Learn your client's exact objectives
Because resources are always limited, our clients will not be able to achieve all of their objectives, but we can help them to achieve the ones that are most important to them.
-Jeffrey H. Rattiner, CPA, CFP, MBA, president & CEO of the JR Financial Group
We ask clients why they came to see us today. We want to know what brought them to our offices. We ask them about their past experiences with other professional advisers, what they liked and didn't like, what their expectations were, and how they plan on achieving what it is they're looking for. We ask them to prioritize what they would like to see from us. We then tell them to prioritize their own objectives. Because resources are always limited, our clients will not be able to achieve all of their objectives, but we can help them to achieve the ones that are most important to them.
We make sure that if the client is a husband and wife, or life partners, that we speak to them together. Early on in my career, I would meet with each separately to accommodate their schedules. That turned out to be a disaster, since often each was coming from a different perspective. Many times their objectives were 180 degrees opposed.
-Jeffrey H. Rattiner, CPA, CFP, MBA, is president & CEO of the JR Financial Group in Centennial, Colo, in Great Expectations
and 