The 5 Key Parts of a Successful Vision Meeting

The purpose of the Vision Meeting is to get into and understand the client’s perspective and goals and offer options that will help the client achieve his/her goals. There are 5 parts of the Vision Meeting that need to be followed to get hired.

Part 1. The Opening:

1. Thank your clients for coming in to see you. Let them know that you appreciate their taking the time and commitment to attend the meeting.
2. Ask what they would like to accomplish, or better yet, if you already know what they’d like to accomplish from evaluations or past conversations, confirm it. It will help your credibility if you show that you’ve read their evaluations and remember those conversations.
3. Remember the first step of the Power-In-Partnership™ is getting behind the other person’s need; this is difficult to do if you don’t know what the need is. When you ask or confirm what your clients want to accomplish, listen for keywords like, “I would like to create, protect, provide, learn, discover, understand, plan, as it will give you a lot of insight to their mindset and where they are in their decision or buying process. You should use your verify and clarify skills to uncover their needs.
4. Follow that up by asking if there is anything else of concern or anything else that they would like to discuss. Stay in their perspective during the opening, and write all their discussion items on your LWP Client Goal Focuser.  If you need support with that tool, we did a 3-part series in previous newsletters on how to use your LWP Client Goal Focuser™. Now is not the time to address those concerns, just to identify them.
5. Explain the agenda for the rest of the meeting. Thank them for sharing their concerns, and let them know the process you will be following.  Share with them that next you will be reviewing the personal information they brought with them and that you will discuss the topics they just shared with you and identify what you can do to help and instill confidence. 

Let them know that you will do the same thing with their financial information, and, after that, you will look at 15 of the most common issues with planning and see how important each one is to them.  Doing so will help you later in the meeting when you transition to the LWP Estate Plan Audit. Then, make sure you set the proper expectation for the end of the meeting by letting them know that you will provide options, details regarding what each option will help them accomplish, and pricing, and allow them to decide what plan they like the most and how they would like to move forward.  Lastly, confirm that they are comfortable with the agenda, or you could cause them to be already thinking of objections to what you have to offer.

Part 2. Discover the Client’s Needs and Counsel Them.

1. Use the LWP Personal and Financial Information sheet (PIF) to review their information and their numbers. If you are able to get this information before the meeting, it could help you better prepare.  You should be familiar with common counseling issues that you want to cover, and remember, we have a checklist for you on the LWP member website.
2. Focus on the art, which is the proper balance of counseling and science (law) to achieve the greatest success. Counseling and identifying additional needs of the client are more about the non-legal aspects; it is about how you can apply the rules to help your clients, not about teaching them the rules. It is helping them see that there are rules that allow you to accomplish certain results, not explaining the law behind those rules. It is about helping clients sleep well at night and developing a personal relationship and trust with them.  Counseling is more about their emotions, and it is not always logical; it can be gray, not black or white, like the law is. Remember that clients will assume you know the science, but they will “experience” your counseling, and failure to counsel will limit your success. Don’t forget to write down the issues identified on your LWP Client Goal Focuser and don’t over teach, because a confused mind will say no.
3. Transition from the PIF to the Audit. Let them know that now that you have reviewed their information, it’s time to look at some common concerns, many of which were covered through the stories of the workshop.  Have them identify on a scale of 1 to 10 how important each item is to them, and if they need help understanding the issues, refer them to the proper story from the workshop.  If they brought their documents, help them see if their current documents provide for those options. Don’t over-complicate the audit; it is to help bring their world into your world and to help you understand and confirm what planning issues are important to them.

Part 3. Clarify Their Vision and Planning Options

1. Use the LWP Vision Clarifier to explain your planning options. In an initial meeting you may want to use your fee schedule.  Review each option even if you don’t think it is important. Reference the benefits of each option, and use the numbers that each option covers from the audit next to their responses on their LWP Client Goal Focuser so they can also see how the planning options address their specific issues.
2. Remember that when covering Option C you should help demonstrate that value visually by walking them through the LWP Asset Risk Analysis form, showing them what they have at risk, what you can immediately protect, how soon they can qualify for Medicaid, and how much more you can protect if they stay healthy beyond the break-even point. Remember this is your value proposition when preplanning for Medicaid qualification.
3. Narrow their options. If you know that plan D does not apply and is not important, cross it off.  Let them see that you are crossing off the most expensive option so they realize you are not trying to get them to buy the most expensive package, and that you are genuinely helping them.  If you know the base will is not a good option, cross it off with a dotted line, let them know that it is available, but you don’t think it helps them accomplish their goals.
4. Make your recommendation based on value. Let them know what plan you feel is right for them and why.

Part 4. Leave the Room

1. Give them an opportunity to speak privately. You need to find your comfort level with doing so because it is key. You can always let your clients know you have had a great meeting, but there is one thing that did not happen, and that is allowing them a chance to speak together privately.
2. Let them know that when you return you will answer any questions they have, identify the plan they like, and review how they would like to move forward.
3. Politely excuse yourself from the room and provide them the opportunity to talk.

Part 5. Return and Close the Meeting

1. Address and questions or concerns that they discussed when speaking together privately.
2. Ask them what plan they like the most, and confirm if they will be moving forward. If they are not moving forward, you should understand what need they have now.  Is it a 2^nd Vision/Design Meeting?  Is it a scheduled follow up?  Is it a confidence issue, in which case you may want to ask them what you could do to earn their trust?  Remember the 5 reasons why people buy from you.  Price is usually last on that list, so was it that they don’t need it, they don’t think you can deliver the quality they want, or were they not happy with your services?  Be sure you understand that, if they don’t say they are not interested, but, instead they say they would like time, what your clients’ real needs are so that you can support them.
3. If they are moving forward, provide them the engagement agreement, walk them through it, and have them sign it. Then, schedule their Design Meeting and provide instructions to complete the LWP Design meeting considerations. This advances you to the Post-Vision Meeting process.

Remember that it is important to work on your delivery of the Vision Meeting to have the greatest success.  Be sure to identify and track the key counseling issues and areas where they show a high amount of emotion, stress, or concern.  Instill confidence that you can help them.  Try and keep your meeting to an hour—no later than 90 minutes. Focus on the client’s needs, limit teaching, emphasize the results you are able to accomplish, and use your reflecting skills. Measure your success with the LWP Pipeline Results Focuser, measure your cancelations or rescheduled appointments, and measure your retention rate and your average fee.  If you don’t measure those, it can impact your revenue.  I have seen first-hand an example in which during one month, 30 meetings earned $80,000 in revenue, while 26 meetings the next month earned only $10,000 in revenue. You must track your meeting results, stay anchored to the process and tools, stop yourself from getting caught up in your need to get hired, and then you will find a lot of success in your Vision Meetings.