3 Killer Questions That Will Have HNW Prospects Begging To Be Your Client

Posted by Kira Callahan º August 30, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

In a competitive financial industry, how do you differentiate yourself from all the other Advisors vying for affluent clients?

If you try to position your firm as different because of your x-step process you will quickly see their eyes glaze over. High net worth people don’t care! They assume you have a robust and effective structure, much the same as they assume the Mercedes, Porsche or Bentley sitting in their garage has a top-of-the-line engine. Its table stakes. They wouldn’t be sitting in front of you if they had any doubts about the basics, so don’t use them as a selling point.

How about your products and services? Nope, much the same situation. Although occasionally one financial firm gets the jump on another with an innovative strategy or product, the industry quickly catches up. The suite of services you offer differs slightly, but not significantly, from any other major player in the field.

So what’s going to make the difference?

2016-08-30 article image You. Your ability to build trust – in you and your firm – and connect. More specifically, your ability to ask great questions and demonstrate superior listening skills will have a profound impact.

Not just any question will do. Here’s where you separate your consultative selling skills from 90% of other Advisors out there.

An amazing question you’ve never heard before: ‘What keeps you up at night?’ Obviously I’m kidding. This old trope is so overused it’s become almost meaningless.

Instead, here are three questions that go far beyond your garden variety ‘needs discovery’ exercise. Use them effectively, and discerning HNW prospects will be genuinely impressed.

1. What is happening in your life/business right now that nudged you to take this meeting?

This question immediately moves the focus from you to the prospect. Successful Advisors realize that it’s not about them! No matter how compelling your charm or credibility, people move out of inertia to take action because of their own needs, not because of you. Even if you’re the one who initiated contact, they decided to take the meeting because they see a potential benefit to them. This question demonstrates confidence and cuts through a lot of b.s.

2. How would you compare your different approaches to retirement planning/investing?

This is a powerful question for when you have a couple in front of you. It can’t help but engage them and create a juicy conversation. As you know, money issues hit people at a gut level. This question is provocative; it’s poking the bear. So be prepared to handle their emotions well. If you can respond with poise and make both parties feel heard and validated, you will have a new client.

3. When you think of your various financial concerns, what change would bring you the biggest feeling of relief and security?

Most people are wired to want immediate gratification. This question gets your prospect to think about what’s concerning them right now, but also to look deeper. Focusing them on a feeling of relief and security helps them prioritize longer term goals that will make a lasting impact on their lives, but with the immediate gratification of feeling better.

How often have you walked into a clothing store and been able to tell within seconds whether the sales clerk is killing time in a summer job or is someone who takes their job seriously, knows their stock and has knowledge and advice? It happens all the time.

Discerning professionals can tell the same thing when screening Advisors. Instead of wasting energy trying to prove you’ll be a great Advisor, use these thought-provoking questions to demonstrate the quality of expertise and advice they can expect from you. They’ll be lining up to say yes.

Asking for the Sale Doesn’t Have to be Scary!

Posted by Kira Callahan º July 19, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

An advisor client recently shared this with me:

I am great at socializing. I can build a relationship over a golf game, but when it comes to asking for a meeting, I just freeze up. I’m so concerned about ruining the connection that I keep procrastinating and just never get to it. I want people to like me. I know I shouldn’t care so much about that, but I do. It’s a big problem, because I’m not bringing in enough new business. Help!

This Advisor is certainly not alone. Many financial advisors feel this way! And yes, it is a big problem. No matter how much you believe in what you do, if you can’t ask for the business, you won’t be able to build a successful practice. Period.

So let’s deal with this right now!

Here are 3 key strategies to turn things around:

Shift focus from you to them. As long as you’re thinking about yourself, your targets, your awkwardness and your potential sale, you are in the ‘stress zone’. The stakes feel really high. Your focus is wholly on a potential rejection – and who wants that? No wonder your nervous system is freaking out!

Give yourself a break. Take a vacation from thinking about yourself at all when you’re in a sales situation. Instead, get into a mindset of service. Every person on the planet has goals, and challenges that are in the way of achieving those goals. Make a genuine commitment to shift your focus there, and watch how much easier it is to invite them to a meeting.

Bring your biggest plays. Many advisors don’t have the confidence to ask for a meeting because all they’ve got in their pocket is: ‘I’d be happy to look at your finances and give you a second opinion.’ Seriously? How excited would you be with that offer? Getting a thorough financial plan is not unlike taking a Roto-Rooter to your plumbing. Occasionally necessary, but not fun. To motivate someone to take action, you’ll have to Wow them. A ‘second opinion’ isn’t going to cut it.

Instead, prepare two or three high-value financial strategies. Strategies that you know have a significant impact and are under-used. What concrete difference does each of them make? You should be able to describe it in one powerful sentence such as ‘Implementing this will lower your tax bill by 20%’ or ‘This will get your mortgage paid off 10 years sooner’. When you can confidently describe a powerful outcome, you will feel an urgency to share this important information, and you’ll communicate it in a compelling way.

Give your brain a task. Telling yourself not to think about something – like making the sale - doesn’t work. I’ll prove it. Right now, don’t think about a giant pink elephant.

Instead, keep your brain busy and happy during a social or sales interaction by giving it tasks. Ask yourself: What really makes this person tick? What are their most important priorities? Make it your business to find out. Completing these tasks during an interaction helps you stay present and have an enjoyable, authentic conversation.

From here, inviting them for a meeting feels more like being excited to share some important expertise that you know will help change their life for the better, than asking for the sale.

If you’re experiencing this or other challenges with your sales conversations and you’re ready to invest in the support you need to get permanent sales lift, click here to book your complementary Business Breakthrough consultation.

Here’s to your success!

How the Right Call Prep Can Increase Your Sales

Posted by Kira Callahan º July 12, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

Sales is a numbers game, we always hear. And that’s true. After all, if someone doesn’t know you exist, they can’t very well buy what you’re selling! So in order to build your practice, especially in the early years, you need to prospect a lot. Network. Be on social media. Book coffee meetings galore. And make hundreds, even thousands of phone calls.

What breaks my heart is when Advisors have that phrase, ‘It’s a numbers game’ drilled into them so completely that they do nothing to refine their process. They face the phone like an adversary, determined to ‘muscle through’ their call sheet each day. And in many cases, they work far harder than they need to.

Does this sound like you? If so, stop that!

Instead, pair your persistence and determination with some smart preparation and you can increase your sales results and reduce the number of calls you have to make to close business.

3 Steps to Include in Your Smart Call-Prep Routine

Know your audience. Whether this is a cold call or a warm lead, taking the time to jot down a few notes about them will help you connect as human beings, not as salesperson and skeptical prospect. This critical shift will change the way someone relates to you. They’ll drop their defenses so that you can have a proper conversation.

Even with a cold call to a residence, you should know a bit about the neighbourhood, shops and community centres, and current events that may be of interest to your prospect. Obviously you can go much further with warm leads. Make bullet-point notes on your common connections, professional experience and interests and where and how you’ve met. With the internet and social media networks available a keystroke away, there is simply no excuse for not being prepared.

Practice your opening. Your prospect will decide whether or not to commit to the conversation in the first few moments, so cut yourself a break by working out a strong opening. Practice it until you feel confident. Things to include: your name and company, where the office is located (i.e. ‘just around the corner on xx street’), how you met, and a compelling reason for the call.

Prepare to Relate. One of the hardest things about making calls is the feeling that at any moment your prospect may shut you down. It’s challenging to stay confident and relaxed in the face of that. One of the most powerful ways to make a genuine connection and keep the conversation going is to ask high value open questions. These questions also take pressure off of you because they get your prospect talking and relieve you from having to do all the conversational work.

Prepare at least two open rapport questions and two open financial questions.

A low-value rapport question would be “How are you today?” Unless you know the person well, this question will just annoy them. You’ll get a lot more engagement with something like: “What did you think of the speaker’s point about x at last week’s Chamber of Commerce meeting?”

A low value financial question would be, “Do you have a financial plan?” With this wording, you’re just begging for your prospect to shut you down with a quick “Yup, I’m good.” Instead, ask “How much financial planning have you done?”

And that’s it… 3 simple preparation steps.

The Holy Grail of sales conversations is the ability to quickly create a relationship with a stranger. These call-prep strategies will help you make that connection. But they just scratch the surface in the refinements available that will increase your book of business.

Are you ready to make a serious leap forward with your sales? Click here to book a Complimentary 20-minute Business Breakthrough Consultation.

Enjoy implementing these call-prep strategies and watch your closing rate increase!

Do You Have Staying Power?

Posted by Kira Callahan º July 5, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

Sales is a long business. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. There are ‘sprint moments’ on the journey (deadlines, targets), but what you’ve signed up for is not a short-term gig. As long as you’re in business, you’ll be in sales. Take a moment to really internalize that: As long as I’m in business, I’ll be in sales.

Now how do you feel? Peaceful? Exhausted?

Your response to this statement is of no small consequence, because your ability to build and maintain a successful business is dependent upon all the many habits, activities and mental attitudes you hold in relation to sales.

The more you can accept the fact that owning a business means being in sales as well as getting to do the thing you’re passionate about, the more you’ll free up the energy and creativity you need to sustain it long-term.

Here are several tips to set you up for genuine success:

Get to acceptance. Resisting the role of sales in business is a recipe for failure. Look yourself dead in the eye. You are in sales. Once you’ve come to acceptance of that fact, you can relax into it, get a clear view of the lay of the land, and make a plan that actually works for you.

Know thyself. Maybe you’re a numbers guy/gal. You love higher level financial planning and analysis, but can’t stand anything to do with sales. You feel like an awkward phony trying to talk to people about what you do, all while getting supremely frustrated with the fact that prospects don’t realize what a difference this could make in their lives. To be successful, you must deal with this inner conflict. You can either partner with someone who loves all the client-facing responsibilities, or work with a coach to find a way to talk to prospects that is truly authentic to who you are.

Alternatively, you may be one of many advisors who is more of a people person than a numbers person. You sweat through every minute of your exams. You believe in what you do, but walk around every day with the anxiety that someone will ask you a question you don’t have the answer to and you’ll be ‘found out’ as a fraud. This self-doubt is costing you energy and focus, and must be looked at honestly in order for you to succeed in the long term. Choose one area of financial planning that you are truly excited by. Get committed, go deep and become an expert in that one area. For everything else, partner with specialists who are at the top of their game in their area – and treat those specialists like true partners.

Delegate. Most business owners fall somewhere in between these two examples. They’re great at a few things, lousy at a few others and so-so at everything else. The tasks you hate drain your energy. Some of those tasks cannot be off-loaded, but some can. Make a list of all the time-consuming administrative or lead-generating tasks on your plate and create a plan – and a budget – to delegate them to someone you trust.

Find joy. Some of us are motivated by deadlines, targets and competition. These are ‘sprint mentality’ motivations and they have their uses. Nothing wrong with the short-term juice you’ll get from external targets to help you reach a goal.

But for a long-lasting, truly rewarding career, go deeper. Spend some time asking yourself what elements of having a financial planning practice honestly feed your soul.

Ask yourself: What brings me joy?

Is it the joy of working with colleagues – of being part of a team? Is it that feeling of purpose and meaning you have when a client tells you what a difference you’ve made in their lives? Pride in your commitment to knowledge and excellence – knowing that you are providing your clients with the absolute best advice? Is it the excitement that comes from problem-solving?

Get clear, and then begin to orient your business – your day-to-day tasks, your client interactions, your prospecting – around what truly brings you joy.

You are allowed to have a practice that works for you. The more you honour your nature instead of resisting it, the more effectively you can capitalize on your strengths and work with others where you need support. This will give you the staying power you need to build a thriving business over the long term.

Who Says No One Does Business in the Summer??

Posted by Kira Callahan º June 28, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

Every year we come to the end of Spring and I start to hear this from my advisor clients: “I’m having a hard time booking appointments. There’s no use prospecting. Everyone is going on vacation.”

Woah! Slow down there, Nellie!

You’ve just put yourself on track to lose an entire quarter of sales and relationships. Can you see how this belief – and that’s all it is – that ‘no one does business in the summer’ diminishes your focus and creativity? Can you see how it will dictate actions that turn the belief into a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Stop that right now.

Some advisors have their best quarter every summer. In fact, high-performing advisors know how to capitalize on every season and every economic situation. They continue to thrive because they don’t buy into tired group-think like ‘I can’t make money in these conditions’ or ‘I can’t book appointments because…’ or ‘no one does business in the summer’.

Instead, make an empowering decision. Decide for yourself that in fact, summer is the best time to reach people and book appointments to help them build a better financial future.

Here are 4 tips to help you leverage this time of year:

Make it true. Now that you’ve decided you’re going to take advantage of the season instead of hide from it, brainstorm for yourself as many reasons why you can bring in more business right now.

Improve your tracking. You’re right – people are going on vacation. But usually only for a couple of weeks. So find out when and track all the relevant dates in your book along with a proper follow-up plan.

Fish where the fish are. Increase your presence in all the geographic locations, venues, events and communities that come alive in the summer. Plan a working trip to cottage country. Find out ahead of time what trade shows, networking events or golf tournaments are scheduled and get involved.

This is an ideal time to reach people because they are typically more relaxed. There is breathing space for deeper conversations and for making a genuine connection.

Keep your energy and approach light. People are more in a holiday mood and will resist any Debbie Downer talk. Instead of using heavier phrases like ‘comprehensive review’ and ‘complete financial plan’, when you make your invitation, position it in the context of ‘short, relaxed meeting’, ‘get one important thing done’ and ‘get that off your mind so you can (either) go on vacation (or) come back from vacation rested and refreshed.

Alternatively, you probably have prospects in your pipeline who do want a complete financial review but haven’t had time to shoe-horn you into their tight schedule. Make sure you go back through your notes to find them. Now is the time to reach out and book that meeting.

The moment you make the mental shift to seeing your current circumstances as filled with possibility, your creative and problem-solving faculties kick in. It’s true that you can’t do business in the same way that works the rest of the year. But once you adjust to the current climate and become willing to pivot to a new approach, you will see opportunities that you’ve never noticed before.

Here’s to a prosperous summer season!

Prospecting – Let Your Warm Letter Do the Work!

Posted by Kira Callahan º June 21, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

Nothing replaces the power of face-to-face contact. This is why 90% of the time, your deals close in person, in their office or yours, where you can look each other in the eye before committing your pen to paper.

But of course, there are many different touchpoints that lead to building enough trust and interest in working with you, for your prospect to even say yes to taking even a first meeting.

Wouldn’t it be nice if t kira1 here was a little army of sales reps who worked for you, out there talking you up to potential clients or drumming up more excitement with your current book? Then at the right moment, you could take the reins, knowing your team had represented you in a way that makes you proud?

This kind of great communication can lay the groundwork that helps you book more meetings.

Guess what? You can have this front-line support, and far more affordably than hiring a platoon of actual sales reps. When you do it right, a well-crafted warm letter does a lot of heavy lifting in the initial part of the sales process.

Ideal uses for a warm letter:

Re-engage dormant clients. Dormant relationships in your book are highly poach-able. Since you know how much work is involved in winning new clients, first make sure you are making regular, personal contact with your current clients! This builds trust, keeps you top-of-mind for referrals and for additional financial needs they may have. Aim for twice a year. This is an effective way of building business!

Inherit or purchase clients. Any time there is a client transfer from advisor to advisor, those relationships are at risk. You may have inherited or purchased a book only to find that a large portion of them defect. They have no relationship with you and so will feel no sense of loyalty. This critical period requires a well thought-out communication plan, and a warm letter can build trust and a sense of security while you are scheduling all your get-to-know-you meetings.

Prospecting. Send a warm letter to all the local businesses, introducing yourself. Then they will have seen your name and face before you drop in to say Hello in person.

NOTE: To be effective, your warm letter should never feel like a form letter!

How do you achieve this?

Here are 6 key elements to help you do it right:

Grab their attention in the very first sentence. Give a strong, timely reason for why you’re writing. This needs to be compelling enough to get them to read the letter.

Personalize, personalize, personalize. This is hands down the most effective thing you can do to actually get your letter read! I don’t mean put a story in about each business you’re approaching. What I mean is to share something personal about yourself. Whether writing to touch current clients or make first contact to potential new ones, letting them see the real you, works.

Something like: My spouse and I have lived in this great neighbourhood for xx years. Our 12-year old son is an enthusiastic hockey player on the local peewee team and our 10-year-old daughter happily calls herself a computer geek.

This kind of personal touch will make you relate-able and help you stand out from the crowd.

Share some of your personal ‘Why’. What moves you about financial planning? Why does it feel important to you? When people understand your personal motivations, it builds trust. Take some time to think deeply about your core beliefs in this area. Distill those thoughts into one or two sentences, and include them in your warm letter.

Talk about them. Even if they like the vibe of your letter, people care about their own needs, not yours. Be sure and include the outcomes of benefitting from your expertise, like: having just one person to call when you have questions or a goal you’re working toward; steady hand to keep you on track; a plan that will give you an honest-to-goodness roadmap to your most cherished dreams.

Declare your follow up. Let them know your intent to either call or stop by. Then stick to whatever you said you’d do! This principled follow-up is the beginning of establishing trust and credibility.

Include all your contact information.

Expect to put some time and effort in crafting a warm letter that truly captures you, your values and how you can help. Before sending it out, ask a couple of trust friends to read it over. Is it clear? Does it make an emotional connection? Once you’ve got a Yes, send it out in batches, instead of all at once, to allow you sufficient time to follow up.

Contact me if you’d like support in creating your warm letter communication plan.

Now you’ve got a little army of sales reps out there making contacts that you can build into prosperous, mutually beneficial relationships!

To Make the Sale, Make the Pain Real in Their World

Posted by Kira Callahan º May 31, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

What moves people to action?

In sales, it’s very easy to slide into the habit of using scripted phrases. As a sales professional, you know the big human drivers: making or saving money, saving time, better health and better relationships. And sex. I think somebody somewhere discovered that sex sells.

Knowing these motivators has led to a lot of lazy communication. Everyone and his dog describes this or that feature as ‘saving money’ or ‘improving health’.

You might be working your buns off prospecting and thinking: I’m using all these power words, why are their eyes glazing over? It’s because these phrases are so generic and over-used that they’ve become ineffective.

This was the case with one of my clients. He‘s communicating that his software platform reduces inefficiencies and errors, increases productivity and saves money. But he’s having a hard time closing.

That’s because all these phrases sound like platitudes that his competitors would use as well. So what’s the better way?

Use evocative language. ‘Kitchen-table’ language. You’ve got to get your prospects out of their heads and into their gut.

Start off with your declaration: xx feature saves you money, but then then get down into the bog with them. Use your conversation to walk around in the mucky, messy frustrating situation they’re stuck in. Make it real. Make them see just how intolerable the problem has become.

Ask them a question or two: ‘What don’t you like about your current situation?’ and ‘What’s not working?’ But don’t stop there. Oftentimes, people are so used to coping with a crappy, old system that we don’t even see all the ways we’ve been using metaphorical duct tape to hold things together. Help them connect the dots.

Example: All this manual entry is time-consuming. It’s hard to find things when we need inventory.

Instead of just saying ‘our system eliminates manual entry’, go for the jugular:

Right now your staff is entering information by hand, sometimes two or three times over, when they could be selling more product. That’s costing you triple the hourly wage it should. Literally money down the drain. All that time spent hunting in the warehouse for inventory is money down the drain. When you can’t find what you know should be there, you lose the sale. You order product you don’t need yet. Money lost. And on and on…

This is kitchen-table language. There is nothing abstract about it. It’s real in their world. Suddenly, it’s crystal clear that not investing in your inventory software platform is a serious liability.

When you hear your prospect react with a groan or a snort, you know you’ve moved them out of their head and into their gut. You have their undivided attention and they are hungry for a solution.

From here, make a clear connection between their three biggest money (or health or relationship) liabilities, and how your product or service solves each one. You’ll close a lot more business with a lot less effort.

Close More Business by Keeping Your Prospect Emotionally Invested

Posted by Kira Callahan º May 17, 2016 º Kiras Blog º 0 comments

Does this sound familiar? You have a great initial conversation – or even face-to-face meeting – with a prospect. They seem genuinely excited about moving forward. You were on the ball and booked your next appointment with them while they were still with you.

When the meeting was over, you mentally added them to your income tally for the month. And then…nothing! They became elusive. You couldn’t get them on the phone. They emailed and apologetically cancelled the meeting, and haven’t responded to your alternate dates.

What happened?

Yes, it’s possible the competition snapped them up, or something in your conversation gave them pause later. But let’s assume it really was a slam-dunk and they haven’t been poached.

What you’re dealing with here is your prospect’s own internal barriers to changing their behaviour. Emotions drive behaviour.

Oh baloney, you may be saying. I’m a numbers guy/gal. Logic motivates my behaviour. Really? Take a moment and travel down memory lane to all the New Year’s resolutions, mid-year goals, best intentions to work out more, eat better, learn that new language, finally read that pile of books, and on and on it goes.

There’s a very predictable emotional pattern that we all go through when approaching a new goal: hope and skepticism, a flash vision of the potential improvement, a rush of motivation and determination, followed by a thud. The reality of the long road ahead, the work involved and the discomfort of change sets in. Suddenly, the burning need to take action has fizzled and your next meeting gets shunted to the ‘I’ll get around to it someday’ column.

When your prospect has disappeared, a lot of the time this is what’s going on.

To close more business, you’ve got to help them stay in that motivation/determination phase. Here are 3 strategies to help you do that:

1. Paint a vivid picture.

In the meeting, get them to describe in detail the outcome they’re looking for. Really enjoy it with them. Ask them why their goal is so important. This will help to uncover the deeper motivations that drive them. Make note of this critical information because you’re going to use it.

2. Juice their emotions.

In every follow up contact, remind them that you’re excited to help them achieve xx specific goal. Add value to the contact by sending them a picture or information or a report that fuels the fire and helps them keep believing in that goal. Tease them with a client story, and that you want to share in your next meeting just how you helped them achieve the same desired outcome.

3. Lower as many barriers as possible.

Know that the loss of enthusiasm – the ‘thud’ – is about fearing the work involved or fearing change. To counteract this predictable dip in emotions, present their next steps in bite-sized tasks instead of mountains.

Even if the facts are the same, hearing something like: ‘We’ll be able to get all the ground work done and set things in motion in just one hour’ is far more palatable than: ‘First I’m going to need you to find all of these documents. I can’t really put a plan together for you without them. We’ll go over them in the next meeting. And I need you to fill out these forms…’ Suddenly, cleaning out the garage seems a bigger priority than this!

Instead, continually use comforting messages like ‘in this short meeting’, ‘simple process’, and ‘I’ll be with you every step of the way’.

When you understand the emotional journey your prospects go through, you can help them stay excited enough about achieving their ultimate vision to keep them motivated and moving forward. Embed this as a part of your follow-up strategy. Fewer prospects will go MIA and you will close far more business.

10 Tips to Bring on More Clients From Booth Events

Posted by Kira Callahan º February 2, 2016 º Hot Tips and Resources | Kiras Blog º 0 comments

02-02-2016 article image There is a range of opinions about the effectiveness of booth marketing in winning clients. Some Advisors swear by it and many deride the practice as a complete waste of time.

Booth marketing has a big advantage – it gives you access! Access to many potential clients strolling right past your booth. When you work it right, your booth can be a powerful lead generation tool.

Here are 10 tips to help you convert them into clients!

Research the event.

Take a bit of time to find out the theme and history of the event and the main attractions. As fabulous as you and your company are, the attendees are showing up for the main attractions – not because they heard you were exhibiting. Having some idea of what brought them there will make it easier to strike up a conversation.

Find a quirky interest.

Dig around for something that’s happening at the event that you find genuinely interesting or amusing. The quirkier the better. When you bring this up in conversation, it will help you stand out from all the other exhibitors and make you memorable – a critical element in having a successful follow-up call!

Use Booth Magnets.

A ‘booth magnet’ is some attraction – a prize or sensory experience, or both – that will slow people down and draw them in. When choosing your magnets, make sure you know the demographic of the attendees and the theme of the event. (You don’t want to display a bottle of Johnny Walker Black only to discover that the event is to raise money for MADD.)

Stand out front.

Never, ever hang out behind the table. This just makes it easy to be ignored. Get comfortable out in front and be the one to initiate contact.

Use a strong opener.

‘How are you today?’ or ‘Are you enjoying the event?’ will get you nothing but people breezing past. Instead, if you have a compelling prize, invite them in with ‘Would you like a chance to win xx? Then immediately get them talking with an open question like ‘What brought you to the show?’ This is a truly engaging question that’s hard to resist. When your prospect responds, you’re now having a real conversation and you can both relax.

Build genuine rapport.

This is the time to leverage your research. Take a minute or two to chat about the event in a meaningful way. Bring up your quirky interest. The purpose of this is twofold: First, you are establishing the level of relationship – moving beyond being a salesperson. Second, you are making yourself memorable and positioning yourself for the follow up call.

Master the transition.

This is the do or die moment. The single biggest mistake advisors make in a booth event is to focus the conversation solely on filling out the prize ballot. To win clients from your event, you must transition into have a meaningful discussion about finances. A transition can be as simple as asking ‘What do you know about our company?’

Use a concise value proposition.

Listen to their response to the transition question, and have your value proposition ready. Briefly describe how you’re helping their particular demographic with their financial needs, then go deeper with another question like: What financial issues are top of mind for you?’ Now you’re having the real conversation.

Mark your ballots.

Instead of just popping them right in the box, make a couple of quick notes on the ballot about your conversation. This way, when you call back you can maintain the level of relationship you established at the show.

Position the follow up.

Let your prospect know that you’ll call with some information about the prize draw and to tell them a bit more about how your company can help with their financial goals. This positions you as a trusted advisor instead of a cold caller, and will greatly increase your ability to book appointments from the follow up call.

With a little planning and practice, you can feel confident and comfortable with booth conversations. And many of these tips are transferable to your other prospecting methods as well. Rule of thumb: The more quality conversations you have, the better your closing rate.

Kira Callahan is an expert sales conversation coach for the financial industry. Her private clients typically experience 30% – 100% increase in appointments and business. Click here to find out more about Kira.

Prospecting the Right Way – The ‘Who’ Comes First!

Posted by Kira Callahan º December 22, 2015 º Hot Tips and Resources | Kiras Blog º 0 comments

Have you ever been working hard and thought longingly of the weekend; that you ‘just want to relax’ or ‘just need to have fun’, only to end up spending it doing tiresome things you didn’t want to do? I certainly have!

12-22-15 Pic3 This can happen with vacations (‘I just need to get away’) or time with loved ones (‘we just need to spend more time together’), personal goals (‘I should exercise more’), and on it goes. Did you catch those sneaky little words just and should in there? They often points to fuzzy thinking. One of the main reasons we don’t get the results we’re looking for is that those vague longings aren’t focused enough to get us where we want to go.

And Oh Boy is this true in business! So often I’ve heard Advisors say ‘I want a lot more clients’.

Really? Is that what you want? Because I work with plenty of Advisors who say that they have lots of clients but they aren’t making any money!

They bludgeon themselves with ineffective prospecting goals like ‘I just need to make more calls ’ or ‘I know I should be networking more’. Even with specific numbers attached, these goals are nigh-on useless without first having a clear picture of exactly who you want in your book.

Clearly, clients are not all the same. It’s gotta start with clarity.

Here’s how to set yourself up for success in 2016:

Set a money goal. This is the obvious start point but it’s easy to get it wrong. For the goal to serve you, it should be a bit of a stretch, but not feel like winning the lottery. If your goal is completely divorced from the reality of what it takes to accomplish it, as soon as you hit a rough patch, your subconscious will tell you it’s impossible and drain you of the confidence and enthusiasm you need to stay the course. Balance this with a number (and the fun things you’ll do with the money) that excites you!

Set a feeling goal. This step is critical, yet almost always ignored. As they say, you don’t want to spend years climbing the success ladder only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall the whole time! An example of an effective feeling goal: I wake up every morning excited for the day ahead. I love my clients, I feel confident in my work and I have a deep sense of purpose because I know I’m making a positive contribution to their lives.

With these two goals working together, you’re ready to design your ideal book!

Who do you want to serve? It’s time to get a clear picture of who you want in your practice that will help you generate your money and feeling goals. Your next step is…

Create two or three ideal client profiles. Things to think about – Who do you enjoy working with? What income threshold and minimum investment per client will allow you to provide top-level service and pay you well for it?

Once you know that, create profiles based on gender, age, marital status, employment industry and financial needs.

Great Tip: Use images to get super-clear. What do these people look like? A CEO could be the owner of a 3^rd generation dairy farm or an internet start-up. Download a picture off the web to serve as an avatar for each of your client profiles and pin them up at home.

Now that you know who you want in your practice you can build an effective prospecting plan. Your efforts and energy will be aligned to get you the results you want.

_____________________________________________________________

Archive for prospecting