We’d all like people to view us in a positive light. But few advisors take consistent advantage of six simple
words that can get clients to view them more favorably. Those six words: “Can I ask for some advice?”
What happens when your opinion is valued
A 2014 article described research from academics at Harvard
Business School and Wharton on what happens when you ask for advice. People hesitate to ask for advice out of fear
that it will make them appear weak or incompetent.
In fact, exactly the opposite happens.
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Provided that you ask in the right way and on the right topic, soliciting advice creates goodwill with the recipient
of the request. The recipient is flattered and views the person asking in a more positive light as a result.
The lead researcher was Alison Wood Brooks of the Harvard Business School. In an interview with Entrepreneur
Magazine, she provided additional perspective on the research:
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We’ve all had the experience of being asked for advice on a topic on which we have expertise and felt good
as a result. Yet when it comes to asking for advice, we forget how positive it feels to be asked for our
opinion. Brooks described this as a “broken mental model,” in which our instinct is inconsistent
with our experience.
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Asking for advice works best on a topic which is difficult and about which the person being asked views him or
herself as an expert.
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Brooks does provide some words of caution. Asking for advice on a topic that is very easy will reduce
credibility. And you need to be selective about asking for advice; asking for advice constantly is annoying.
How to ask for advice
There are some times when asking for advice can backfire. First and foremost, asking for help shouldn’t be a
masked sales pitch that puts the client under pressure. For example, “I’d like your advice on getting to
know the guys in your regular golf foursome. If you were me, how would you go about doing this?”
The good news is that there are lots of ways that you can ask for advice without it feeling like a sales pitch:
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Ask clients their opinions on topics for educational talks or client events. To make it easier, you can say that
you’ve narrowed the options to a short list and would like your client’s opinion on which of the
three finalists they would go with. Or you could ask their opinion on a logistical issue like office hours or
the best day of the week or location for a client event.
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If you focus your practice on a particular niche, you could ask clients for their opinions on topics for
articles that you are writing for the group. And once you have taken the initial steps to establish yourself as
an expert, ask clients who belong to the group for advice on how to approach gatekeepers for a speaker series.
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Some advisors have had good success by formalizing the advice-asking process via a client advisory board that
meets a couple of times a year to provide feedback on issues that affect their entire client base.
By asking for their opinion, you increase clients’ predisposition to buy into the advice they provide. Here’s
an excerpt from my recent article, The Question
That Qualifies Prospects:
A successful advisor runs monthly events for small groups of clients – from wine tastings to comedy nights
and book readings by best-selling authors. She gets a great response to these, but has struggled to get her best
and busiest clients to come out. She made one change that increased participation from her top clients. A couple
of years ago, at the end of her reviews she asked top clients for feedback on a half dozen events she was
considering for the following year. Now when an event is coming up that a top client had indicated was a good
idea, she calls them to extend a personal invitation. As soon as clients tell her that an event is a good idea,
their commitment to attend goes way up.
In order for the advice-asking process to have maximum impact, be sure to thank clients for their opinions, not just
at the time but in a follow-up note as well. And to really make your point, the next time you talk you should thank
the client again and then tell them what you did as a result.
Sometimes the most powerful habits are the simplest. Getting into the routine of regularly asking clients for their
opinions falls into that category. You can read the full research study here.
Dan Richards conducts programs to help advisors gain and
retain clients and is an award winning faculty member in the MBA program at the University of Toronto. To see
more of his written commentaries, go to www.danrichards.com or here for his
videos.
Read more articles by Dan Richards
We’d all like people to view us in a positive light. But few advisors take consistent advantage of six simple
words that can get clients to view them more favorably. Those six words: “Can I ask for some advice?”
