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Advisors say they work hard, but for most of them it’s only until it’s time to go golfing. Exploit this weakness in the competition by showing prospects you’re working harder than they are starting on day one.
Outshine the competition prior to the first meeting with a prospect using this four-step process.
This is not for lazy advisors or clients
Before I get into this, let me eliminate the lazy people:
- This process is going to take about 30 minutes to complete. If you’re too lazy, then stop reading this article and go take a nap. “Arrivederci,” as my nonna used to say!
- This process is going to increase the amount of time spent on prospecting. That is all the more reason to clearly define who you will and will not work with on your website. You don’t want to do all this and find out the person isn’t qualified. If that happens, it’s your own fault for not having the chutzpah to be upfront about your AUM minimums or other requirements.
- Some prospects will drop out once they see the work that is required of them as a prospect. To that I will quote Steam’s song, “Na na na na, hey hey- ey, goodbye!” Get those loser prospects out of your life before they become loser clients and make your life miserable.
Now that I warned you of the drawbacks and you didn’t drop out, here’s how you show them you are more serious, hardworking, organized, and professional than other advisors. Follow these four steps to be in first place from day one.
- Establish a two-week pre-meeting period
Here’s a leeeetle paradox I noticed about advisors. On your websites it says how great your service is, how you let nothing stop you from serving your clients, how they’ll be pampered like Queen Elizabeth, blah blah blah.
The prospect falls for this and sets up a meeting, and then is utterly and promptly ignored until the meeting starts.
Huh?
I thought you said you were the most thoughtful, sincere, committed human being in the whole world? Or was that just what it says on your website?
The opportunity to set yourself apart from other advisors begins the minute the prospect sets up the meeting. It takes two weeks to run this “incubation process” I’m about to describe.
Two weeks? You’re meshugana, Grillo!
Yes, two weeks. They can and will wait that long. Let’s say you had a heart murmur, and you were going to see a world-class cardiologist. You’d wait months! Isn’t that the analogy you use – I’m the neurosurgeon of financial planning or however it goes?
And don’t you say you are in this to build long-term relationships with your clients? So why do you feel you have to shove them out of the way ASAP so you can “rush rush” like Paula Abdul to the next prospect?
Here’s why you need two weeks:
- It allows them time to respond to steps 2-4 without feeling rushed.
- It gives the prospect a signal that you’re not available at their beck and call like a butler.
- It saves your calendar from looking like Niagara Falls. That matters because your clients should be your first priority. You can’t say that on your website and then sacrifice time with them to cater to the newest prospect.
If they whine about having to wait, tell them you’ll put them on the waiting list and call them if someone cancels.
- Send a pre-meeting questionnaire
If you haven’t read my other article about my three-question survey, take moment and do so.
I’ll wait.
Did you read it?
Okay, now you get why you need to send something, and it can’t be an outright interrogation about their income, net worth, and the brand of dental floss they use.
Who are you, the U.S. Census Bureau?
You have no right asking those personal questions until they trust you a leeeeetle bit. Set up the meeting, and then immediately send them the three-question survey, which will allow them to tell you about their experiences and what their goals are in talking to you.
If they don’t respond, send a polite reminder a week later.
- Assign a homework question
They respond to the pre-meeting questionnaire. But do you stop there?
Hecks to the no!
Go even further by sending them a powerful, one line question that shows them you are a reflective, deeply intelligent person instead of some product-pitching schlub. Merely contemplating the question is a beneficial exercise in itself. You’re already helping them by asking them this question.
Example:
They respond to the pre-meeting questionnaire and talk about how they are selling their business and don’t know what to do with the proceeds, etc.
You read their questions, reflect deeply, and then a week later you send them this email:
Magdalena, with all the changes that you are about to go through once your business sale is complete, what is the one thing you think an advisor can help you with those most, and what do you need the result to be to facilitate all the other components falling into place?
Bang, boom, zoom, to the moon! There they go. You’ve helped them already.
Tell them to think about it and you’ll discuss in the meeting. Just like Little Red Riding Hood, you’re creating a trail of breadcrumbs leading them to the meeting day.
You’ve included a little suspense. Remember the Zeigarnik Effect? The mind, given an incomplete task, becomes obsessed with it. Dangle the question delicately, just like those episodes of Twin Peaks. Remember how they always left off suspensefully at the end of each episode? You’ll have them salivating for the answer.
- Send a confirming agenda
Instead of the boilerplate confirmation email, send them the agenda the day before the meeting. It reminds them of the meeting and goes a step further by showing them the goals of the session.
Nothing fancy here:
- Send them an email with the subject line, “Sept 9th meeting agenda.”
- In the body, write three bullet points.
- Include the homework question as one of those bullet points.
- At the end, ask them if you left anything out.
You’re activating their curiosity right before the big day!
Sara’s upshot
Use this four-step process the next time you have a meeting with a new prospect or an important meeting with a client.
Try it!
Read my ebook or join my membership to learn how to converse over LinkedIn intelligently. Or you could contact me to set up a consultation if there is another matter you wish to discuss.
Sara Grillo, CFA, is a marketing consultant who helps investment management, financial planning, and RIA firms fight the tendency to scatter meaningless clichés on their prospects and bore them as a result. Prior to launching her own firm, she was a financial advisor.
Read more articles by Sara Grillo