Are Interrogatory Questions Alienating Your Clients? – Part 1

A huge thank you to John W. Wheeler Jr., CFP, CLU, ChFC, CRPC, LUTCF of Water Tower Financial Partners, LLC.

I had the pleasure of having dinner with John and to hear John speak in Charleston, West Virginia at the NAIFA West Virginia State Conference May 15 – 16, 2014.

Thank you John for his ideas that included asking clients Consultative vs Interrogatory Questions and John’s ideas influenced me to consider the following questions:

• With the changes to Full Disclosure of Commission and the potential of a Ban of Commissions in Canada, are Canadian Advisors asking themselves too many Interrogatory Questions?
• Are Advisors conditioned to sell Logic vs Emotion?
• Are Advisors conditioned to ask Interrogatory vs Consultative Questions?
• Are Advisors turning their clients off by asking Interrogatory Questions too soon in advance of Consultative Questions?

These questions helped me to re-start from near scratch the writing and creation of a brand new Client Commitment Process PowerPoint Presentation that I was due to deliver to NAIFA Washington State’s Conference on Tuesday, May 20th. I started my Client Commitment Process PowerPoint Presentation re-write at 5:30am ET Saturday, May 17th on my return flights from speaking at the NAIFA West Virginia State Conference.

I wasn’t quite re-starting the Client Commitment Process PowerPoint Presentation from scratch, as my Virtual Assistant, Liz Urichuk, and I had already invested 50+ hours in research and writing since October 2013 into the Client Commitment Process PowerPoint Presentation.

Sidebar – What is an example of the Client Commitment Process? Thank you to my friend Tom Hegna for offering this example from his latest book Retirement Income Masters – Secrets of the Pros.

Still, after all of this time, research and writing, the Client Commitment Process PowerPoint Presentation wasn’t at the caliber required for a NAIFA State Conference especially because this was going to be the third time that I have spoken to NAIFA Washington State / Seattle in 18 months … so one can’t repeat.

As I said, the Client Commitment Process research and writing started back in October 2013. It was influenced to a degree by the changes to Full Disclosure of Commission and the potential of a Ban of Commissions in Canada. To stay on top of this, I attended the October 28th, 2013 Toronto Advocis (The Financial Advisors Association of Canada) 2013 Regulatory Affairs Symposium – At the Breaking Point: Advisors, Advice and Professionalization – tackling some of the key issues currently in play, including:

• Fees and Advisor Compensation
• A Best Interest Standards of Care
• Practice Pitfalls
• Raising the Bar: Advocis Professional Model

You can read about my observations from the Advocis 2013 Regulatory Affairs Symposium in my following November and December 2013 and January 2014 Newsletter archives; https://leadingadvisor.com/category/newsletter/

In my view, the changes to Full Disclosure of Commission and the potential of a Ban of Commissions in Canada has less to do with the changes and more to do with the absence of a Client Commitment Process.

In the absence of a Client Commitment Process …

With the changes to Full Disclosure Of Commission and the potential of a Ban Of Commissions in Canada, are Canadian Advisors asking themselves too many Interrogatory Questions?

In the absence of a Client Commitment Process, here is an example of the Interrogatory Questions Advisors are asking themselves:

Still worried about Disclosure? Here Is a Script to Release Your Mind from the Chains of Disclosure

Are Advisors conditioned to sell Logic vs Emotion?

 

Stay tuned for June’s Newsletter – Are Interrogatory Questions Alienating Your Clients? – Part 2 when I will answer;

• Are Advisors conditioned to ask Interrogatory vs Consultative Questions?
• Are Advisors turning their clients off by asking Interrogatory Questions too soon in advance of Consultative Questions?