"You'd be amazed how many people don't know what they earn accurately. Some people will know their gross annual salary. But when you say what's your net monthly, what actually goes into the bank each month...they don't know," says Leckridge.
The same goes for expenditure and other things, he says. And finally, the meeting was trying to cover off far too much to begin with, he adds.
Now his initial meeting lasts for 30-40 minutes and covers the client's reasons for seeking advice, as well as a short presentation of the firm and its processes and the typical cost.
The second meeting is essentially the fact find.
Leckridge likes to prepare the client in advance for that meeting, asking them to bring in all the relevant documentation and also to complete a budget planner ahead of time, as well as a short data capture for them to fill in with all the hard facts.
This is so they're prepared and the questions can actually be answered. The meeting also focuses on the client's needs and objectives and which ones are to be prioritised over others - a central part of his financial planning.
This meeting is still not charged for but after that meeting the research and analysis work starts, resulting in the financial plan, which the client has to pay for.
"I have worked at companies where they charge for the second meeting," says Leckridge, "so if the client doesn't go ahead they've at least covered that time. I've just found that it's very rare for a client to go to that second meeting and not go ahead."
Where that's been the case it's been because there's been an unforeseen change in circumstances, which put them in the wrong space of mind for financial planning, he says.
"[But] I think we shouldn't charge money where somebody's in that situation anyway," he adds. "So I take that it's a risk, but in my experience it's a pretty small risk because it doesn't happen very often."
The third stage is the presentation of the plan, strictly without consideration of individual products or specific investments.
It's all about the plan and anything that might need tweaking. Importantly, he says, it's up to the client to elect what changes they would like to make, "because it's not for me to decide how they're going to change things to make that plan work."
Years of experience have taught Leckridge that the most important thing in trying to get clients to engage with the plan is to "invite them to step forward and take ownership and control of it and I'm just facilitating the decisions that they're coming up with".
In contrast, earlier on in his career, when he didn't use cashflow planning, he would create a report with recommendations for certain products and invite the client to a meeting to talk through it.
