Lesson 2 | An Introduction to Values (4:33 minutes)

So we're going to teach you a process to get at your client's values, but let's start with why you absolutely have to know those. You have to know this: values are rules. I'll say it again. Values are rules. All of us are run by our values. These unspoken rules about what's important, what has to be respected, what matters and what doesn't. They're loaded with emotion and they're extremely powerful from a planning perspective. Now think about this. If you know the rules that your clients use to make decisions about the most important things in their lives, do you think that would help you better understand them? Do you think it would help you build a better plan, develop a better solution? Have it be easier for them to decide to act on your recommendation? You bet it would. And we see it happen every day with the advisors who've learned how to take their clients through a simple process that's absolutely relationship shifting.

So values are rules. And they behave like a filter. We generally aren't intentionally going through a values checklist in our heads, although we tend to when we're faced with really important decisions, but your subconscious is processing values constantly, constantly. For example, if someone has a value of getting to the point, you got to get to the point, but it's important for you to be extremely diligent and make sure they understand all the details, you could be frustrating their value significantly. That could be frustrating them as well. But knowing that they want to get to the point and knowing that it's important to be very detailed, what could you do? Well, you could do a summary first. So you get to the point, and then you walk them through the details to help them understand the importance of doing that. But if you don't, their brain would be screaming. The entire time, it would be screaming, would you get to the point? The whole time you're talking, they won't hear your details. They'll hear an unmet value being frustrated. Now these values are playing out all the time.

By understanding their values, a few things happen. The first is you get to respect them. You get to honor them. You get to respect the individual and their values. The second is that you get to make sure that you apply those values to the planning process. It helps you understand how to present information and how to make sure that the way you bring solutions to them is a brought in a way that they can actually easily receive. By honoring someone else's values, you actually make it dramatically easier for them to say yes to good solutions.

Now values sound great. Think about what people say about values. They're altruistic. Values, who doesn't want to have good values? I'd like to pass on my values as well as my valuables. But as noble as all of it sounds, you actually need to back up and take a look at what a value is. I said earlier, it's a rule. A value is essentially a non-yielding need that a person has based on some experience or belief that they've formed. Values our needs, and they're personal needs. And it doesn't mean that they're right, it just means that how the person views and interacts with the world happens a certain way.

Now, if a person has applied certain values and it's allowed them to create a certain degree of success in their lives, fantastic. They're often prone to trying to get other people to follow those same values as well. It makes sense. But imposing them on someone else isn't always the best way to do it because a person can be successful many ways. When it comes to values, realize it's not always so altruistic and beautiful. These are needs that people have. So be cautious about wanting to pass on needs to the next generation. At the same time, be highly cognizant and understanding of what the needs are, what are the values of your clients. And make sure that you honor them in how you interact with the client and how you build your plans.

So what's the point of going through values with clients? The point is to improve the result. I'll say it again. The point is to improve the result. When there's a cleaner flow of communication between you and your clients because you're understanding and honoring their values and when the plan that you present is cleaner and tighter to their needs, which is what values are, then what happens is the probability of you getting the engagement, the implementation, goes up. The probability of them actually executing on it fully goes up. Now that you have the foundation for this, in the next lesson, we'll go through the Legacy Values Cards system that you can use with your clients.

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