{"id":771,"date":"2007-10-14t19:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-10-15t00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30t00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30t05:00:00","slug":"4-steps-to-getting-the-fees-you-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2007\/10\/14\/4-steps-to-getting-the-fees-you-deserve\/","title":{"rendered":"4 steps to getting the fees you deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"
step 1: don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t delay.<\/i> <\/p>\n
cpas assess the baby boomer market. join the study; get the benchmarks.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n by rick telberg<\/b><\/p>\n it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny how cpas can go to a client and discuss the intimacies of life and death, children and parents, bank accounts and bankruptcy, but when it comes time to talk about fees, the topic is buried, breezed over, or brushed off. <\/p>\n it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy to understand why. the cpa financial planner is there to talk about making money, not spending it. the focus is on helping the client, not funding the financial planner. the fee almost feels like an insignificant afterthought, a voluntary tip for service well rendered or a topic too mercenary to talk about.<\/p>\n both parties understand, of course, that this service, like everything else good in life, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t free. somewhere, somehow, the cpa financial planner gets paid. that payment can amount to quite a bit of money, and it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily tied to performance. depending on the fee structure, the cpa financial planner who guides a client to wealth may earn as much as the one who barely helps a client tread water. <\/p>\n clients are naturally nervous about this, but they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re probably most nervous when they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand what fees they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re paying. they tend to fear an expensive surprise, and they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re often confused about how the cpa financial planner figures out the fee. when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bundled with a variety of products, it gets not only more complicated but also less comparable with the fees of other financial planners.<\/p>\n don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t overestimate the client\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to understand your fee structure. focus group research conducted by state street global advisors reveals that financial advisers very often think the client understands the fee structure, but the truth is that very few clients really do understand it secondarily, this is a matter of clarity. the same study found that clients are less concerned about the absolute fee than about understanding what the fee is. fast-talk turns them off more quickly than issues of commission. <\/p>\n thirdly, of course, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the fee itself. the smart client will compare it with those of other financial planners. smarter clients will want to know what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting for their money. <\/p>\n these three issues all say the same thing: talk about fees with your client. 1.\tdon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t procrastinate. <\/b>fees aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily the first thing you want to talk about, but plan the moment when you will bring it up, and then do it without fail. <\/p>\n 2.\tpresent the fee structure clearly.<\/b> this is easier if the structure is simple. clients don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to grapple with shades of gray. don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t muddle the issue with discussion of what other clients have to pay or what your client might have to pay. complex structures designed to keep things fair are less effective than structures that are easy to understand. keep it simple. explain it. move on. <\/p>\n 3.\tput your fees in context.<\/b> provide a chart comparing your fees with your competitors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. this might be a good time to explain what you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re delivering for the fee. <\/p>\n 4.\tput it in writing.<\/b> don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let somebody\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bad memory create a nasty surprise. and don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t put it in small print or legalese. make it clear that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not hiding anything. <\/p>\n in short, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be afraid to talk about fees. use it as an opportunity to build trust. if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re open, honest, specific and unapologetic, your clients will trust you, and that trust is the support system of a productive and long-term relationship. <\/p>\n your turn: cpas assess the baby boomer market. join the study; get the answers.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n [copyright \u00c2\u00a9 2007 bay street group llc. all rights reserved. used by permission. first published by the aicpa.]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" step 1: don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t delay. cpas assess the baby boomer market. join the study; get the benchmarks. by rick telberg it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s funny how cpas can go to a client and discuss the intimacies of life and death, children and parents, bank … continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2254],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-growth","tag-bsg-business-builder"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nprimarily, this is a matter of trust, which is by far the most important characteristic that clients look for in financial planners. <\/p>\n
\ndr. james grubman, a psychologist and consultant on wealth management for high income families, has had success with a four-step procedure for talking about fees: <\/p>\n