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Most advisors have fond memories of when their initial meeting with a new prospect was easy, simple and effortless.
A little chemistry, mixed with some relationship building, proof of your value, were all the ingredients you needed to bring a new client onboard.
Boy have things changed, it now feels like getting a new client to commit to you in the first meeting has become a complex maze full of unexpected twists and turns -- making it difficult for you to produce at the highest level.
In the beginning of the meeting, everything seems to go well as you successfully build rapport and ask fact-finding questions.
But as soon as you begin to educate them, talk about yourself and what you do, things start to go off track in the back of their mind – the meeting shifts from them to you.
Without realizing it, you’re triggering a hidden sales alarm.
Once it goes off, trust gets wobbly, and they start to become indecisive with you by saying: “I’d like to think about it”.
From your perspective, you did everything by the book, with the simple intention of just explaining how you can help them.
What could be wrong with that?
The issue beneath the surface is were the real issue lies.
Turns out, your internal objective may be completely at odds with what your prospect actually wants, at a deep psychological level.
The advisory industry still operates under the misconception that potential clients are meeting with you to confirm your credibility and ability to solve their problem.
Believing this is what drives their decision making, it’s easy to do “free consulting” to prove to them you know your stuff.
In the new economy, your prospects have access to mountains of free information and “value” from every advisor claiming that they also know their stuff.
What’s missing is a deep level of trust they need to feel from you, not related to your expertise, but related to how well you connect with them at the heart-level, not the head-level.
They already assume you’re capable of solving their problem, what they care about most is whether or not you’re the one they can trust to solve it.
To succeed today, they need to emotionally trust you, without you have to talk about yourself.
This is accomplished by focusing solely on providing a very deep level of clarity on their situation, in a way they’ve never experienced before - like a doctor showing an x-ray to a patient that instantly provides an “aha” to their situation.
Once you master this level of deep trust-building, you’ll never again trigger hidden sales alarms, and you should expect to convert every qualified prospect that you meet with – in your first meeting.
To learn more about trust-based selling, get your complimentary book and consultation below.
Get Ari’s 6 best-selling books for FREE here and you’ll also receive a Complimentary Sales and Lead Generation Consultation (value $995.00). Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net-worth new client acquisition expert for financial advisors. His latest books "Are You Chasing Ghosts", "Trusted Authority" and "Trust In A Split Second" have become instant best-sellers among financial advisors worldwide, get your free books here.