What to Say When a Prospect Questions Your Fee

Your prospect ran the same retirement projection twice, once with a 1% advisory fee and once without. The gap is huge, and now they're asking why they'd hire you. The math is right, but the comparison assumes you'd deliver the same plan either way.

That's a price-to-value conversation, and most advisors answer it by reciting the value menu. It feels like proving your worth, but it comes across as defensive and puts a wedge between you and the prospect. In this episode, James and Eden apply the ACE framework to the fee conversation: acknowledge the fee is real money, clarify what's behind the question, then explain value in the prospect's own words.

You'll walk away knowing how to hand the prospect the mic instead of defending your fee, and how to tie your value back to what they told you. You'll also learn how to reframe the "million-dollar, 30-year decision" as one they can exit at any time, and why raising the fee conversation before they do builds trust.

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