The ABCs of using LPA for Lead Generation
Many Financial Consultants ask me “Eugene, how do you get your leads in Estate Planning?”
And I tell them there are many ways to do that.
But in this article, I just want to share 1 Powerful Strategy to get referrals when it comes to Estate Planning…and that’s through your client’s LPA!
To make it easier, I boiled it down to 3 simple steps—or what I like to call “The ABCs of using LPA for Lead Generation”👌
Here’s how it works…
When you are helping your client do up their LPA and you want to potentially prospect their chosen donees, you can say “hey you know I can do you a favor to call up your donees and explain to them what are the responsibilities that they face”
And once you are there to meet with their donees (or you’re on the phone with them), you have to follow this, step-by-step:
𝗔: 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
I always tell FCs this…
Before you even brief your client’s donees, the first thing you should do is introduce yourself.
Why?
Because if you don’t, then many clients will think you are a lawyer.
So you have to make it clear that you are a Financial Consultant and that it is your duty to your client to make sure that all these things are being done properly (their LPA, Will, CPF, or whatever).
Because when the donees hear that you are an FC and you want to do all these things for your client, then their first thought would be “Wow, you as an Advisor are so on the ball”
And they will even start to compare you with their current Financial Consultant.
You know what I mean?
Because it’s human psychology, right? It’s very normal for them to compare—and this technique will help put you on a higher level in their eyes.
𝗕: 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔 𝘁𝗼 𝗭
Now that you have the introduction covered, you move on to Step 2 which is….
To brief your client’s donees.
About what, exactly?
You have to explain to them what are the responsibilities that they face as donees.
It’s very simple actually. You just go to the opg website and you can see a list of duties / do’s and dont’s as a donee.
In fact, here’s the link: https://bit.ly/43dFGPu
You can explain it to them and even send them resources that they can read through.
And this step is very important for your client.
Because imagine you appoint your friend or family member as a donee then you don’t inform him what he should do, right?
You need to properly tell them what their duties are. You cannot assume that they already know. Because if anything happens, the donee can be sued by your client’s family because they are not doing a good job, for example.
That’s why it’s very important to brief them beforehand.
𝗖: 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
This is the last most important thing you should do.
Before you end the meeting or end the call, you must say this line:
“By the way, [Mr./Ms. Client], I wonder if you have done up your LPA already.
Because if you have done up your LPA, then you will probably be very clear with these LPA donee duties. But when I spoke to you earlier, it seems like you may not be very clear on this.
If you have not done your LPA, and since you are a good friend of my client, I would like to do your LPA for you, explain to you, and perhaps add value to you in this area. How does that sound?”
Now that is a powerful way to actually use LPA for your lead generation.
And it gets better…A
Let’s say you have 50 clients, right.
And all those 50 clients have to do up their LPA—which means that they would have to think of at least 2 donees (1 main and 1 substitute in case the first person passes on)
That means you’ll have at least 100 names/prospects to call!
So every call you make achieves 2 purposes:
1) to help your client brief their person
2) for lead generation
And that will give you a larger pool of leads flowing in.
Bonus tip:
When you help your clients do up their LPA and get it certified and all that…
Put it on social media.
As in take a pic and say for example “Very excited I helped client to complete their LPA. Now they can have peace of mind in the event of mental incapacity, etc. etc.”
How is this helpful?
It can help you build awareness that you do in fact help your clients with that.
Because a lot of FCs have clients who don’t even know that they can help them with their LPAs.
So you have to make extra effort to show them that you can bring value in this area too.
There you go!
So to recap, the ABCs of using LPA for Lead generation are:
𝗔 – llot time for a proper introduction
𝗕 – rief your client’s donees from A to Z
and…
𝗖 – lose with a power question
If you do all 3 steps right, this will be a game changer for your Estate Planning journey!
1 Golden Tip to NOT be intimidated by High Net Worth Clients
A while back, a financial consultant wanted to consult me for a case study.
He told me, “Eugene, I met with this client…the husband is going to inherit a few properties from his parents and one of them includes a land in Malaysia.”
He then went on to share more about the pot of land, going in the details of how the parents are intending to split amongst the various beneficiaries.
Before he went on further, I stopped him. I asked him, “Who is doing Estate Planning? Your client or his parents?” Because if it is his client, then all these are considered “future assets.” Future assets also mean, technically, they do not belong to the client yet at this current point in time.
So here’s the GOLDEN TIP:
Do not be distracted by all this extra information when speaking to the client. Don’t factor in what is going to happen in the future. Focus on what the client has in the present.
Because as the financial consultant or the estate planner, you don’t need to know what the client is going to inherit in the future. Yes, it may be useful to know but it’s not critical in Day 1.
So what do you tell the client? You can use this script:
“[Mr./Ms. Client], what do you have right now? That is what we need to focus on at this moment. Because my job is to help you so that should something happen to you the next day, your current assets under your name would go to the right beneficiary the way you want it.”
Then you can slowly do a review every single year.
And if in the 3rd year, let’s say, his parents do pass away and he now has the asset, then you can see how to enhance his plan.
You have to know how to bring the client back to reality because the goal is to get him to consider his current assets first and get that job done.
Remember, your responsibility (in Estate Planning) is to make sure that if the client passes away the next day, his/her affairs would have been in order after meeting you as an estate planner.
That is where you can add the most value to your clients.
3 Simple Conversation Starters for Business Owners
One of the main questions I get from financial consultants about prospecting Business Owners is this:
“How do I even bring up the topic of Estate Planning to my business clients?
This is a very common struggle when engaging this market.
Many FCs do not know how to approach them for Estate Planning—let alone close the deal.
But the key here is this: do not nag them into doing up a Will or doing a Buy-Sell Agreement.
Do not tell them things that they may already know or things that other advisors have already told them.
Instead….
Ask them questions that will help them picture their current situation and realize the importance of Estate Planning when it comes to fulfilling their goals.
So here are 3 simple conversation starters that would help you kickstart Estate Planning with your Businessmen prospects or clients:
1️⃣ “Why & how did you choose your current business partners?”
2️⃣ “If you feel that it’s sensitive and also hard to bring up this topic of selling out your shares upon demise, can you imagine it will be even worse for your loved ones to do so with your surviving business partners when the time comes?”
3️⃣ “In your opinion, will your family members prefer to receive immediate cash or your business shares when you are no longer around?”
These are just some of the simple conversation starters you can use when prospecting Business Owners.
They will help you to kind of get the businessman to understand where you are going and which direction you are heading towards.
So make sure to use this wisely because these conversation starters will help you tremendously before you even go to the nitty gritty of businessmen planning!
The Process that Helped Me Set Up Over 200 Trusts
“Eugene, how can I sell the idea of a Trust? Most people I meet say it’s expensive.”
I get this question all the time. If you are a financial consultant helping clients with Estate Planning, one of your goals is most likely to be able to learn and do more Trust Planning.
But the issue most advisors get here is that clients mainly have this common objection: It’s too expensive!!
Now first things first, you have to remember that we do live in Singapore and most of our clients will also be Asians. And Asian people—you and me—are very stingy compared to the westerners.
But the flip side of this is that we Asians preserve family harmony which means family is something we hold very dear to our hearts. So the secret recipe here is to know how to position a Trust to your clients.
For example, you cannot go to your client or your prospect and tell him/her that their Trust costs a few thousand dollars….they’re gonna fall off their chairs and they will not proceed! It won’t work because you are basically telling them this is the price to pay before you even show them the problem.
So here’s what I usually do….I will usually NOT go in upfront and put the price tag on the table.
I will go in using a typical simple Will planning. This is because people are already very comfortable writing a Will and they already know it’s a couple hundred dollars.
So I will help them with their Will but through the process, that is where I will uncover blindspots, help them see the areas they did not think about, and get them to think through what will happen in different scenarios.
Basically, I paint them a picture.
And with this, the problem will intensify (not just for the sake of intensifying the problem but for the purpose of helping them, of course). After that, they will realize that perhaps a Will may not be the best solution.
Then you can go and tell them this second option—a Trust. You can highlight that a Trust can provide more protection and more flexibility. So depending on their needs, they may actually benefit more from setting up a Trust rather than just a simple Will.
So in a nutshell, what you need to do is:
Enter through Will first ➜ Slowly add tons of value ➜ Show them the problem ➜ Then bring them the concept of an alternative solution which is a Trust
This simple process will not only help you identify which of your clients needs a Trust, but it will also help you know how to convince them that setting up a Trust is the best option for them.
Because even though us Asians are sting people, we still hold family dearly to our hearts. So when you talk about Estate Planning (which you basically plan for family), people who really see your point and see your proposal will be more inclined to spend—because they’re spending not just for themselves…but for their family who are close to them & who they will leave behind one day.