Last year, many of your prospects and clients likely spent the holidays a bit differently than usual. The time away from family and friends has been isolating, but it also stalled conversations, including those around financial goals and planning. While this year you’ll probably find clients are back to some sense of normalcy for holiday celebrations, they may need some reminders on how to broach the subject of talk about financial planning and help others truly think about how they want to spend and invest.
One of the benefits of using financial advisory services is that you, the advisor, are there to guide the client through conversations about their future. But how do you start conversations with those around you to get them to schedule a real meeting with you? get them to think about and articulate those financial desires outside of your office?
The holidays are the perfect time for meeting new people who could use your services and getting clients to think about financial matters. You can encourage them to use the time together with family and friends to talk about important financial planning topics in a low stakes lighthearted yet informative way. If you can do this successfully, your own meetings will be more effective because your clients will have had time to think deeply about what matters to them and how they can make a plan to move forward.
Financial Planning Conversation Starters
Here are five conversation starters that your clients can use during your holiday festivities to start basic thinking more intently about their financial plan conversations with those you meet. You could also use these topics as jumping off points with your clients when they’re in your office.
- Are you planning on going anywhere fun next year? By asking others if they have plans to travel it can get clients thinking about their own trips and travel goals. Maybe it’s a road trip to see grandkids or perhaps a romantic weekend getaway. No matter what their upcoming travel looks like, starting to think about it early can help them plan for short-term spending.
- The [kitchen, bathroom, garage] looks great! Any more plans for renovating your house next year? Finding home projects to compliment family and friends on is a great way to start a conversation around new projects around the house for them and for your client. Likewise, just seeing a renovation project can inspire ideas for your client’s home, so getting them to think about it early helps ensure you’re putting the right plan in place.
- How are your kids doing? We all ask this many times every year. Next time your clients ask, have them take note of specific milestones. Are some of them graduating high school or college? Is another one getting married? Major milestones can be a great place to start when thinking about how your clients need to plan for short-, long-, and mid-term planning and spending.
- What are you excited about? Getting people to talk about what they are excited about or what’s piquing their interest can give excellent clues as to where they are spending their time and money. What are your clients interested in? Where are they putting their resources for the upcoming year? Answering these questions gives great insight into what matters most to your clients and helps you understand how to plan in order to give them greatest access to the things they love.
- What was your favorite investment under $100 this year? The excitement question above lets you see where your clients enjoy spending their time and money. This question lets you better understand their relationship to value. What do your clients value the most? For example, if they say their best investment under $100 was a juicer, then you can make a connection to health, which tells you your clients value their health and wellness. It’s a short question that’s fun and impactful.
By kicking off these conversations with their family and loved ones, your clients get insight into areas where they may benefit from a better financial plan. It may also highlight areas where they can use improved or new methods for investing that will help them move the needle toward their goals faster and more efficiently.
And as we mentioned above, the more you can start great conversations that matter with your potential clients, and get your clients to think about their goals ahead of your meetings, the more effective your meetings will be and the more likely clients will be to take their planning seriously.
What are the tried and true questions you ask when you’re meeting new potential clients?
