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I get a lot of advisors asking me about their pricing models.

From portfolio managers who charge a % of AUM to financial planners who bill by the hour, advisors are concerned about their revenue streams.

And they should be: it’s getting harder and harder for most financial professionals to make the same amount of income.

It’s NOT the economy, stupid

But here’s the dirty little secret massively successful finance business know: the problem isn’t how much you charge…

It’s in the delivery of your services.

Let me explain: when a person goes to the store to buy some food, they pay for their goods and they take their food home.

Maybe they eat it today or the next day — it doesn’t matter.

But the value exchange — in return for my money, I receive goods — happens almost immediately.

Financial services has a different process, something I call the Financial Services Value Exchange.

So, what ends up happening is that at the beginning of every quarter, your clients pay you for managing their portfolios.

But your services are dripped out over the next three months.

You see how the payment and delivery of services don’t quite match up?

Think of your practice as a “regular” business

When customers don’t feel that they’re receiving equivalent value for their money, they aren’t engaged.

When our value-delivery cycle doesn’t match customer expectations, we risk losing our clients.

This doesn’t mean you need to change your model — but it does require a change in mindset.

Outside of your quarterly or yearly meeting/call with a client, you can continue to drip out content (emails, conference calls, videos, newsletters) throughout the year.

Through judicious use of marketing automation and communications, you can tip the balance of the financial services value exchange in your business’s favor.

The value your clients will receive will be better paired to their own payment cycle — making them happier, more satisfied clients.

And that’s bankable.