5 Things That Happen When You Refer Someone to Monument

Have you thought about recommending Monument to a friend or colleague?

If not, I can think of a few reasons why:

• Finances are private so it can be uncomfortable to talk about.
• Finances are complicated so it can be hard to explain details about what services you use even if you think they are valuable.
• It may feel pushy or “salesy” to directly connect people with your financial advisor.
• What if it doesn’t work out? No one wants to make a bad referral.

At Monument, we, too, make personal and professional introductions. We feel your pain and that’s why we have a process that’s a painkiller! We would love to meet your friends, associates, and yes, even your in-laws, if you think we could help them and that they’d enjoy working with us. And rest assured that we will maintain complete privacy for both you and your contact.

How do I know if my friend or client would be a good fit for Monument?

Great question. Our clients tend to be people coming into relatively newfound wealth, or they have overwhelmingly complex financial situations and need help.

(You can always refer to the Are We a Fit page on our website!)

If you have a friend or client who you think is a good fit, don’t stress about explaining what we do because we know how to do that, and don’t worry about being “salesy.” All you need to do is share a sentence or two about your experience with Monument in a simple email introduction to any one of us on the Monument Team, and we will take it from there.

Here Are The 5 Things That Will Happen Next:

1. We will respond to you both right away to thank you for the introduction and to let your contact know we’d like to have a short phone call to meet.

2. One of our partners will have a call with your contact to find out more about their specific needs and questions. We will share what they can expect when working with Monument, including our process and our philosophy on successful wealth management. And because anyone can call themselves a “Financial Advisor” (and so everyone does…), we will explain what it means to work with a fee-only fiduciary and how that differs from “fee-based” planners and the advisors at the big firms. We will also find out how they envision their relationship with their financial advisor, to see if we are a good fit for each other.

3. If we are a good fit for each other, we’ll set a time for a Monument Blueprint Meeting. This is our interactive discovery session that kicks off our relationship and sets the foundation for their Private Wealth Design–our collaborative, creative, and customized approach to turning diverse opinions, ideas, resources, and investments into a design that represents the life they want to live. This is a very exciting experience that helps provide clarity and removes the anxiety of the unknown.

If we are not a fit, we can still help! We have a network of other advisors who we know personally and who subscribe to the same philosophy we do but serve different clients. We’re happy to make an introduction.

4. If your contact completed a Monument Blueprint Meeting, the next step would be for them to decide whether or not to continue with the full Private Wealth Design process and engage Monument to help manage their investments.

5. Finally, we will circle back with you to let you know how everything turned out. Making this kind of introduction requires trust. We appreciate your trust and every introduction you choose to make; we will not leave you in the dark about the outcome.

Here is One Thing That Will NOT Happen.

We will not torture your friend/colleague with a hard sell. Again, we are fiduciaries providing financial advice in the best interest of our clients and we do not sell any products. To quote our Partner, David B. Armstrong, “We are not selling timeshares so don’t be scared…we are normal people, just like you.”