Ep #16: What Does The Initial Meeting Look Like?
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Full Transcript:
Benjamin Haas:
Hey, Adam, welcome back to A/B Conversations. How are you?
Adam Werner:
It feels like it's been a whole year since we've recorded one of these.
Benjamin Haas:
That means they're gonna get our best foot forward today, right?
Adam Werner:
I hope so.
Benjamin Haas:
Rested and ready to go.
Adam Werner:
That's right.
Benjamin Haas:
So Happy New Year to you. Happy New Year to all our listeners. We thought that we'd throw a podcast out there today, that's going to talk about what an initial meeting might look like. And I think we're gonna come at this from the angle of, we're clearly taking on new clients and we would want no one to have any misconceptions about how we go through that courting process. Us getting to know somebody, and for the purpose of this podcast, more importantly, you're getting to know us. So let's just throw some things out there today. What does that first meeting look like? What are we trying to achieve? Where do you want to begin?
Adam Werner:
I think that first step in the process for us, or that initial meeting, is really just for whoever that is to get to know us a little bit better. But more importantly, for us, it's it's trying to dig deeper on what finally brought us together. Why did they reach out to us? What are they looking to accomplish? Are there any we call them fires, quote, unquote. Are there any fires that need to be put out? Are there time sensitive decisions that need to be made? But really, that initial process is, let's get to know them. Figure out what matters to them. And let's start to pair that up with what we do in financial planning and see if they start to fit together?
Benjamin Haas:
I think we would probably articulate to that there's no script to this type of meeting. Sometimes people find us because they're going through some sort of life transition. I think even the word, hey, we're financial planners, there's misconceptions that what does that really entail? Do they just do investments? I think it's really important for that first meeting to not be scripted. We certainly have the goal to educate people, and we want to share our process. But you said it well, that first meeting is really a get to know you on what's gonna happen and what matters most to you.
Adam Werner:
I think just pulling peeling the curtain back a little bit. It's rare that we have people come to us and say, hey, I want financial planning. Do you offer this? It's more so the life transitions that you mentioned. It's retirement is upcoming or a loved one passed away, or just, I have a financial decision that I need to make and I'm looking for feedback. Or we often see, hey, I have these investments, or I have an advisor, I'm not getting great communication, I don't know if what I own is still a good reflection of what I should own, is the right fit for me. And then we start to steer that to how we approach things with, we certainly do investments, we manage investment accounts for people, but we lead with that financial planning, so we can see the big picture. Investments just happens to be a portion of that.
Benjamin Haas:
So I think those first meetings would be important for people to know that. Typically, like you said, you're going to come in with something but we're gonna, we're probably gonna poke and prod a little bit to better understand really the context around it, not just, Hey, I got to make this pension decision. We would recognize through our experience with many different clients and going through this many different times that that one example that one thing that one decision is not independent of so many other things going on. So we really do want right off the bat the first time we meet someone to be able to share our process, which may mean, hey, we can't answer your question today. But let's show you what a relationship looks like that's gonna get us to that answer pretty quickly. Because by the way, the right answer for you may be very different than the last person we talked to. It's good to get that conversation started by really understanding bigger picture for people. Again, we may not get through that in the first 60 minutes of meeting somebody but ultimately, that's our goal. Find their purpose find their why and what are they really looking to do?
Adam Werner:
That word "why" comes up a lot and that's one thing that I wrote down in our quick thoughts for preparing for this. That's ultimately what helps us give better advice on the back end when we when we do engage with with someone in financial planning. Knowing the why behind, let's say they want to retire at a certain age. Well, why? What are they looking to do? Is it a certain thing is that what they're trying to get away from with work is it they have these other life goals or family they want to spend time with. If we can start to learn more of the why, which I hope that's not unique to us in this industry of of wanting to get that level of detail out of people, we can start to craft, we hope are much better, adaptable plans, behind the scenes of being able to give advice that fits the why. And it may not just be that straight line that I think our industry or investment professionals in general, it's, well, we need investment. Here's one, connect the dots. For us, it's usually not that simple. Certainly, again, investments are part of what we do. But there are so many variables that go into any financial planning scenario, again, knowing the why the true heart of what someone is looking to accomplish, and "why" it's really important to us.
Benjamin Haas:
And putting that that puzzle together, I think, is what we're trying to, in some ways showcase in that first meeting. There's absolutely a process to this, which I guess maybe helps debunk one of those misconceptions too. That first meeting is not bring us all your data. And let's get really deep into the weeds on everything that makes up your financial life. That's really like the second or third step in this process. That first meeting is better understanding what do you value? What is your Why? What are you prioritizing? Because I think part of putting the puzzle together for us is then starting to figure out, not only do how do we make this work, but how do we communicate this effectively to them? How do they best make decisions? How do they digest this stuff? That's all stuff that we're trying to learn right off the bat. Because that's gonna put us in a better position to say, you know what, this just isn't a good relationship for us. I think what we do maybe isn't what you're looking for. And that's all part of just going through that time together to say, Are we a good fit?
Adam Werner:
And that doesn't always happen in one meeting. So going back to that initial question of, what to expect from that initial meeting. It really is truly a feeler meeting.
Benjamin Haas:
It's our first date.
Adam Werner:
Sure. Not a blind date. But it's getting a feel for our values and our philosophies. Do they match? Do they match with the client or the prospect's line of thinking. Do we have similar outlooks, in that sense, to then be able to take that next step? I think our goal for that first meeting is to at least get really close to deciding, is this a fit for them? You know, what we do financial planning? Do we think we can add value? And then the other side is, do we think we can work well together to actually impact some change? And then to your point, the next couple steps in that process is going through a deeper dive on data, giving a proposal on financial planning, what does that look like? What does it cost, all of those steps usually come after that initial, let's get to know each other? Let's see if we even have a basis for a second date. And we'll go from there.
Benjamin Haas:
And I think that's just it. The way you ended, it was what it was actually going through my mind. What we want to get out of that first meeting is understanding if we're going to have a second meeting. I think that's where we could start to showcase. Alright, here's what a relationship might look like. I'm not talking conceptually, let's show you the tools. Let's show you what a financial planning portal looks like. Let's start to actually play with some scenarios so you kind of get to test drive this relationship, because it really, this is not coming in and buy something, it's not a sales conversation. Maybe we're selling ourselves. Maybe we're selling our process. But if we're going to engage, we're going to put a lot of hours into this together. So it really is important that we test drive this, there's no misconceptions on what we do and how we work. So that if you're going to decide to hire us, and we're welcoming you into this Haas Financial Group family that we know it's a relationship, that's going to be not just one and done not just one, give you the answer to that burning question that you came with in with at the beginning, it's going to be, here's the two or three year plan. And by the way, halfway through, we may be making adjustments that's cycling back through another planning process. So it's all about goal orientation. It's all about putting you on the right path. But being there with some sort of service model to support that as things change is important, too. So we want to put that all out there, right?
Adam Werner:
Yep, absolutely. So then I think what we often hear next is, how do you get paid? How do you get compensated? And we can maybe go through that? Maybe not. But I think the most important part of that for us is there is no cost to that initial meeting. We don't we don't build for our time, in that way. That initial meeting, the follow up the if we decide, hey, this is worth a second date, again, there's no cost to that we will go through all of these steps till we finally get to the part in the process where we offer a formal proposal, right? We want to get paid as consultants to do the financial planning work. And then at that point, if someone decides, hey, yes, I'm interested, this is a fit, I'd like to move forward with this. Then it's known that the fee is clear and transparent, and then we can move forward. Up until that point, there is no commitment there is no cost.
Benjamin Haas:
So we often say so what's in it for them? Well, test drive the relationship, learn something. And again, we're trying to find out if putting all that work into it is going to be meaningful for you. So, yeah, it's probably fair to say at the end of the first meeting, maybe we have an idea of what that might look like from a fee perspective. But that's the reason we wanted to go through steps two and three of the process. Gather the data, then start to actually do, we call it a SWOT analysis for people on what's going well, what's not? How can we actually help? That proposal literally, is a list of things that we're going to do for you. Because I think in the absence of that, it's really hard to quantify that fee. But that's really what we're doing. We're like any other contractor, or bid. If you're gonna put an addition on your house, what's that addition gonna cost? Well, gee, you know, what are we talking about here? You know, a whole new side of the house, are we talking about remodeling a bathroom? We have to go through the process of identifying what does that really look like so that we can quantify the fee, and people would know, right off the bat, here's how we're going to get paid. There's not some sort of sales commission on the back end. It's just transparent as can be. And that's really what we're looking to get to.
Adam Werner:
Yeah, so in our eyes, the worst case scenario for somebody to go through that process is maybe it's a couple hours of their time, right. If we go through that process, they decide we're not a fit, or we decide, we're just not offering what what they're looking for. Yeah, it's a couple hours of your time you get to the end of that, I would hope that we would have given some value some education along the way.
Benjamin Haas:
So I think if we're talking to people out there going, alright, maybe we've heard the Haas Financial Group, maybe friends or family have talked about them. Maybe they've seen a podcast, seen something on social media? Who knows. You're part of our community? If the question is, what do they do? And can they help us? Our response to that is, let's find out. I mean, that's the reason to have that first meeting. Truly, if there's really not a lot to be lost, other than maybe some time, and like you said, the worst case scenario is you learn something, then let's figure that out. Let's go through it together. I would say I wanted to bring up other logistical things. So we're still kind of in COVID World here, this meeting doesn't have to happen kneecap to kneecap in the office. It can. We can safely do that. But first meetings can be a phone call introduction, it can be a Zoom meeting, whatever is comfortable to get that ball started.
Adam Werner:
I think for us, selfishly, Zoom, would be better than a phone call, just because you can put the face to the name, you can see facial expressions. There is there is definitely a benefit to that, if not face-to-face in the office. We are flexible when it comes to that. And certainly, we would rather somebody reach out over the phone and not reach out at all. We're here to help. We want to help people through this process and at least spread the word of financial planning, even if they decide not to work with us. We're happy to be a resource for for those around us.
Benjamin Haas:
I actually think that's a great way to wrap it up. I mean, there's plenty of content that we hopefully put on the website that gives people even deeper than what we've talked about today. What our practice is all about, what we value, our six core values, the team that's here. The misconceptions about planning and planning conversations we have. I mean, we even have profiles on there on a couple that are person that maybe somewhat like you your phase of life to start to better understand what that might look like. But yeah, it's a go to the website, check us out. If you want to have a conversation, you can link to us right through that. Shoot us an email, give us a call. We want to be a resource to people.
Adam Werner:
There's there's certainly no pressure to go through that process on our end. I know personally, sometimes we're it may feel a little bit daunting to even take that first step of reaching out or it may feel like more work. But from our perspective get that ball rolling. If the thought is in your head, there's no time like the present. Let us help you go through that process will take as much of the responsibility on our shoulders as we can or as you're willing to let us shoulder. Let us be that resource.
Benjamin Haas:
If it's a process you've been through before, you have another professional, I guess the last thing I'd say is, we're happy to be a second set of eyes. We know we do it differently than most people and that's by design. But let's just find out if we're a fit. Thank you, sir.
Adam Werner:
Thank you. See you next time.
Benjamin Haas:
You got it.
Tracking # 1-05099620
