The Practice Doctor is IN

Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH

The Discovery Letter:  Helping Your Clients Get What they Need (and Want)

The Sales Process is one of the core business systems in any advisor’s practice, including those embracing the Return on Life™ (ROL) model. There are five best practice stages for converting a prospect into a client:

1. Initial Interview
2. Discovery (facts and feelings)
3. Bridge from Discovery to Presentation and Close
4. Presentation and Close
5. Delivery

Each stage has its own sequence of best practices. The step that is often overlooked is the third: the bridge between Discovery and Presentation and Close. This month we’re going to focus on building that bridge.

The period of time that transpires between Discovery and Presentation and Close is a window of unparalleled opportunity for cementing a client relationship and positioning your presentation successfully. The key element in this step is the discovery letter.

The discovery letter summarizes where things stand after Discovery. It is designed to arrive midway between the discovery interview and the presentation meeting. The timing is such that you will stay top-of-mind with your prospect. Often, if there is no communication between Discovery and Presentation and Close, your prospect will forget about you. When this happens, you need to spend a good deal of time reconstructing and revisiting much of what you already had completed earlier in the process. By sending a discovery, you avoid having to start over again.

The discovery letter provides a reminder that you’re working on your client’s behalf and will be seeing them soon. The letter should include some version of the following phrases:

• “I appreciate your time.”
• “Here’s what I heard you say.”
• “These are your priorities as I recorded them.”
• “I’m working to use your available resources to address those priorities.”
• “If any of this is incorrect, please call.”
• “Here’s when we’ll be meeting again.”

This is what a discovery letter looks like:

Dear Prospect/Client,

We at (practice name) would like to take this opportunity to thank you for engaging us for your financial planning needs. We would like to assure you that we will continue to make every effort to fulfill your needs and exceed your expectations. It is our desire to provide you with a custom tailored experience that will leave you confident that you have made a wise decision to work with us.

During our meeting on (day, date), we covered a substantial amount of information.  While it may have seemed overwhelming at times, we believe it is crucial to take the time to gain a full and complete understanding of your needs, wants, and desires. To that end, the following are what I believe to be your most important goals:

• A comfortable retirement for (client name or names).
• Minimal taxes paid during retirement.
• Minimal expenses (including taxes) incurred during the transfer of your assets to your heirs (name or names of heirs).
• Creation of a family foundation to support (name of organizations to benefit from foundation, such as university, charity or arts organization).

If you have any additional concerns, or if you have reconsidered your priorities after further discussion and thought, please feel free to contact us.  As we discussed, we will prepare a preliminary plan for your review at our meeting next (day of the week) at (time), using the resources we identified.

Again, thank you for choosing (practice name).

Sincerely,

There are many reasons why the discovery letter is a best practice:

• It keeps the prospect involved while the case is being prepared.
• It adds a professional touch.
• It gives the client a respectful opportunity to change their mind.
• It is a great document to have in your files for compliance purposes.
• It can provide the agenda for the presentation meeting by addressing a client’s priorities in sequence.
• It can be used to quickly get a third party up to speed. A third party is someone who shows up at the presentation but didn’t attend any of the other meetings.

The discovery letter can be sent via e-mail. However, to maximize its effectiveness, a physical letter sent via the post office or some other courier is preferred.

Relationship-building opportunities with your clients happen all through the sales process. Implementing a discovery letter may be impressive enough to warrant a referral or two!

Until next month…

The Practice Doctor is OUT.

Al Depman, CLU, ChFC, CMFC, BH, a.k.a. “The Practice Doctor”, is MitchAnthony.com’s Business Practice Consultant. He is the creator of “The Practice Management Assessment” tool and materials and has authored numerous articles in professional publications on practice management, and author of the book, How to Build Your Financial Advisory Business and Sell It at a Profit, now available from McGraw Hill. Al combined his Liberal Arts studies with 10 years of management experience with McDonald’s Corporation to enter the financial services world 25 years ago. Since then, Al has evolved from an MDRT-level sales rep into a full-time consultant specializing in helping others engineer their business practices to the next level. Contact him at al@mitchanthony.com.

© 2009 Al Depman