The ability to move a client forward in an decision making process is quite simply the highest paid skill in the world. The art form of tapping into a client's or prospect's Compelling Emotional Outcomes is an art that can be learned rather easily but takes years to master. In the financial services industry there is a huge problem.

Although most advisors, intuitively understand that purchasing decisions, like all buying decisions are predominantly emotional ones, the tools that we most often use are logical tools that attempt to logically prove that doing business with us is the right thing to do. While these tools (hypothetical illustrations, Monte Carlo Analysis, Ibbotson Charts) while powerful tools that definitely have their place--have a fatal flaw. They are not designed to tap into a client's emotion.

Sadly, instead these actually engages a part of our brain that is designed to thwart forward movement, add caution to the equation and literally apply the brakes to the decision making process.

The benefit of mastering the art of conversational influence is it allows you to more predictably move the conversation forward regardless of market conditions, other advisors, their perception of your institution or what the administration is saying today that is causing the market to go into the tank.

It will also pay you dividends regardless of whether you are speaking to your prospects or clients to give you more money, your bank partners to give your more mindshare, or your boss to give you a better territiory of larger portion of a departing advisors book.