Archive for August, 2011

This week I was working with my client Martha, she is a new financial advisor at a major firm.  After months of coaching Martha finally asked the tough questions and was amazed at the results.

Working with Martha we spent months creating her message, defining who she is and how she adds value as a financial advisor.  We developed her investment philosophy clichés and built her investment model.  She now had it all, she just had to put it to work.

At our most recent call she updated me on her progress, she had gone on 7 appointments some with potential prospects others with centers of influence, while she felt good about her message and presenting her practice the one area she was still struggling with was asking for the $.  This is a VERY COMMON issue with female advisors, they think by asking how much money you have accumulated is pushy and rude.  That’s like saying a Dr. is out of place when he asks about your symptoms and health!

This became  the focus of our call this week.  Martha had a meeting set up the next day so we decided to use that meeting as the opportunity to make sure Martha asked the tough questions.  We finalized all her marketing materials and we talked about the power of having what you do in writing so that the prospect doesn’t question whether you have just made things up.

The next day Martha met with her contact, she had known this woman (although not really well) and she wasn’t sure why the woman wanted to meet, so Martha decided to apply everything she has learned.

Martha asked lot’s of  open ended questions provided a little information about herself but turned the focus back to the prospect. After getting to know the prospect a little better Martha started to ask the important questions, she held her breathe (knowing she was still uncomfortable asking about $) and asked, “What have you been able to accumulate so far?”  The women then replied  $18,000,000.  Martha kept her composure even though she felt like falling out of her chair.  She then used her presentation book that we created to validate her message and how committed she is to working with women.

Martha called me that night to tell me two things, first how surprised and excited she was that the woman has $18,000,000 and secondly how proud she was that not only did she ask the tough questions (and keep her composure) but her presentation was so clear and compelling that she has a VERY GOOD chance of getting this woman to become her client.

Forget the Educate:

As a Financial Advisor who gives seminars you MUST understand that its not the actually presentation that makes an impact.  You could honestly totally botch the actual presentation and still get business from your event as long as you ENGAGE the audience and provide a GREAT INTRODUCTION and conclude the program with A CLEAR CALL TO ACTION.

My client Jeff recently hosted his first Savvy Women seminar. He called me that same evening feeling positive and quite optimistic with his event.  I asked what went well he had 12 buying units and got two immediate appointments, then he started to laugh.  He then said “To be honest Adri I forgot a bunch of the presentation but my Introduction and Closing was REALLY good.

It so common for Financial Advisors to focus on the educational, power point portion of the presentation when in fact that has the least impact on turning the participants into business.  Now certainly the content is important and I’m not suggesting you come not prepared but as you do prepare most of your focus and energy MUST be in how you introduce yourself and what you want the participants to do as a result of attending this event.

The INTRODUCTION must contain 3 things:

1. Your story; why you are in this business and why it’s important to you
2. Your market:  Who most of your clients are, their assets size and what are the most common issues they experience
3. How this event fits into your overall business experience
4. A fun and engaging way to clarify the need for what they are about to learn

The CLOSING must contain:

1. A reference back to the introduction highlighting the emotions (issues and concerns that were raised at the beginning of the presentation)
2. Clarify why the participants need to take action
3. How the participants can take action (spell it out for them) with YOU.

Creating a great introduction and closing is not a simple nor an easy task but a VERY IMPORTANT one.  For those that are currently hosting seminars be honest and evaluate how strong is my introduction and am I addressing the 4 critical components.  Is my closing clear and compelling providing the participants direction to move forward (with ME)?  If this is not the case then I highly recommend you get some coaching and training before you move forward with another seminar. With proper coaching and training you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

My client is Tweeting!! She is in a pilot program with her firm and they are testing the use of Twitter. My client is the only female advisor in the group and fell into the same old trap; trying to compete with the men on their turf.

My client was posting the same old tweets about the same old research reports voluntarily adding herself to the HUGE basin of traditional financial advisors. While being female automatically makes her different she is even more unique in her views and how she approaches her clients. So why was she diminishing her uniqueness because THAT is where the value of social media kicks in.

My client’s tweets will now be focused on the female investor. All of her tweets will be engaging and compelling statements that would attract and be of interest to women. While this is not her total market this has become her most productive niche when it comes to marketing. After doing some simple Google searche she immediately recognized that within this arena there was very little competition, an “Ah Ha” moment.

By limiting her tweets to one specific market not only does the task of finding articles and comments to tweet become more manageable but it also becomes more effective and productive. NOW she is truly leveraging her unique strengths as a woman to accomplish more as a financial advisor.

As an advisor who is looking to use social media as a way to gain more leads and exposure you have a decision to make:

Do I want to throw myself into the same pool as all the traditional advisors and hope that something I say is different and stands out? Or

Do I want to focus all of my marketing efforts on a unique niche allowing myself to dominate that arena and become known as the expert in that field.

It’s your call but I know what I would do……………

Let me tell you negative talk get’s you NOWHERE.  This tends to be an issue more with Female Financial Advisors than their male counterparts.  Women LOVE to beat them self up, they struggle to give themselves credit for success, they either call it luck or dismiss it all together (trust me I struggle with it too.) But sometimes I have to put the kibosh on this attitude.  When asked what went well female advisors are quick to tell me what didn’t go well, what they didn’t get done or how they completed a task but didn’t do it right!!  Do you hear what’s happening here?

Granted we all enjoy a little venting time and to hold our own little pity party, I’m ok with that as long as it is short lived (like 60 seconds) and we can then move on to other issues that are more positive and constructive.

Last week I was on a call with a female advisor, she was complaining about her assistant going on and on about how she doesn’t do things right, how she seems to take little to no initiative and every time I had a suggestions there was resistance or a reason why it wouldn’t work.  So I finally said “You have two choices:

1. Make this work and spend more time and energy training, coaching and monitoring her activities or;
2. Ask for a new assistant

That’s it, if you want to succeed you must make one of those two choices, no more whining or complaining.”   Next thing you know she emailed and said she talked with her manager and they assigned her a new assistant.

Sometimes our desire to vent and complain is just a tactic or excuse to not move forward.  Sometimes we like it when we can blame our lack of growth on external issues and this deficiency becomes a comfort zone.  In almost every case especially with women our only barrier to success is ourselves.  Get out of your own way, stop the negative talk and watch what can happen to your business growth.

Over the past two weeks I watched my daughter calling on old leads. This is her first experience prospecting after recently acquiring her insurance license. To start out other agents give her all their old leads, those that they could never reach or lacked interest in their services. While to others these leads seemed dead to her they were a goldmine of opportunity. A lead is NEVER dead.

Every lead or prospect you have had should never leave your database. What a prospect doesn’t need or want today can quickly change in our ever changing lives. While you shouldn’t keep them on your “hot prospect” list they should be receiving your emails and market updates until circumstances change creating the need for your products or services, NOW IS THAT TIME.

In most situations we must wait until something changes in the lives of the prospect in order to create the need or sense of urgency to move the relationship forward but that is NOT always the case. Today’s environment has created that change for you. While most investors were content with the status quo today the unrest in the markets has unearthed fears and concerns that need attention. A call from you RIGHT NOW may never be more timely and productive.

While many clients may not be thrilled with their advisor their discontent is not strong enough to provoke change which seems more daunting than their current situation; but when the market environment makes the “status quo” more painful the need for change increases outweighing that original resistance. This is your time, and your chance to create that change.

Make the calls today you may not get this opportunity again for many years to come (at least let’s hope not).

As a former Female Financial Advisor I have to tell you how WEIRD it is seeing my daughter (22yrs old) calling on insurance leads and trying to book appointments, her resiliency amazes me.  All I see is drive, determination, discipline and that familiar feeling of competition.   She just started out and is working on her own with an independent company. She listens to every training audio, goes to every free training session and has me buying new books about selling and tax free retirements.  Her learning curve is steep balanced only by her determination to make it work.

Last week as she was making her calls (she is starting out calling old leads that others couldn’t contact) trying hard to get appointments knowing that if she can get in front of them and make it personal she will have a much better chance of getting the business.  At one point she stopped looked up and said “This is hard!” I said “Yes it is but once you make it the rewards and freedom are worth it”.

As you can imagine being a coach for financial advisors I would LOVE to tell her exactly what to do  and say,  but you would be proud to know that I am keeping my mouth shut.  Everyone once in a while I will share a morsel of wisdom or ideas that seems to get her back on track like the other day, I walked into the kitchen where she makes her calls, and she stood up and said “Ok I think that’s enough for today.” I looked at her and said “Then make 10 more calls, these extra calls when you would have otherwise quit will push you forward and take you further.”  She looked at me and said “You are right.” and sat back down to make her final 10 calls.

To succeed you must always go a little bit further, provide a little more value and make a few more calls than the next guy. This simple extra push in everything you do can make all the difference in your ability to succeed.