How goal-based planning can turbo charge your financial planning business

The most successful people in life rarely get there by chance. They have a clear vision of what they want their life to look like and set out to achieve it.

Neil Armstrong dreamed of a career in space flight from the age of six. A year later, he began cutting grass to save money for his studies. He relentlessly pursued his goal, overcoming a string of obstacles – and his determination paid off.

On 20 July 2024, the world will celebrate the 55th anniversary of Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon – a historic event that captured the world.

Just like Armstrong, we’re on a mission. A game-changing mission. We want to transform the world of financial planning and help to build better businesses.

That’s why we’ve designed Melo’s goal-based planning training – you can book your spot for June now. Through online learning and interactive workshops, your team will learn invaluable practical tools for delivering outstanding support, tailored to individual client needs.

Read on to find out how focusing on your clients’ real, long-term goals rather than just investment performance could be the key to winning more business and building stronger relationships.

It’s time to ditch generic objectives and draw out your clients’ real goals

Take a look at your recent client files. Do the objectives truly reflect your clients’ dreams and ambitions? Do you know what really motivates them? Do you understand their relationship with money and their financial blueprint?

If you’re working toward objectives such as, “I’d like tax efficiency” or “I want long-term growth”, the chances are that the honest answer is, “no”.

All too often, financial advisers and planners focus on fund performance. While this might feel important, you and your clients will benefit way more from looking at factors you’re better able to control.

In simple terms, this means asking the right questions to understand what makes your clients who they are and what they want out of life.

By scratching beneath the surface, you could help your clients identify their goals and visualise their future. This might involve thinking about their desired retirement lifestyle or considering how they could help their children or grandchildren onto the property ladder.

With this deeper level of understanding, you’ll find it easier to build a long-term plan that centres on your client’s goals.

Build stronger client relationships that support long-term planning

When a client is comfortable sharing their fears and ambitions openly, you’re well on the way to building a strong relationship that makes effective financial planning a breeze.

With this foundation in place, it’s time to introduce the nuts and bolts of how you might help your client achieve their goals.

Perhaps you’ll build an investment strategy that aligns with their appetite for risk or maybe you’ll help them save and invest their assets in the most tax-efficient way.

Whatever strategies you put in place, the important thing to remember is that the why comes first and the how follows afterwards.

Keeping your clients’ overarching purpose front of mind will allow you to craft a long-term plan that meets their unique needs. What’s more, it could help you monitor and review how their money is performing to ensure they stay on course to achieve their goals.

Of course, just as Neil Armstrong faced obstacles such as the war in Korea and technical malfunctions, there will always be some factors you can’t control – changes in government, rising interest rates, and so on.

However, investing in client relationships and building a plan that puts their long-term goals at the centre, could help you roll with the punches and make any tweaks necessary to keep them on track.

Goal-based planning could turbo-charge your sales and client retention

Taking the time to understand your clients’ broader life goals, build a solid relationship, and focus on what you can control – rather than what you can’t – could help you deliver a service that’s bursting with value.

Which is great news for both your business and your clients.

“Powering up” in this way has the potential to boost your sales and help you build a client base that never wants to leave. Equally, your clients are likely to benefit from greater financial resilience and wellbeing – a gold star for fulfilling your Consumer Duty!

Get in touch

Sprinkle a little Melo magic on your business and transform your service offering with goal-based planning.

Book your spot for Melo’s next online goal-based planning training now, hit us up in our inbox at hello@melo.co.uk, or natter with us on 0113 4656 111.