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Most advisors don’t consider do-it-yourselfers as serious potential clients.
That’s a big, incorrect and very costly assumption: If they can do it themselves, they don’t need me is what most advisors think.
I heard this recently from an advisor:
“The do-it-yourselfers…sheez, they’re on a call with me to get free education, they really aren’t looking to hire anyone – they’re a waste of my time.”
He’s wrong and that assumption is costing him a lot.
Here’s why...
If they really wanted to do it themselves, then they can research online to their hearts content to find the answers they’re looking for.
Why should they bother scheduling a consultation with a financial advisor?
The mere fact they scheduled a call, is because they have a financial problem they want to solve - but so far they haven’t found anyone they can trust to solve it for them.
Here’s something every advisor needs to have pinned on their wall...
What your prospect tells you initially is not their full truth. It’s their surface level truth. There’s always a more complex problem underneath than what they are sharing with you -- and your job is to find it.
But the traditional discovery meeting model is completely ineffective in getting to the truth, because it’s based on fact-finding and rapport-building, not pure trust-building.
They won’t tell you upfront the complete truth of all their issues because they don’t trust you enough to be vulnerable with you.
Your mission is to create deep trust on your first meeting, so you can uncover the truth of their situation.
How do you do that?
It’s called “going down the iceberg”.
If they say to you: “I’m a do-it-yourself kind of person”... you’d say, “Not a problem. Tell me a bit about yourself and your situation, and we’ll go from there”.
As soon as they start talking, you’re going down the iceberg with them.
Going down the iceberg is efficient because it’s problem-centric.
It focuses on diagnosing the prospect’s problem and showing them the “hidden gaps” in their situation they can’t see themselves.
When you deliver clarity on their problems, there’s nothing subjective to think about and no need to shop for other advisors.
Clarity = Trust.
This approach requires a mindset shift.
You’re the “doctor”, they’re the “patient”.
A doctor doesn’t allow their patients to self-treat themselves if their situation is serious.
Your office or your Zoom is your “clinic” and there’s a protocol to follow.
Truth: they’re not qualified to assess their own situation, that’s your job.
You’re the authority not them.
This may be hard to accept, if you’ve only been told that the discovery meeting is a relationship-building meeting.
It’s not.
It’s a trust-building meeting.
Your prospect is looking to see if you’re an authority on their problem, or to put it another way, if you’re the one they can trust to solve it.
To make this mindset shift and learn how to deliver clarity in your initial prospect meetings as trusted authority, order the complimentary book and consultation below.
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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.