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Many advisors jump to the conclusion that leads who back out of a sale simply weren’t ready or qualified. They assume: “I just need more leads.”
This spurs advisors to launch into time-consuming marketing projects, like building out a complex email series, hiring LinkedIn consultants, starting additional social media campaigns, buying expensive CRM systems like Salesforce, and so on.
Ultimately, however, those efforts may prove to be rabbit holes leading advisors away from the real issue.
In a low volume/high margin business like the advisory business -- where one new client can easily be worth $10-20k in annual fees -- a lack of clients is not a lead generation problem. It’s a conversion problem.
The truth is that most of your prospects have some kind of financial problem or issue. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have agreed to meet with you in the first place.
So their lack of commitment to you at the end of your sales process is not necessarily because they're an unqualified lead (though there will be some of those). More likely, it’s because they didn’t trust you enough to open up to you and tell you the truth behind the original challenge they shared with you.
In short: They didn’t trust you enough to go ahead and make the decision to hire you.
If you’re getting say, eight leads per month, that’s plenty of opportunities to convert at least four new clients per month:
- An inbound lead agrees to a phone call or a Zoom meeting with you.
- You have the meeting to discuss the financial problem or issue they haven’t been able to solve on their own—the reason they need your help.
- You onboard them as a client in that meeting.
That’s it.
The only question at the end of the meeting should be whether or not they want you to solve their problem. There should be no emailing, phone calling, or chasing after that.
So a lack of new clients is not solved by continuing to create a high volume of new leads. It’s caused by a lack of trust with the leads you have. From not going below the surface in your initial meetings with the prospect to truly address their underlying core issues.
So ask yourself: “What am I doing in our first meeting that causes leads not to trust me?”
Stop using “fact-finding” and “relationship-building” questions, or a long complex sales process where you try to prove yourself as an advisor. That puts the spotlight on you to perform, which forces you to prove your value.
Instead, shift to conducting the sales conversation with the aim of understanding and addressing your prospect’s core problem. Shift the spotlight off of you and on to them.
You don't have to prove your value or sell yourself to make the sale. You just have to prove that you can be trusted.
And with the right approach, you can do that in the first meeting.
To learn more about trust-based selling, 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, “Trust In A Split Second” 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 “plug up the holes” lead generation consultation. Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, INC Magazine and the 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.
