The “A,” “R,” and “T” of the SMART is an art, where each advisor can make it their own. Here, you will customize your approach based on the meeting agenda, context, your personal style, and the needs of your client.
For your first meeting, ask the client how they thought/felt about the results and leverage questions in reports to customize conversations; in subsequent meetings, ask about what the client wants from the meeting. In the Financial DNA training, advisors role play this; below are the most common way advisors ask this:
Common ways advisors phrase this:
- “So (insert name) how did you feel/what did you think about your Financial DNA results, did you feel they were accurate?” Use “feel” for more relational clients, use “think” for more results-focused clients.
- What stood out to you most in the report?
- Did anything surprise you about the discovery?
- Was there anything in your report that you disagreed with?
What if your client doesn’t agree with the results?
- Be curious and have a conversation about what the client disagreed with. For instance, ask for examples of how this shows up in their life.
- Suggest that the client talks with someone close to them to see if this could potentially be a blind spot for the client (eg their spouse, partner, or a close friend or associate).
- Be respectful of the client’s position, don’t insist that the report is right/the client is wrong.
- Remind clients that discovery measures natural hard-wired behavior and they may have a lot of learned behavior around this trait/behavior that may be more reflective of them.