180 Degrees of Separation

http://www.AdvisorBusinessInstitute.com

In a crowded

market place where clients are bombarded every day with a barrage of messages

telling them who to trust, what to do, and how to do it, positioning ourselves

as a valued resource is getting more and more difficult.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> In the first article in this series, we

discussed some of the issues that advisors are facing today.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> In the second, we discussed some

specific strategies to get in front of more people and have their minds open

when we got there. In this article,

we will discuss how to position ourselves for maximum effectiveness now that we

are in front of them.

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The exercise

"describe what you do for clients" is a common exercise in many sales

trainings. I remember one of the

first trainings that I went to in the business, an ex-Lehman Brothers broker

said we needed a stock story and an elevator pitch that we could recite after 6

cocktails (we tested ourselves on that later that night, as I recall).style="mso-spacerun: yes"> While I think it is important to be able

to wax elegantly on our virtues, I would argue in today's market it is a

horrible place to begin a persuasive conversation.style="mso-spacerun: yes">

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If you are

trying to gain credibility, you really have two options: you can claim it, or

you can earn it. While claiming it

is the most common strategy, it is also the quickest way to lump yourself in

with the crowd. Think of it this

way for just a second, what can you say in 30 seconds that is truly unique in

the market place? In fact, if you

were to think about the ads that most companies run, if it weren't for the logo

at the end, could you even tell them apart?style="mso-spacerun: yes">

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In the

market place today, we have two issues that need to be addressed the next time

that we are in front of a qualified prospect.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> First, the client's options are

virtually unlimited. Everyone it

seems is getting into the investment business.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Banks and Insurance companies have been

in it for years. Discounters with

Advisor Alliances now offer investment advice.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Lawyers and CPAs are becoming Registered

Investment Advisors. Can it be long

before someone does actually hang out a shingle at a barbershop making The

Wealthy Barber seem like a prophecy?style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Most of the time we will

begin the conversation with "near-zero" credibility and very little time left on

the shot clock to earn some. I am

not trying to be negative, just realistic.

When we call on a prospect, we are saddled with the sins of every sales

person that came before us that was pushy, fuzzy with the facts, or reneged on

promises they had made. When we

come at the client with a "Bud Fox from WallStreet" sales pitch, I suggest that

in the prospect's mind, doors are closing, not opening.

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The typical

opening for most advisors is solution centric and is really focused mainly on

what they do. It often sounds

something like this:

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Hello Mr. Prospect. I am

Mike Marvelous with the XYZ Brokerage firm, as you probably know we are a

nationally recognized leader in research and money management and we pride

ourselves on the outstanding level of client service and the holistic approach

that we take to investing.

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Think about the transaction for

a second, from the client's point of view.

I don't know about you, but when I am on the receiving end of the fact

onslaught, my tendency is to pull back, not open up.style="mso-spacerun: yes">

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A better

way, we find, is to bond with the client with their problems, not

your solutions. Clients are only interested in what we have to

offer when painted against the context of a specific need they have.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Let's look at the old school first:

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">IA:style="mso-tab-count: 1"> Hello

Mr. Prospect I am Mike Marvelous with the XYZ Brokerage firm, as you probably

know we are a nationally recognized leader in research and money management and

we pride ourselves on the outstanding level of client service and the holistic

approach that we take to investing.

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Pros:style="mso-tab-count: 1"> Mike, good to meet you,

perhaps you could help me with my situation, I am saving for retirement and

these volatile markets over the course of the last three years have really

thrown me for a loop.

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">IA:style="mso-tab-count: 1"> I am not

surprised sir, frankly I hear that a lot.

At XYZ we take a top down approach to investing, making sure first that

you investments are in line with your risk tolerance and time horizon and that

you are properly allocated across the style boxes, I would be happy to give you

a free review.

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">Pros:style="mso-tab-count: 1"> Wow, that sounds like just

what I need Mike. Could you do that

for both my qualified and joints accounts?

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.5in; TEXT-ALIGN: justify">IAstyle="mso-tab-count: 1"> I

would be happy to, would Tuesday be good or would Thursday be

better?

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Once you stop laughing, think

about two things. First, the only

time that a conversation ever follows this pattern is in role-plays in training

rooms. In the history of all

prospecting, the total number of times that real-life conversations have gone

like this could be counted on one hand.

Second, does it seem odd to anyone else that most traditional training is

geared toward this conversation, when we know it will almost never ever

occur?

Think, for a

moment, of a transaction where you are the buyer.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Regardless of what you are buying, most

of the time you want to know:

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You are getting the right solution for your problem.

You are getting a good value for your money.

If there are problems, this company will make them go

away.

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But it all

begins with the problem. If you

walk into a store looking for a computer and the guy starts pushing you toward

the televisions, odds are you are going to get ticked off and leave, regardless

of what a good deal televisions happen to be. Clients and Prospects have no

interest in your solutions except to the degree that it is painted against an

issue that they face. They are not

interested in finding out about your solutions, until they view you as a

valuable resource that will be able to help them.style="mso-spacerun: yes">

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Financial Advisors have been

taught to ask open-ended questions in order to engage the prospect in a deep

conversation that can focus on their goals and objectives.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The problem is that people are going to

be reluctant to open up and share their thoughts, desires, and concerns with

people that they do not yet know and trust.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Frequently, an open-ended question can

backfire. Imagine walking into your

local sports car emporium. You have

hit your goals for the year, and your reward is going to be a convertible for

weekend romps. The salesperson

materializes and asks how can he help.

You say, "I am looking for a convertible".style="mso-spacerun: yes"> In an effort to engage you he asks, "Is

value important to you?" While you might not say it, you could easily be

thinking, "no, what is important to me is that you find me a salesman who

doesn't ask overly rhetorical questions." Anyone who has ever tried to start a

conversation with the first question being, "What are you financial goals over

the next 3-5 years?" knows that there is risk in asking for too much too

soon.

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There is a

lot going on at this point in the sales conversation.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> How long does it take for a prospect to

begin forming an opinion of you?

Will the words that you say help him to form that opinion?style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Haven't we also demonstrated, so will

the questions that you ask? We need

to get to their problems, but they will be reluctant to share with somebody that

they don't yet know and trust. So

how do we cross this gauntlet?

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At this

stage of the sales presentation, assuming that we have used some of the

techniques outlined in the previous article, we will have earned a small window

of time. If we use it to toot our

own horn, all too often the prospect will say, "I have heard that tune

before". If we open things up with

open-ended questions, we risk the client thinking that we are asking for too

much too soon. The path that you

want to use here is a series of very narrow in scope, closed-ended questions

that are designed to do four things.

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in">Kick off the needs development conversation.
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in">Establish your credibility.
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list .5in">Gather some information.
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permission to escalate.

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We call

these Diagnostic Questions. The key

to diagnostic questions is that they are short, easy to ask and easy to

answer. At this stage of the

conversation, brevity is critically important, because the window of opportunity

is a short one. At this point in

the conversation, assuming that we have successfully piqued the prospects

interest, they might ask, "Well what kind of problems do you solve?"style="mso-spacerun: yes"> A very natural response would be,

"I'll be happy to tell you that, can I ask you a couple of specifics about

your investment situation?" In the world of question

asking, this is about as close as you can come to a sure thing.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Assuming that you get the "yes", which

is a very good assumption, you now have a short window of time to move

forward.

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In selling

traditional investments, you could ask some of the following:style="mso-spacerun: yes">

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When you

invest, do you look more for safety of principal or upside potential?

Do you like

current income or growth?

Is managing

timing of the taxes from your investment an issue?

Are you

managing your estate inside or outside of a trust?

Are you

getting advice from multiple sources or just one?

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You will

notice that these questions have several things in common.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> They are simple to ask and answer.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> They are brief.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> In fact you could probably ask these

questions and hear the answers in less than 30 seconds.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> They give you some good information to

have, without asking questions that the client might feel invasive.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> They suggest an expertise in several

different areas. Your prospects

will assume that you know something about investments, tax planning and estate

planning, otherwise you wouldn't have asked these questions.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Imagine the difference of having them

arrive at the conclusion that you must have some specific expertise, from the

questions that you are asking, rather that having their mind

filled with doubt and questions from the things that you have been

saying.

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This is a sampling of what you

might ask. If you have a particular

area of expertise and focus, use these as a guide to develop questions even more

suitable for your needs. The key is

that as you run through these questions, they are short, easy, pertinent and

non-threatening, thereby opening the door to move to the next stage, the needs

development conversation (covered in the next article).

Many times you won't even be

able to get all the way through your questions.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> An interesting thing can happen on the

way to the transition. Have you

have ever been in a survey that you wanted to take part in?style="mso-spacerun: yes"> If so, have you noticed that the

available choices for your answers don't really allow you to convey everything

that you want to get across? In the

survey, you might want to give an answer, but also clarify it just a bit.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> In the survey experience, you are

typically told, "Just pick a number, we don't have room for you to

elaborate". The same thing often

happens in these conversations; if the questions are broad and you hit a nerve,

the client will feel a natural overwhelming need to elaborate.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The obvious difference is, not only are

we going to let them elaborate, that is actually the outcome we are shooting

for.

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you say the same thing that everyone else is saying; if you sound exactly the

same way they sound; you will very quickly find yourself lumped in with everyone

else, fighting against all the prospects' conditioning from years of experience

dealing with sales people. You'll

be fighting an upstream battle, trying in essence to say, even though we sound

the same, it will be different this time with me.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The trouble is, of course, that's what

they all say. By using these

questions and focusing on the client's problems and incorporating the skills

that we will give you next week, you will not only sound different, you will

effectively position yourself as diametrically exposed to the legions that came

before you, in the only place that it really matters…in the mind of the