Many advisers are unsure about what they offer advice clients – cheap and cheerful advice on the fly, or a superb planning experience. Both do the job, albeit in different ways. But offering fast food at silver service prices is a business model that will struggle…and that’s what happens when there is no clarity on what you are offering advice clients.It is this absence of a clear and compelling focus coupled with service delivery that reflects the value proposition which creates the difficulty of obtaining buy-in from prospects.Instead advisers often name what seems to be an expensive fee on the surface, and in return we try to convince consumers of how magical – or predictable – our process is, and promise that we will also love them forever more if they do indeed become a client. Inevitably price resistance follows.Some planners and advisers do however believe so strongly in the proprietary process, or their comprehensive planning service that they see it IS the value for clients. Of course, they may well be right. However, describing a process which is essentially technical in nature and somewhat mysterious to the average consumer, and then asking the consumer to “ trust the process enough to pay for it in advance ” is a challenge. The consumers do generally feel that they are paying in advance, even if our invoice is not presented until after they have received the plan, because the plan itself has not proven its worth until they have followed the recommendations and allowed the requisite time to pass to see the results. So you do have to dress it up properly if you want to sell it a premium price.
Or maybe not.
If one is wedded to the process and wishes to make that the core of the value proposition and simultaneously minimise price resistance, then an excellent strategy is to break it down and sell the components. Don’t sell the entire comprehensive planning process as one relatively large fee. Sell it in installments at modest and affordable fees….package it and sell it in increments.To illustrate let’s use just a couple of examples of the very front end of Financial Planning….the most boring (yet potentially most important) parts for most consumers: cash management and debt management.