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?
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.
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! 
sales results and reduce the number of calls you have to make to close business.
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: 
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’.
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?
Start off with your declaration: xx feature saves you money, but then then 
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.
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.
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.
