The following is taken from an MDRT Podcast recording in which two members talked about developing and communicating their service offerings as holistic financial planners.
Brandon Heckert: Let’s say we get a prospective client who has been referred to us by a family member. They’re not coming in with this checklist of everything we offer. They’re just coming to us because they know we do some type of financial planning. And so, when we sit down with any client, the first meeting is just data gathering, getting to know how the client operates, getting to understand their financial situation. And so, we never say, “Here’s all the things we offer. What are you interested in?” It’s our job to get to know the client, get the details of their financial plan, and then offer the services that we think match their needs.
Our goal is to make this as easy as possible for the client. So, if we need to get an attorney involved to draw up some wills or trusts, or an accountant to help with some tax situation, we’ve got a network of attorneys or CPAs we know to try to get them in touch with the appropriate person. They don’t want to have to think about, “OK, I’m going to go to Brandon, and then I’m going to have to try to do some research to figure out who to talk to next.” We’re trying to be that coach to point them in the right direction. And so, we’re trying to simplify the planning process, make it easy. I think clients get overwhelmed when they think about everything they have to do for their financial plan. We want them to come into the office and just talk, figure out what the issues are, and then we’ll come up with a solution, whether it’s any spectrum of a financial issue.
Tim Bosworth: My business partner and I, nine-year MDRT member David Carl Allen Jr., LUTCF, another Top of the Table member, are running a practice with seven advisors and three administrative assistants. And we’re spread out across a pretty large geographic area. So, each of us has different areas that we specialize in, that we’re subject matter experts in, but the intake process is the same. So, I would mimic Brandon in the sense that the first goal is really data gathering, and getting to understand the client, and what motivated them to even sit down and have the appointment. And so, if someone were to come in and need a life policy, that may not be a huge priority for a lot of firms, but we have people who really focus on that. And so, we can make sure that that person can come into the family, into the client base, because we’re offering them a way to have an expert who really focuses on that and will work with them.
But, because the intake process is the same, that advisor may say, “You know what? I know you came in to talk about life insurance, but I’d like to consult on this area over here from a tax strategy standpoint. I’d like to hand this off to Tim and have him take a look at it, make some notes and then get back to you on that.” And then they may take those notes to the client, and then the client says, “Well, yeah, I’d actually like to meet with Tim as well and talk about that.” And so, accessibility for us means meeting people where they are, addressing the pain point, the need that they have, but then also looking at working with them in some other ways, some other areas of guidance that we can provide.
Tim Bosworth is a 5-year MDRT member and Brandon Heckert is a 9-year MDRT member. Both are MDRT Top of the Table members. Hear more in the MDRT Podcast:
