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Many advisors complain about how hard it is to get decisive qualified prospects these days.
Getting clients used to be easy.
All you needed to do was be friendly and educate people about your services and solutions.
But then more advisors began to sprout up everywhere, and being friendly and informative was no longer enough.
They thought that if they over-delivered on value pre-sale (e.g.: initial meeting, discovery meeting, free personalised financial plan etc.), then they’d be seen as special, unique, and differentiated.
Their prospects would be so impressed that by the end they’d want to hire them.
But instead of being blown away, they became indecisive.
Even if they were impressed, they still wanted to “think about it” or speak to other advisors first... anything but commit to a decision.
And advisors still haven’t figured out why.
In a knowledge-based business like advisory, it's easy to assume that your genius (your specialized knowledge and expertise) is essential to the sale.
And this assumption leads you to believe that sharing a bit of your knowledge before the sale (free consulting), will bring you the recognition needed to get hired.
But this is a mistake for three reasons:
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Other advisors are doing the same thing.
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Your prospect has no real ability to understand or appreciate your genius.
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Impressing your prospect has almost no bearing on whether or not they’ll hire you, and attempting to puts you at risk of losing the sale altogether.
Solutions are commodities, they don't differentiate you anymore.
Likewise, the traditional advisory sales process, which is entirely solution-based, also cannot differentiate you.
What you need is a sales process that's designed around your prospect’s problem.
Why?
Because it’s the only reason they would need to speak to you in the first place.
You’re a financial advisor and only people with financial problems would want to see you.
So, your goal in the sales process is not to impress them.
It’s to get to the truth of their problem, so you can clarify and simplify their situation, in a way no one else can.
The doctor patient model is a good analogy for how to approach this.
Your meeting is no longer a sales pitch for your solutions or services — it’s a diagnostic consultation between you (the financial doctor) and your patient.
There’s no selling, only questions aimed at diagnosing the cause of their issue.
For example:
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Can you tell me a bit about your situation and what brought you here today?
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How long has this been in an issue for you?
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Can you tell me a bit more about that?
The contrast with this approach to traditional selling, is that you’re diving into their world and going “down the iceberg”.
You’re trying to help them see the totality of their situation in a way that no one else has been able to.
That’s the only way they’ll differentiate you from anybody else.
After going down the iceberg, you then address the cost of inaction.
This involves politely but honestly explaining the impact that their problem will continue to have, if it isn't decisively addressed and resolved once and for all.
If you follow these steps, with the bedside manner of a doctor, there’ll come a point in the conversation where they ask you, “How can you help me?”
That’s when you can show them your process for resolving their problem (your “road map”).
But be careful not to explain how your solution will work in technical terms, as that might still come across as “selling”.
All you need to do is cover the broad strokes of what solving the problem will involve, should they go ahead and hire you.
And that will leave them with this simple but powerful idea:
Hiring you = Solving their problem
If you’re tired of getting the “I need to think about it” routine from your prospects, even though you clearly impressed them during your pre-sale process, then it’s time to learn how to differentiate your sales process, not your services or solutions.
To learn more, order your complimentary books and consultation below.
Related: Rapport Isn’t Selling: Stop Faking Relationships
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