I met with Richard and Larry, 2 business owners.  They own a small business with 10 employees.   I asked if the have a partnership agreement in place.   This is a legal agreement that defines the portion of the business owned.  Also, what happens if a partner leaves the business by choice or not by choice (dies, becomes disabled, retires or just wants to leave).   They said they had their attorney do the partnership agreement. I asked if they have the agreement funded or have a pot of money to take care of this agreement.  Of course they do not have a pot of money waiting to pay out.  I read the agreement.  I explained if one were to die, they have financially obligated themselves to the business partner or heirs. Also, the employees will be concerned about their job. I showed them leveraging insurance insurance can take care of this obligation.  

Early on in working with a recent client, I quickly realized that the husband was very impulsive when it came to spending money.  I was very direct with him in saying that this type of spending was not serving him and his family well and was also jeopardizing his financial future.  He along with his wife, developed a plan to introduce some "friction" into his buying process to help him slow down and think before he purchased.  He still has work to do, but he is making great progress.

One of the main things I try to figure out when meeting with a new prospect is the reason they have decided to take a meeting with me in the first place. It is normally do to their current payroll company has messed their payroll up one too many times. On one specific meeting I took with an owner of a Homecare business, I asked this same question. She relayed to me how bad her current service has messed up her payroll taxes. She had no idea how to fix the issues they have caused, and no longer trusted them to fix it properly. I told her I could get her past quarters amended and stop the bleeding for her, as well as keep all current and future payroll taxes on time and correct. She literally sighed with relief and made the decision to make the switch right then and there. 

I had a client that was miserable with their current bank.  I asked questions as to what were some pain points that made them miserable.  Upon learning what was going on I was able to recommend products and services that directly fit their needs saving them time and money.  I also explained to him what makes Ameris Bank stand apart from our competitors with one thing being the hands on customer service that he deserves.  I pulled up our Google reviews and showed him the 4.70 rating that my branch had and explained to him that he will be treated in the same way.  I also introduced him to my staff and reassured him that we would all be here to take care of him.

I get tactical with my clients to identify a strategy to get the results (often revenue) they want in their business. Then when they need it, I bring in mindset work. I was working with a client who owns a consulting business. In our weekly check in, I asked what got in the way of her taking that week's planned action. She replied that she was busy working on another service she could offer that would be even better and probably get a bigger response.  I helped her see why it made sense that her brain wanted her to work on that instead of the decision she had previously made to get her to her revenue goal. Because I held her goal and strategy with her, she was able to see where she was vulnerable the next week and not get side-tracked. She not only got booked, she got more data to drive next quarter's strategy.

When Brandon first came to my office, he was about to be fired from his current sales job.  He was miserable and was in a slump of what to do next.  I began to ask him questions about his overall life and situation and unmasked a more prevalent issue regarding his overuse of alcohol.   With this knowledge, I was able to pivot quickly and develop a new plan that involved addressing his issue with alcohol.  My words to Brandon were it is best to build a house on a solid foundation and not on quicksand.  He agreed.  The sessions began, tailored to his needs.  Over the next 12 weeks, he found a treatment program to work along the hypnotherapy sessions that I provided.  He found enough of a foundation working with me that he was able to move forward with getting a certification and finding a new job.

I noticed a client being hesitate to implement a solution to their problem. As a financial advisor, it is my job to be a thought leader by presenting ideas/solutions to issues and then letting the client decide what their best path forward is. The best financial decision is not always the best decision for the client. I thought I had presented a very easy solution to my client's problem only to find out the reason they took several months to decide to implement is because they did not fully understand in detail what the options I had presented to them were. It became clear after the first time discussing this issue that I needed to present the information in a different way. Changing your perspective to put yourself in your client's shoes is incredibly important and can be difficult to master.