Weed out the black sheep
Many professional trustees don’t charge what their services are worth.
They often perceive the trust creator will not be willing to pay a reasonable fee for the service.
If you’re going to take on the responsibility and risk of professional trusteeship, you must capture the commercial reward.
Unfortunately, I’m seeing too many professional trustees undervaluing their services and taking on just downside risk.
There is no doubt there are those people who just don't like paying for anything. They're also likely to be the ones who don’t involve their professional trustee in decisions and the first to complain if things go wrong.
Most people accept there’s risk inherent in any commercial activity. I’ve also found that people don’t value what they get for nothing.
The trick is to balance potential risk against the potential reward.
A professional trustee appointment that doesn't involve an exchange of value can’t qualify as being “professional”.
How do you fix things where you haven't charged enough fees historically?
The first step takes courage. That’s because, you need to start a conversation where:
you may decide to exit as a trustee, or
the client may ask you to go.
Whatever the outcome, it’s a WIN!!!
If you get to exit an unrewarding or unprofitable appointment, you WIN. If you reset the terms of engagement to get paid what the role is worth, you also WIN.
There isn’t a downside.
However, don't be surprised if the courageous conversation works out well for both parties.
I've found when you invest time to educate people on the role of a good trustee, it’s easier to reset the terms of engagement.
The hardest part can be ignoring the voice in your head telling you not to start the conversation.
When you do exit unrewarding relationships, you get your time back to invest in more productive ones.
Weed out the black sheep. Less can be more!
Trust good practice.
Lindsay