The Big 6

FINANCIAL PLANNERS – What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

Can’t tell me straight away?

Need time to think about it do you?

OK, how long do I need to give you to come up with a coherent answer?

And even if I gave you that time, would you actually do it?

Or would life get in the way and you’d put it to one side?

Which begs the question, why do we ask clients questions that we couldn’t answer for ourselves?

I see a lot of discussion about Life Planning & Coaching ‘killer’ opening questions…

• What does money mean to you?
• What would a great ‘rest of your life’ look like?
• How would you define happiness?

And the truth is, they sound great in theory.

Very progressive.

But unnecessarily opaque.

Instead of asking what you want the rest of your life to look like, how about I ask you what you want to do tomorrow?

Or this weekend?

You’ve got an answer for that haven’t you?

Of course you do.

Because I narrowed the scope of the question.

It became less scary.

The truth is, there are 6 cornerstones of our life and lifestyle – I call them the ‘Big 6’.

1. Family
2. Work
3. Home
4. Wellbeing
5. Hobbies
6. Travel

And if you ask someone what they want/enjoy in any of those areas, they’ll be able to tell you.

Quickly, and in some detail.

Put it all together and you have the skeleton of an answer to ‘What do you want the rest of your life to look like?’

See how easy that was?

When you buy a house, does the Estate Agent ask you to describe how you would like to live in a house?

No, they ask you about the:

• Number of bedrooms
• Location
• Budget

All questions that you can answer quickly and simply.

The search is then narrowed, and houses that meet the core criteria can be viewed.

And the irony is, the act of looking at houses that meet the core criteria, helps you see the little things that are important to you more clearly.

But they need to come in that order – rocks in the jar if you will.

Because it’s no good sitting on an evening marvelling at the lovely Victorian mantelpiece you always wanted, if your kids don’t have a bedroom.

Life Planning & Coaching can be much less scary (for the client and ourselves), if we break it down into simple, everyday questions about the ‘Big 6’.

Get the answers to the ‘Big 6’ and it starts to come alive.

Once we can see, touch and feel the foundations and outlines, the more able we are to colour in the details.

Don’t think you have to ask some ‘killer’ question to get a conversation going.

It’s not about you looking good with your fancy questions.

Your job is to make the clients’ answers look good.

PlanHappy.co.uk – Software, Training & Business Services for Financial Planners

FREE TRIAL – INSTANT ACCESS

• End-to-End Lifestyle Financial Planning Process & Software
• Full Financial Planner Back Office System
• Coaching for Financial Planners

#financialplanning