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Early on in your career as an advisor, it’s likely no one explained the power of positioning to you. Most elders and “mentors” in the industry have only focused on getting more leads and booking more meetings, and that’s still the case today.
As new advisors began to enter the market and lead generation became more competitive,a new mindset and approach to selling emerged in the industry that was based on building relationships and giving value, pre-sale. A differentiated position meant impressing your prospects by giving more value than other advisors (over delivering). That required you to do some free “try me before you buy” consulting.
The logic was that the more they got to try you, the more likely they were to buy you. This is essentially how the discovery meeting got cemented as a “thing” and how the advisory sales process came to be a complex multi-step process.
Initially, your prospects are happy to get free consulting from you, but contrary to the logic behind it, receiving value from you pre-sale does not secure their commitment as a client at the end of the meeting. Your wealth of knowledge and experience, which you share in the process for free, does not bring you the esteem and trust that you would perhaps expect.
Instead, it seems to do the opposite: your value (knowledge and experience) gets devalued by your prospect wanting to sample other advisors’ value first, before settling and making a choice.
This is why their answer is almost always, “I want to think about it”.
Ever since advisors started basing their sales approach on giving value in the ‘90s, value itself has become synonymous with selling. And because advisors effectively treat their prospects like they’re a client before they’ve made the decision to become one, the value-based selling process (education and information) is now perceived to be agenda-driven.
The overall effect: prospects don’t value your information and see you as someone trying to sell them something rather than someone they can really trust.
It makes them feel like you need them more than they need you.
All this has turned advisory into a ruthlessly competitive selling environment. Opportunities seem few and far between, so the pressure to invest more of your time and effort into a prospect pre-sale, out of fear of losing them, is immense.
But as outlined above, this is the consequence of the devalued positioning that the value-based approach to selling created in the first place.
And now that it has defined the attitudes and expectations of the profession and its market, it’s hard to go against it, even though you can see how it’s diminishing your ability to onboard new clients.
The only viable option in the face of this decline, is to become what’s called a “Trusted Authority.”
Trusted Authorities don’t market their solutions or dispense free advice pre-sale, to impress their prospects and compete in the market. They market problems only and their sales approach is based on assessing and clarifying a prospect’s deepest issues, and making it apparent that a commitment is required from them to solve it.
Knowledge and expertise gets shared after that commitment has been made, not before(which is where advisory has gone so wrong). Once the problem has been explained and understood, there’s nothing to think about except whether or not to make the commitment to solve it. Either they hire you right there and then, or you disengage. It’s that simple.
That might seem a little fierce but ironically enough, this fearless/no-nonsense/truth-based approach is perceived as being more authentic and trustworthy.
Why?
Because it gives your prospect the feeling that they need you more than you need them, and they find that reassuring.
To learn more about becoming a Trusted Authority in your market, 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.