the client’s needs as opposed to the ultimate product placement ¾a win/win situation. An action plan that contains these transition statements makes the advice and recommendations for the client to engage you for these additional services, a natural progression of your relationship with the client. It will not be perceived as a sales situation, but rather as a service being extended.

In Conclusion

Presentation of your planning reports to clients, whether they are comprehensive or modular should be focused on the primary objectives of helping the client understand, accept and implement the plan so they can fully benefit from your advice and recommendations.