FIVE WAYS TO EXPAND YOUR ESTATE PLANNING OFFERING
Estate planning is essential in the service offering of an advisor’s business. Unfortunately, the times of handing off this service to an estate planning attorney are long gone. Today’s clientele is looking for a one-stop-shop. Being someone who manages more than just their portfolio is crucial. Effectively expanding your estate planning offering can be challenging, especially when it is not a subject of comfort. Below are some ways that you can expand your estate planning offering without going out of your comfort zone.
Identify opportunities in your book of business
While it is a good practice to consistently analyze your book, you should also look for opportunities that will drive stronger relations, maybe new ones and additional revenue. Clients who are not in good health, may not have any family, may be older or have beneficiaries you have never met are excellent starter points. The conversation about estate planning, reviews of estate planning or all the items contained within it could be an opportunity sitting on the sidelines. Start by looking at your book and then simply initiating an estate planning conversation.
Focus on topics that resonate with today’s stories
They say stories are the best way to get buy in. The stories relating to estate planning are all around us. As a matter of fact, there are more stories about estate planning that appear everyday than that of the topic of investing. Unfortunately, death is all around us and those occurrences of the unexpected are what dominate the news. A conversation or story about something that happened recently can revive or start the estate planning conversation. Once your client recognizes the story, the buy in will be easier to get when it comes to an estate planning conversation.
Expand your reach 
Technology is a driver of an advisors’ practices and our lives. Why not use it to expand Your reach? Now technology can allow you to broaden your audience through emails and webinars and connect with clients who aren’t within driving distance of you. You can use technology to onboard and review with a client through Skype or something similar. Face to face meetings are nice, but some clients want simple, direct, and to the point service. This can be accomplished through technology. The tools today make this a very real possibility.
Offer to guide them in protecting everything they love and everything theyown
The two most powerful items in someone’s life are who they love and what they’ve worked hard for. While their money is important, so is there family, home and other items. It’s time to make sure they’re protected; help analyze if they’re protected from creditors and lawsuits. We all know this is a litigious society; protect their family through guardianships and health care directives. Leading with this value proposition is less of a sales approach and more helpful, while increasing value in your business.
It’s not about taxes, it’s about everything else
Estate planning actually has little to do with taxes. Less than 10% of the population would be subject to Federal Estate Taxes. Estate planning provides clients’ so many benefits that are often overlooked because people focus on distributions and taxes. What about focusing on making the transfer itself easier by talking about outside influences? What about making sure beneficiary designations are correct or that trusts are funded correctly? There are some many topics to discuss in estate planning that it affects even the simplest clients.
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