250 Sten Morgan / PlanScore: The Advisor of the Future Sells a Process that Gets Results
The Elite Financial Advisor Podcast With Sten Morgan
Building a Scalable Planning Proposal
Sten Morgan explains how structured proposals, clear onboarding requirements, and defined mutual expectations make financial planning engagements scalable.
In this solo episode of the Elite Financial Advisor Podcast, Sten Morgan, CFP®, ChFC®, introduces PlanScore - the software his team built to deliver financial plans clients actually understand - and shares the journey that took him from selling products to selling a process.
Sten walks through his path into the business on the insurance and AUM side, the moment he realized advisors could get paid for their time and ideas, and the roadblocks he hit adding financial planning: it was heavy, slow, and hard to scale. His answer became a mantra - maximum value with extreme efficiency - and a clear framework for what a complete financial plan actually covers.
He breaks down the categories every plan should include, why scoring each one from 1 to 5 turns a plan into something clients can see and act on, and why the advisor of the future is a communicator and coach who sells a process, not a product.
As Sten puts it: "The advisor of the future delivers a process, not a product."
Try PlanScore Free (Code: PODCAST):
PlanScore helps you build financial plans people actually understand - the complete-plan framework, a simple 1-to-5 scoring rubric, and a proposal built for you, so you deliver maximum value with extreme efficiency. Start your free trial and use code PODCAST for your first month free.
Get PlanScore here:
https://www.planscore.com/?utm_source=shownotes&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ep_250_planscore
In This Episode
- Maximum value with extreme efficiency: deliver a plan that feels like it took 30 hours in an hour or less.
- You can get paid for your process. When clients pay for advice, they value it and actually follow through.
- Define a complete plan. A cash flow report and a Monte Carlo is not a plan; do not let clients believe a collection of products is one.
- Score every category from 1 to 5 (red, orange, green). Clients do not want to be red, and now they can see the path to green.
- The advisor of the future is a communicator and coach who sells a process, not a product.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - Launching PlanScore, and why we built it
00:40 - Maximum value with extreme efficiency
01:30 - Starting in insurance: trained to sell products
02:27 - The business owner I tried to talk out of his own business
03:30 - Moving to AUM: still gated by "do you have money to invest?"
04:00 - The $5,000 onboarding fee that broke my brain
05:00 - My first paid plan: $1,500 for 12 months
06:00 - Adding planning slowed the rest of the business
07:30 - Deciding what kind of advisor I wanted to be
08:30 - Where it broke down: expectations and the deliverable
10:00 - Simplicity is a gift: a plan people understand
11:00 - The categories of a complete financial plan
13:00 - Scoring each category 1 to 5 (red, orange, green)
15:00 - Building a plan in an hour instead of ten
17:00 - Pricing and the average planning fee
19:00 - Service models: 3-month, 12-month, and AUM-only
22:00 - PlanScore Light: re-energizing existing clients
25:00 - The advisor of the future sells a process
27:00 - Try PlanScore with code PODCAST
Get the Free Episode Companion Guide:
Want the cheat sheet for this episode? We turned the biggest ideas into a one-page companion guide - the complete-plan framework, key takeaways, and three action steps.
Grab your free copy here:
Free Resources for Financial Advisors:
Want to become a more elite advisor? Get our free course on how to become an Elite Advisor, plus training videos that show you how to whiteboard ideas with clients using real examples.
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Get the Free Book: Value First Prospecting
Most advisors were trained to sell first and hope trust shows up later. Value First Prospecting shows you how to create demand, lead with ideas, and turn first meetings into strategy conversations instead of sales meetings. You can claim a free copy of Sten Morgan's book, Value First Prospecting. Just cover shipping.
Get the book here:
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