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Let's start with a scenario that plays out regularly in your business. You have a prospective client coming in for an introductory meeting. They heard about you through an existing client and, no doubt, checked out your website and socials before booking a meeting.
Your goal, at this stage, is clear and that’s to deliver a meaningful, engaging and differentiated prospect experience. Now what?
Process Matters
Let’s assume, for the moment, that you have a solid process in place. You share a link to a meeting scheduler that allows the prospect to book a meeting and a helpful reminder with directions to your office. Going one step further, someone on the team reaches out to ask what they would like to discuss when they come in for the meeting.
An effective process is, of course, a good thing. It is efficient for the team and communicates professionalism to the prospect. But it's table stakes. No prospect has chosen to work with you because of the efficiency of your process.
Conversations Matter More
The real opportunity to set yourself apart isn’t the process; it’s the agenda. Stated differently, it's all about the conversation.
A differentiated prospect meeting is about two things:
- What you focus on during that first meeting. Does the meeting reflect what the prospect needs to hear or what you want to share?
- If or how you involve the prospect in the process. Is the prospect actively involved in setting the agenda or are you relying on assumption about what is most important?
Where Do We Go Wrong?
Understanding how to get it right, starts by understanding how we can get it wrong. Take a moment, stand in front of the proverbial mirror, and ask yourself if you fall into any of these traps.
1. It’s Not You, It’s Me
At the core of the missed opportunity with prospective clients is the focus of the initial meeting. It’s easy to assume that it’s all about you, your expertise and your experience. Prospects are, after all, deciding if you are 'the one.' As a result, and in an attempt to explain how you are different from others, you may spend too much time on your business or yourself, or do that too early in the meeting.
The most valuable outcome for the prospect is learning about themselves as much, or more, as learning about you.
2. Marriage Before Dating
In an effort to demonstrate expertise, you may want to bring tangible value to that first meeting. Seems reasonable. And doing so, you might assume, demands you have the prospect’s financial data in advance. Asking for financial data up front is at best impersonal and at worst intrusive. Don’t buy into the idea that a prospect is ready to share that kind of information before they have decided if they want to work together. Worse still, providing initial financial advice at the outset is unlikely to set you apart unless you are disproportionately smarter than every other advisor.
Requesting financial data before the first meeting is like proposing marriage before the first date. You’re moving too quickly and assuming too much.
3. Show Me the Money
Too often I see agendas that are almost entirely focused on money. It seems logical enough, given your role. However, understanding the context for money is equally, if not more, important at this stage of the journey. By expanding the focus of the meeting you'll connect with prospects at a deeper level, help them understand themselves and connect the dots between the things that are most important and their financial plan.
Consider the data from Absolute Engagement’s most recent high net worth investor research, focused on client concerns. Yes, they are concerned with heath care expenses and the markets but they are also focused on health and family. This is the stuff of 'tossing and turning at night.'
Look also at the results when clients were asked what is important when they think about their future. Yes, it’s about financial security but equally about health, personal development, quality relationships, work/life balance and satisfaction with life.
By building your initial meeting around what keeps prospects up at night and what is most important, you will create a memorable experience.
All of this, however, comes with a caution. While we want to go deep on what matters, it would be an obvious (yet common) mistake to assume couples share the same concerns and goals. It’s imperative we find ways that make it comfortable and easy for couples to share what’s in their hearts and minds separately.
The Co-created Conversation
All of this points in an obvious direction and that is to actively co-create the agenda. If you can change the conversation with prospects you can create a more engaging and differentiated experience. It’s an experience they will remember because they walked away learning about themselves and thanking you for the time.
How?
- Enhance your skills in asking great questions. The '5 why method' is a good place to start. Simply ask about what is important or what is concerning and ask 'why is that' 5 times. You'll end up at the heart of the matter.
- Ask the prospect to respond to a set of questions in advance of the meeting.
- Share stories that help clients understand how and why understanding what is important and what keeps them up at night is critical to crafting a meaningful plan. Connect the dots so the path is clear.
If a prospect comes in with a very specific need you should, of course, start there. But expanding the conversation will add value and set you apart. Consider the two questions from our research (above) as a starting point.
A (Big) Caveat
One of the fundamental problems, when it comes to co-creating an agenda, is this. Prospects are human and not particularly good at understanding their own needs. As a result, when asked what they want to discuss prospects often focus on obvious, surface-level topics.
Next week I’m going to share a real case study that highlights this issue and shares a process to help prospects identify and articulate their needs.