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Do you know this Advisor? He must have slipped through.
I thought these guys were extinct, but I guess I was wrong. I thank God he is just one of a small number of advisors who still adhere to the traditional sales skills. On top of that, he certainly needs to learn how to work with women, because the way he spoke to me, I would never do business with him nor would I ever refer my clients to him.
Here is what happened.
We met through LinkedIn. He reached out to me and wanted to learn about how we could work together. I checked out his website and found it interesting and worth learning more. His introduction by email was polite and interesting enough to get me to commit to a call with him. At the beginning of our call, I made it clear that I only had 15 minutes. He said, “OK,” with a slight chuckle. As I look back, now I realize this was the first sign of a bad experience.
He proceeded to talk about his strategy. He had a well-honed sales pitch that he launched into directly, one that he clearly shared often. He tried to entrap me with questions and answers that were predetermined, but I wasn’t going to play ball. After about 5 minutes, concerned about our time, I interrupted and asked, “So how does what you do work with my practice?” (I ignorantly assumed that he checked out my website). The next thing he said was “Well I’ll tell you just let me finish.” I found his response a bit rude but graciously allowed him to carry on, and he did.
After another 5 minutes of still not understanding the connection for me (It seemed he was talking as if I was an advisor and not a coach for advisors). I gently interjected, “It sounds like you have a good business, but I don’t feel there is an opportunity for us to move forward.” And then he dug a deeper hole by saying, “I can’t believe with your background you can’t understand what I’m telling you!” I’m thinking REALLY? You really think a statement like that is going to work?
Again he went back to his pitch. I again reiterated that I just didn’t see a reciprocal opportunity. Still not ready to back off he stated, “I can’t believe you don’t want me to giveYOU business. I’m just trying to help you!”. I emphasized that I prefer partnerships that are reciprocal, and although I appreciate his offer, I really had to get off the phone as I had a client coaching call to prepare for. At the 15-minute mark he then asks, “So tell me about your business.” NOW he asks me? I suggested he review my website to learn more before I politely hung up, I was SO ready to get off the phone.
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I don’t know what he was thinking. Did he think that if he just kept banging on the door, I would eventually invite him in? Did he think that the more he talked that I would finally become convinced? Did he not understand that sales are all about building relationships based on respect? I rarely ever come across advisors like this, thank goodness, but when I do come across them they stand out like a sore thumb. I can only hope for total extinction.