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Are you being hired based on the facts you collect and provide or on how your prospects feel about you? It’s the quintessential question advisors face. A typical initial meeting with a new potential client usually starts off with something like this: “Hi, my name is... we are a... and we provide...” and proceeds with questions like, “What’s your background?”, “How many kids do you have?”, “When do you want to retire?”, “How much cash or stocks/bonds do you have?” etc.
These are good questions if you like filling out forms.
Most advisors have been told to have any chance of being selected by a potential client, they need to build a relationship first.
That is interpreted as proactively creating friendly rapport and getting to know your prospects personally.
There are two major problems with this:
- A relationship can only be built after the prospect becomes a client – because they’re with you for a much longer time, than they are during your pre-sale process (real and authentic relationships take a longer time to create).
- You need to build real trust – creating rapport is only satisfying expected social norms.
The main purpose of the initial meeting, as it’s currently conducted, is to gather facts and information that will help you create a financial plan for your prospect.
From that financial plan, you hope prospects will see the pragmatic benefits of working with you.
If that formula worked, like it used to before the world changed post-pandemic, then you should be onboarding 100% of your qualified prospects. Contrary to what most marketing gurus teach, your prospect’s ultimate decision is not driven intellectually by information.
It’s driven by emotion.
In a direct and one-to-one sales context like advising, your prospect needs to feel sure in their gut that you’re the one for them.
They need to feel there’s something more to you than just “running the numbers.”
Rather than ask fact-finding questions that often feels like they’re being cross-examined (the opposite of trust building), instead use trust-based questions to go deeper behind their issues:
- Tell me more about that?
- What have you done on your own to address your issues?
- How has this issue impacted you up until now?
- Is this a priority for you to solve?
These questions are designed to diagnose the prospect’s situation and help them understand the impact of not solving their challenges.
They also minimize small talk and chit chat (which can feel out of place in a non-social setting) and get you straight to the prospect’s core issues, like a doctor x-raying a patient – with empathy and bedside manner.
This trust-based approach gives them the impression that: a) you’re an expert and know your stuff; and b) you’re not just trying to sell them something – you care and want to understand their issues thoroughly.
By staying with this diagnostic approach, the prospect will eventually ask, “How do you work?”, or “What is your process?”, or something to that effect.
When they ask this, they’re owning their problems, they’re open to trusting you, and they’re considering moving forward with you.
Unless your initial conversation leads to these conditions, you’ll keep losing qualified new clients.
To learn how to shift away from fact-finding to trust-building (fact-finding comes after they agree to work with you, not before), then order your complimentary book and consultation below.
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net worth/lead generation expert for financial advisors. His newest book, “Trusted Authority” has become an instant best-seller among financial advisors worldwide – you can get a free copy of Ari’s book here and, when you click the “YES” button in the order form, you’ll also receive a complimentary “get new clients” lead generation consultation. Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, INC Magazine and the Australian Financial Review. He is considered a contrarian in the financial services industry and in his book, everything you learned about selling will be turned upside down. No more chasing, no pressure, no closing.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.