Are you worthy of your title?
The following is based on one of The Covenant Group’s clients. All of the names and telling details have been changed.
| Would you go to a hairstylist who doesn’t style hair? To a TV repairman who doesn’t repair TVs? Send your kids to a teacher who doesn’t teach? Of course not, so why do so many financial advisors not give financial advice? In an age when antiquated terms like insurance salesman have been tossed away in favour of more sophisticated phrases like a trusted advisor, many in the industry are caught in the old sales paradigm. You don’t become an advisor simply by referring to yourself as an advisor - you become an advisor when you give advice. Actually, that’s not true. You become an advisor when your clients come to you for advice. In fact, I’d even go a step further and say that you’re not an advisor unless your clients are following your advice. And if that’s not the case, then you’re probably floundering a little in our industry, like Jay Meister was. |
When we met Jay, he said to us, “Whenever I have a meeting with a prospect, they don’t seem to want to listen to what I’m saying and they almost never want what I’m selling.”
He asked us for some closing tips.
We told Jay we would gladly give him some closing tips, but first, we needed to know what he was selling.
“Annuities,” he answered.
We asked him if he were sure.
“Of course,” he answered.
“Is that what your clients come to you for – annuities?”
“Yes.”
We explained,“if all your clients wanted were annuities, they’d go to an online distributor or a discount broker or a bank rep, somewhere lower down on the distribution chain. But if they’re in the room talking with you, what they want is advice. Advice is what you should be selling.”
Like many advisors, we told Jay that he was having trouble because he was still operating in the classic sales paradigm, which ended twenty or so years ago when he first got into the business. In today’s environment of commoditization and fierce competition, selling advice is the only way to justify your position in the marketplace.
Jay assumed that closing was the problem, but the real problem was what he believed he was selling. Like a typical salesperson who focuses on product, Jay believed that his charisma combined with a few tips and techniques would help close a deal. But in the advisory model the ‘close’ is the result, not of a well-executed close, but of an entire process that begins with the manner in which you are introduced to your prospect, the way in which you open up the dialogue, take the time to discover your prospects’ needs, wants, and values, and the way you present solutions to their problems. Your prospects will hire you because you are a professional who can assess what is best for them to do in their particular circumstances. Your clients won’t pay you to sell and deliver products, but they will pay for your advice. Advice, not product, is the reason for the relationship.
Jay was excited about repositioning himself as an advisor. But before our conversation ended, Jay said that I promised him a closing tip.
“Okay,” we said to Jay, “we learned this from, Michael Schweizer, former Vice President of Relationship Management for the Scotiabank Group of Companies in Canada and now the President of OrganizeMy. Just use the language of advice. I mean literally use the word ‘advice’. For example, you could say, ‘Mr. and Mrs. Jones, based on what you’ve told me, my advice to you is…’ It’s simple and powerful and might just help turn you into a true advisor.”
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The Covenant Group is referred to by many as where entrepreneurs go to become Business Builders. They are considered to be thought leaders and authors of the best-selling books, The 8 Best Practices of High-Performing Salespeople, The Entrepreneurial Journey, and The Business Builder.