Archive for June, 2010

Last week during my very first Pink Power Call, the topic was about the importance of saying “NO”.  How by learning how to say “NO” we learn to set boundaries in our lives which make women more effective and productive in both their business and personal life.  We talked about one of the natural strengths of women, a desire to make the world right that sometimes means pleasing everyone, while this can be an asset it can also be a tremendous liability.  But what really struck me during that call was a question from a young female advisor; she was a mother of one with another on the way.  Her income was required to help support the family and her husband’s career caused him to travel a great deal.  She was a new advisor and was feeling the pressure to follow all the “rules” and “Protocol” within her branch.  She was already posting 10 hour days but her manager was asking her to do more.  She felt torn, torn between what she felt was right for her children, what she needed to do to build her practice and what she needed to do to appease her manager.  Her manager didn’t seem to appreciate the dual roles she was managing, that of a mother as well as an advisor and he was actually adding a third, that of an employee.  Hearing this woman’s frustration lit a fire under me, I had to respond.  

To the Manager, don’t be stupid and wake up.  If you want women to succeed start recognizing all the challenges they are facing in their lives.  Recognize what is important to a woman, help to her to maintain her highest priorities and you will have a more loyal, productive employee.  Sometimes all it takes is being a good listener, understanding and keeping an open mind.  When you show that you care about what is important to her you will only fuel her desire to succeed, for herself, for her family and for you.  By ignoring her and the unique challenges she faces she feels threatened, anxious, she becomes less efficient and focused more on appeasing you rather than doing what she needs to do to succeed. This is a recipe for failure. 

To the Female Advisor: Know what is important to you and watch your bottom line.  The reality is as a financial advisor if you are making your numbers you will succeed. As a financial advisor you are not an “employee” you are a business owner, you are responsible for building your own business.  If you are achieving the numbers and goals set by the company they will leave you alone to produce.  Oh sure you may get a slap on the wrist or hear comments that cause you concern but you must turn it all off and focus on what is most important to you; building a business and living your life.  Make a list of what is important to you and then prioritize that list based on what you must maintain; odds are appeasing your manager is not high up on the list. 

Ladies, for those that are mothers, you can never go back and recoup that time you lost with your kids.  There is nothing wrong with being a working mother, with the right balance of your time and energy your children grow up happy, healthy with a great role model for a mother.  But don’t ever let anyone put you in a position where you feel you are sacrificing your children, not today, not now, not EVER.  Don’t hide the fact that you are a mother; share it with the world, with your peers with your clients.  Let your manager know the responsibilities you face, don’t wait for him to ask.  The beauty of being a financial advisor is that you can make your own schedule, create more flexibility, and develop your business to work around your life.  Remember it’s all about your bottom line.

I just got off the phone with a new client.  She is an independent advisor specializing in annuity sales.  She has done a fabulous job of integrating a seminar for women that can generate close to 20 appointments per event. Her process is impressive her closing ratio not so good.  After reviewing her methods it became quite evident that her natural skills as a woman most definitely inspire the prospects to schedule appointments but those same skills are derailing her ability to close the business.

Women have a natural ability to develop and initiate relationships, their listening skills and ability to identify with the listener creates an immediate bond of trust.  But there comes a time in the sales process where you must turn the soft skills off and turn the hard skills on.  Women are excellent at the soft skills but we can learn a thing or two from the men when it comes to hard skills or closing the business. 

Once the bond has been created and a relationship started women must change their whole approach when the conversation turns to money and investments.  Your tone of voice even the way you sit needs to reflect a serious professional approach that lends itself to building the client’s confidence not empathy.  Because this is not a typical strength for women adding more structure to your process can have a tremendous impact on improving your results.

For this female advisor she will now call those that scheduled an appointment and have a qualifying conversation with them.  This qualifying call will help her proactively eliminate those that are not qualified while raising the commitment of those that ARE qualified.  Even her appointment process will be more structured, setting a defined time frame for the appointment with a simplified agenda that both the advisor and prospect can follow, reducing run on appointments and wasted time for both. This was all we could accomplish in our first coaching session.  Our next session we will focus on her vocabulary, focusing on words and phrases that leads the prospective client to take action. 

Understanding your strengths as a woman in financial services is critical to getting the results you want but the key? You must know when to turn those skills on and when to turn them off.