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Your Client Fears & Concerns Almost Never Go Away – Completely!
I suspect that just about every one of your clients expressed a few fears and/or concerns about their current and future financial situation.
Probably things like:
- Will I have enough money in retirement?
- Can I leave a legacy for my children or others?
- Am I maximizing my investments or missing opportunities?
- Am I protected against a downturn in the market or the economy?
- Will I make the same mistakes my parents (or grandparents) made?
- Will I ever be debt free?
- What happens if my spouse or I get a long-term illness?
I’m certain you can think of other fears and concerns to add to this list.
Here’s a Simple Truth
Just because you create a vision and a plan to address all of your client’s fears and concerns doesn’t mean those fears and concerns automatically disappear forever.
Yes – you may quell these emotions for a time, but since these emails are usually deep-rooted and hard-wired into your clients’ brains, they will re-emerge from time to time.
Therefore, take good notes on your client’s fears and concerns, and perhaps once per year, check in with them. See how they are doing with these emotions. Your clients will truly appreciate the opportunity to re-express these emotions. You’ll likely hear good things about how you’ve helped them with these emotions. This, of course, could be a great stepping off point into a conversation about possible introductions to others.
How about a Fears & Concerns Assessment?
Joanne is a successful advisor just outside of Denver. Joanne has created a checklist of typical fears and concerns that her clients bring with them in their relationship with her.
As part of her discovery process, JoAnne goes through the list and customizes a list specifically for that client (individual or couple).
Once per year, Joanne goes through the list with her client(s) to see what negative emotions might be creeping into the relationship and does her best to put fear to rest (at least for another year or so.)
Are you already doing something like this? Do you check in from time to time about your clients’ emotional state related to the work you do? If so, I’d love to hear how you bring it up and what happens in your relationships.