justify your fees Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Understanding Why Clients Might Seek a Second Opinion in Financial Planning and How to Avert It

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

If you’ve been in this business long enough, you’re bound to encounter a client who wants to get a second opinion on some of your advice or a strategy you’ve developed. There’s no sugar-coating it—that can feel like a low blow—questioning your expertise and even your integrity.

While it might feel like a vote of no confidence, it’s often a symptom of a deeper need. Understanding these reasons and fostering a solid client relationship can help advisors minimize the need for external validation.

The Fee Discussion: It’s Not the Fees That Bother Clients. It’s the Mystery Surrounding Them

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

For many advisors, discussing fees with their clients is about as comfortable as going to the dentist. They know they have to do it, but they’d much rather be doing something else. Why is that? Is it because they don’t feel their fees are justified? Are they afraid the client will balk at them? Are they concerned they will ruin the rapport they built up to that point?

It may come as a surprise to advisors, but clients expect to talk about fees. In fact, for most clients, it’s not the fees that bother them; it’s the mystery surrounding them when they don’t get the whole story. Some clients have a hard time understanding how fees work, which makes them feel uncomfortable. But they feel worse and may presume the worst when they don’t feel they’ve received all the information.

The fee discussion is a pivotal moment in the process and can set the tone for the relationship going forward. It’s also an opportunity to differentiate yourself if you do it right. That’s why it’s essential that advisors be well-prepared with a practiced presentation and the confidence to deliver it with the highest degree of transparency and professionalism.

How Advisors Can Inoculate Themselves from Fee Compression

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In our last post, we highlighted four critical issues financial advisors face in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic, impacting the way they approach their businesses and the way clients are responding. In the next month or so, we will take a deeper dive into these issues, the challenges they present, and how advisors can meet them head-on for a greater chance at success.

At the top of the list—an issue familiar to all and well-covered here in past blog posts—is fee compression.

Overcome the Fee Discussion by Focusing on the Things that Matter to Your Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Among the many trends affecting the way financial advisors must operate these days, fee compression has been the most impactful. The discussion of fees charged by advisors has moved to the forefront due to the low costs and transparency of digital advice platforms and the highly competitive arena in which they find themselves. As a result, clients are more willing to confront their advisors on the subject of fees and the value they receive in exchange for them, catching many advisors off guard.

How to Clearly Demonstrate Value so Your Clients Don’t Question Your Fees

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

As a financial advisor, you know you bring value to your advisory relationships, which, in your mind, justifies the fees you charge. Your challenge is that, from your clients’ perspective, value is difficult to define. It doesn’t make it any easier when you consider that a client’s assessment of value is subjective, which can vary from client to client. A study by Vanguard attempted to quantify an advisor’s value in terms of how the right advice—primarily keeping clients from abandoning their strategy—can potentially increase a client’s returns by as much as 3% annually. The problem is that difference in performance isn’t apparent in your clients’ statements.

So, how do you demonstrate value in a way that makes your clients not feel the need to question why they’re paying the fees you charge—that they are getting their money’s worth? It may be as easy as simply giving your clients what they want.

Becoming a Financial Advisor at 40? Yes, You Can!

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

This is for all you career-switchers, and those considering a career change move into financial advisory services:

Don’t listen to the nay-sayers and the haters: You absolutely can become a successful financial advisor as a second career. In fact, as a career-switcher, you’ll have many advantages over your younger peers in your training classes.

Here are some of the many pros of becoming a financial advisor mid-career – and a few of the obstacles you may encounter.

Deal with Objections Before They Become Mindsets

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Most salespeople in any industry quickly become proficient at handling objections after the client or prospect brings them up. And that’s a good skill to have. But if you’re constantly dealing with the same objections at the end of your initial presentation, you’re already at a disadvantage – and very likely you’ve lost the chance to win the client.

If you’ve gone for the close and asked for the order, and the prospective client is still raising objections, the battle is on. It’s a signal that the prospect’s mental shields are up. In fact, you may not even be seriously in the fight anymore. This is the case when the objection the person is giving you is not the real objection.

4 Steps to Avoid the Commoditization Trap (And Justify Your Fees)

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Water is water, right? Everybody selling water is in the business of selling H2O. If anything was a hopeless case for commoditization and price collapse, it should be bottled water. Most cities in America can now deliver very clean, safe water right to the tap – at 0.0025 per gallon.

But bottled water companies like Waikea, Fiji, Aquafina and Desani have been tremendously successful in branding their products, affiliating themselves with target markets, associating themselves with positive lifestyles, creating a positive customer experience, and getting a premium price. Customers pay between 400 and 4,400 times more for bottled water than they do for tap water, and the premium water market continues to grow.

Financial advisors face a similar dynamic.

How to Create a Value Proposition

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

There are thousands of pizza vendors in the United States. But only one of them is known for, “Fresh, hot pizza in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.”

There are thousands of clothing retailers in the United States. But if I say the words, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it,” I guarantee you’ll know exactly whom I’m referring to. You can probably see his face.

If you don’t already know what your value proposition is, you probably don’t have one.

Your value proposition establishes two things: The value that you bring to the relationship and why you’re the one they should engage to bring it.

A great value proposition has six characteristics:

It defines who you work with;
It focuses the client experience – not your qualifications.
It addresses specific problems you can solve for the client.
It’s unique to you in your market. None of your competitors can quite say the same thing.
It connects with the client on an emotional level.
It helps you justify your fees so you’re competing on something other than price.

Here’s how to create your value proposition so it has these six characteristics.

Combatting Low Fees

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

If you ever need to combat lower fees, begin by understanding what your competition is actually doing. Then form your strategy accordingly.

Listen to this audio episode or read the transcript below to learn how to de-commoditize yourself and why you need to win the value-argument instead of the fee-argument.

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