Lesson 2 | Defining Discovery (8:17 minutes)

Defining Discovery

In this session, I want to talk about the term discovery, and actually the process of doing discovery with a prospective client. We've talked about this a couple of other times earlier on in prior sessions, but I want to talk about here today how we define discovery from a Legacy perspective. When we talk about discovery, what we're really trying to get at is the prospect's key goals and their objectives. What really matters to them, the things that they're trying to achieve and overcome, the opportunities that they're really trying to gain or take advantage of. We like to refer to that at Legacy as something we call the Why. So, it's the Why. You know, Why is this so important to them?

When we think about their current tax structures, and some of their existing legal structures that they might have in place, or some of the products and different strategies that they've adopted or deployed over the years through the planning that they've done, we like to refer to that at Legacy as the How. How do we actually help them solve the things? What are the right structures, the right tax systems, the right legal structures? And so, we look at that as the How.

As we move into the next section, I'm gonna introduce you to a concept that we call The Planning Horizon. The Planning Horizon is a very unique way to provide context for having a different conversation with your prospective client. It separates these two conversations as a part of discovery, in helping them clarify their Why. Helping the prospect get clear on what really matters to them and Why. And then, talking about the How. What are the things that they've done to date, and How can we actually help them moving forward in the future? Later, we will get into those two areas with a structure of how to have that conversation.

The other thing that we want to explore as a part of the discovery conversation is, how have they done planning today? How has planning played out in the work that they've done today with the advisor relationships that they have, and currently have, or have had in the past? The reality is, the people that you are calling on, where collaborative situations really play out or are necessary, let's say, they're dealing with a level of wealth and complexity where planning has been done at various levels and in various ways. So, it's really important, as a part of this discovery, to say, "How have you approached planning? How have your other advisors approached planning with you to this point?" That is absolutely a part of discovery, and part of what we want to uncover in this session.

The final part is, really just, who are the key and important advisor relationships in their lives? We want to understand this from a number of perspectives. We want to know who's on their team, we want to know what roles are being filled today, who's sitting in what seats. And we'll get into a concept called The Planning Table, that helps us talk about the various seats that are sitting at your prospective client's table. We want to understand, who are the key and important relationships in their lives today? Who is influencing their decisions? We'll get into that a bit further in this session around discovery.

But before we get into it, I want to just talk a little bit about discovery if we can. Because when you look at discovery from the legal perspective, discovery is a term that has been around for centuries. Discovery, in the legal sense, is oftentimes being talked about in a way that it's kind of a pre-trial discovery. When you're going to trial with somebody, it's basically how you gather facts and information and data about the trial that you're about to go into. You use terms like interrogation, and things of that nature, which I could quickly refer to, or compare to, rather, the process of fact-finding and gaining numerical data or legal structures that a client might have. That very much, to a prospective client, can feel like an interrogation.

So, from a legal perspective, the term discovery has been around for a long time. Over the last 5, maybe 10 years for some in financial services, discovery has become a more and more frequent term that we're seeing, and I'm sure you're seeing. Advisors are having a discovery part of their process, and things of that nature. And so, it's becoming a really kind of common word in language out there. However, at Legacy, we really feel that it's being misrepresented, at least in the way that we define discovery. Because discovery, to us is a very different experience, and it leaves a very different feeling with that prospective client, or even going back to some of your existing clients, which we'll talk about later.

But when you look at discovery, discovery for us is really a benefit to this prospect or that client. It's a conversation and a questioning approach that allows them to get connected with really what it is they're trying to achieve, and what matters most to them, and why that's so important to them, to their family, to their business. Whatever the entity, or whatever it is that they're trying to solve, discovery is about them getting that level of clarity. Because, let's face it, when you meet with a prospective client for that very first time and you start getting into some of these conversations about what they've done and how's that working, the reality is, is that most if not all clients don't know what they don't know. So, they're really unclear about maybe even some of the things they've done, or the things that they need to do moving forward in the future. So, the process of discovery is not a technical exploration, but it's about learning what matters most to them. And that's how we look at it.

What I've found is, even when you look at it of how lawyers have referred to discovery in the pre-trial prep sense, right, and if you look at it from a standpoint of how a financial advisor is using it today, it really is more of a lawyer use, where it's about an interrogation. Because today, when financial advisors are talking about discovery, what they're really bringing to that relationship is fact finding. They're really fact finding that prospect. And that is not discovery, because fact finding and data gathering and all the numerical information we're trying to gather as advisors to these clients, that is not an experience that helps that prospect or client get clear on what matters to them most. It's an interrogation of all the stuff they've got, all the relationships they've worked with, and there's not a real warm, fuzzy feeling about it.

When discovery is done really, really well, and you're really serving what matters to that prospect, they feel that. When you're really trying to help them get clear, and help them discover on what matters most to them, then they move closer to you. Then, they really feel that you're being genuine, and that you're trying to serve their needs, and not trying to fulfill your needs or the outcomes that you want to see happen here.

So, that's how we think about discovery. Discovery is really the benefit, and it's really for the prospect. It's the benefit for the prospect, and it's really a prospect-centric approach, or client-centric approach, where fact finding and data gathering is really an advisor benefit, and an advisor approach. So, I wanted to share that with you, as a setting of the stage of how we think about discovery, and how we want you to be thinking about discovery in those conversations with your clients.

In the next segment, we'll come back in and we'll talk about a way to get into these conversations, and explore this much deeper.