Lesson 3 | Introducing Discovery (10:38 minutes)
Introducing Discovery
Okay, so in this session, I want to talk to you about the whole aspect and approach of introducing discovery to an existing client relationship. And while introducing the concept of collaboration that we just covered in the last session can seem a little scary and maybe be at risk because you're really trying to substantiate why haven't we done this before and all those things, I think you've got that handled now. You know, discovery, when we're getting into their goals and objectives and things of that nature, it can seem like a little bit risky. Like shouldn't we already know this about this client, because they're an existing client?
In fact, you're probably selecting those best client relationships to go out to and have these conversations and expand it because that's really where the opportunities exist for this type of work. That being said, there's some real safe ways to kind of jump into this and introduce the whole aspect of discovery and this exploration about their goals, objectives, and things that are important to them as well as their current structures and things. Number one, if you remember in the last session, we talked about the concept of the Planning Horizon, right? That's going to be a whole new conversation you're going to be able to bring to these relationships, as well as kind of the planning table.
While you might know the advisors, and in this instance, you're actually one of the advisors sitting in a seat in that table, these are new conversation pieces for you to be able to bring to this relationship. So, feel confident in that.
The thing I want to share with you, however, also beyond that is this is a safe place to make yourself vulnerable. In being vulnerable, what I really mean is this, is engaging the clients in conversation to say, "Listen, we've had lots of great conversations over the years, and I hope you feel the same way. We've explored a lot about the things that are important to you, your goals, your objectives. We've obviously helped you execute on some of the structures and things you have in place today. But one of the things we're finding in the conversations we're having with other clients, going into conversations when we're re-engaging in this new way, this new collaborative way, going into some of these conversations that we maybe might have had before, but going into it with kind of a beginner's mind or the aspect of let's just have these conversations again. It can help us to reinforce and potentially uncover things that maybe weren't happening at the time, or for whatever reason just didn't present itself at the time."
As so, stepping out of that for a moment, you've now just set the stage for the fact that even though we maybe had some of these conversations, it'd be really important to have them again because while we had some of them, things have occurred in the surroundings around us, right? Maybe from a tax or legal standpoint. Things have no doubt probably changed in their lives as far as their vision, their goals, their family situation or makeup, or whatever that might be. That is a real safe way to be able to enter into it and make yourself a little bit vulnerable and make them engage a little bit in a vulnerable way.
But again, as you start to get into this at this point in time, what we're just touching on the surface for the future conversation and we want to give them an example, an experience, around that at this point in time for the conversation, we really want to dig into if in fact they decide they want to engage us to really dig a bit deeper and to kind of move forward in this collaborative approach. That's how I would enter into it; how I would suggest you start by creating that environment that we want to have some of these discussions we've had before, and we believe that over the course of these conversations we will uncover new things about you, about things we can do together, and it will be a great experience for all of us, for everybody involved.
And that's how I'd set the stage. The thing that I would ask for permission for to put it in a little bit of context where now you can start to create the difference, is I would ask them for that permission and opportunity for you to be able to introduce a new concept that you're deploying with other clients in your business. I would simply take that blank piece of paper out, or whatever you have handy, and a pen and I would simply draw that line across the middle of the paper and I would take them through the Planning Horizon conversation.
As you think about the Planning Horizon and drawing that line and setting up the two unique and separate realms that the Planning Horizon divides, right, you've got that below the Planning Horizon around the strategies, tactics, and the tools. Then, you've got the above the Planning horizon around the vision, the values, and the goals. I think at this point it's okay to talk about the fact that some of these things in conversations we've explored together and some of these things we can document and talk about as we go through it. But the thing that's different is you got to think about your relationship with this client. In some instances, you might have played a role that was really focused primarily below the horizon. You might have been brought in because of your expertise and knowledge around some specific strategies or legal structures or whatever that might be.
That creates a great opportunity for you to talk about primarily how your work focused when you went through the engagement process with them in the first time and now it allows you to move up above that Planning Horizon in a unique way to engage with them in that different conversation. On the other hand, you might have really looked at this from a more global perspective, and you might have gotten into some conversations around their goals, their objectives and you might have stayed in those conversations for a significant period of time, to really ensure that it's what the client really wanted and why they wanted it. Well the beauty of it now is, you've now got a diagram, you've got a model, you've got an approach to be able to bring to those conversations to create the context.
And again, the thing I'd go back to is if it was a conversation or an engagement where prior you've really been below the horizon, it's okay. It's okay if that's where you've been, but use the Planning Horizon as a way to leverage the uniqueness and get them in that above the line conversation. But if you did engage above the line and then go down below the line to do some additional work based upon your competencies, that's okay too. Engage them in a way that we want to re-explore these things, because over time, life changes and circumstances change and that sometimes needs to be reflected in changes in your planning, in the different strategies and things down here that we're deploying on your behalf.Part of what we want to do as a part of this re-engagement is to re-understand all the different structures and things that you have in place. Some of those we know obviously very well, but over time, maybe there's some things that have happened or transpired or whatever that we're not aware of. So, going back and looking at all the structures, the strategies, the things that you have in place below this horizon, is going to be really helpful for us to be able to map that out and really gain the clarity about how things are working there, and all the different structures and things that you have in place.
The next part of the conversation we'll then want to go to is really moving up here above the horizon to really explore what is your vision for the future when you think about how do you want to see things play out? How do you want to see things look and feel in the future, as it relates to your situation or your family situation or whatever that entity might be that you're focused on. And that's really the exploration and the journey that you're on. Revisiting that and presenting that as a means of a conversation that you want to get into, should really create a unique difference even though you may or may not have had these conversations in prior meetings with these clients.
This is the essence of the engagement, and doing the discovery, and understanding all of their structures and everything that's in place, and this is something we really want to get a global understanding of. In fact, more than global, we want to get into the specifics around the above the horizon conversations, the things that are driving them in their heart, in their head, in their gut. The things that are most important to them. Their why, with their how. How do we actually get them closer and closer to that why, that vision that they have for the future.
I hope this is helpful to think about, how do you go back and frame and where you might feel risky, like well doesn't the client think that we've already had these conversations, right? It's okay to be able to go back, make yourself vulnerable. You're bringing a new approach to discovery and a way to really connect with them above the line, and to be able to connect and ensure that the things that are important and above the line, are actually playing out and being deployed below the line. Because if they're not, the home run is now you've identified the challenges and you have an opportunity to be able to fix it and bring the right resources to the team, to the table.