Archive for the ‘Insurance Agents’ Category

As a financial advisor all of your prospecting efforts culminate in one final meeting. In this meeting you have the opportunity to present your solutions and motivate the prospect to become your client. When so much is at stake why do financial advisors spend so little time preparing for these appointments?

Last week I worked with one of my advisors by helping her prep for a closing appointment.  After spending a full hour on this process I realized in their desire to close the business many advisors often overlook the critical steps that can ultimately tip the scales in their favor.

The Appointment process can be broken down into 5 important steps:

1.    Review your findings: While prepping for the presentations write out everything you have learned and then review these findings at the beginning of the appointment. Not only does this give you a chance to get positive affirmations from the prospect but both you and the prospect will feel more confident that you truly understand their needs and concerns.

2.    Share your concerns: Based on those findings now is your opportunity to express the challenges, risks and concerns you have with their current situation. Again it’s important to get feedback from the client that they too understand these concerns before moving on.

3.    Present your solutions: NOW you can present your solutions and as you do constantly refer back to how these solutions address specific issues and concerns. It’s your job to tie all the pieces of this presentation together.

4.    Get confirmation: This is a great time to ask open ended questions. Open ended questions put the onus on the prospect and will give you more insight as to possible objections.

• What do you like about this strategy?
• How do you see this strategy solving your issues and concerns?
• What part of this strategy do you not

5.    Ask for what you want: Before you begin the presentation be very clear on what you want, open the account, transfer all the assets in, get a commitment on a product or plan. Be clear as to what you want and know how you intend to ask for it. At this point it is important to ask closed ended questions, you now are looking for a yes/no answer. If you get a yes you are on your way, if you get a no go back to step 4 and ask more open ended questions such as:

• What is preventing you from moving forward?
• What is getting in the way of us doing business together?
• What can I do to earn your business?

In addition as you prep for your appointment, make a list of all the questions the prospect may ask, do some brainstorming beforehand and go to the meeting prepared to answer any of the questions on your list. By doing this prep work first you will go into the meeting with greater confidence and your clarity and conviction alone will enhance your ability to get a commitment and the business.

Over the past few months Hannah had been doing a bang up job at attracting affluent prospects. Her seminars were creating a buzz and she was finally reeling in new prospects with millions, the problem? She couldn’t close the business.

We spent one whole coaching session focused on her ability to get the prospect to commit to doing business with her and everything we did came down to one simple statement: Ask for what you want.

As we reviewed each prospect I asked Haannah, “What do you want from this prospect?” as with most advisors she gave me lots of details without ever answering the question. I again asked “Hannah, what do you want from this client?” She then shared what she thought he should do, again I shook my head and asked “What do you want from him Hannah?” She finally blurted out “I want him to open an account with me.” I told her then ask for what you want.

That afternoon, the same day as our coaching call Hannah emailed me and told me that she got the account and it was a million more than she expected. She said she had a nice conversation with the prospect and finally said “Jim, can I open an account for you?” and he said YES. The rest is history.

How simple the process is when you know what you want, all you have to do is ask.

Take a look at your top 5 prospects and ask yourself:

What do you want from that prospect and how can I ask for what I want…. then do it.

As a client I’m NOT impressed. Since I left production to become a full time coach I have worked with 4 different financial advisors and to be honest few actually provide ongoing value that is worth a dam__. I mean it, other than calling us every once in a while with a suggestion or once a year for a portfolio review how do I even know my advisor is watching my portfolio? Unless your fees are solely for performance you better wake up.

As a financial advisor you must have a process that is not just about performance. My Thematic Wealth Program is SO effective in creating a highly purposeful process for connecting with clients on a regular basis, its really so simple EVERY advisor should be using it.

Just think, if you called all your clients every quarter and had meaningful, purposeful conversation that allowed you to uncover new assets and increased product opportunities, what would that do to your business?

What if you could use that same process and give prospects a taste of what they would experience as your client? Using my Thematic Wealth Program the value is far and above anything they are experiencing now with their current advisor.

Financial Advisors often find themselves in a reactive client service mode or focused solely on prospecting, so what are you doing to enhance existing relationships and inspire referrals?

You can’t keep doing the same old thing and expect different results. Referrals are NOT about asking and Service is NOT about reacting. It’s time to try something new, something different, something that really makes a difference with every client and prospect. To learn more click here.

My client called to tell me his son just admitted himself to a rehab unit. Another client has spent this month managing a manic son who struggles with Bi-Polar disorder. I have another client whose husband is about to undergo a serious spinal surgery and another that with just two days notice adopted a set of infant twin boys. That’s all happened in just one month.

Life happens to us all, whether the event is a celebration and addition to our lives or an illness causing additional responsibilities and often burdens to our already busy lives what you experience gives you a greater understanding and empathy for the multitude of unexpected events that can touch us all, even our clients. These events certainly cause us to re-evaluate our priorities and redefine our daily work schedule (at least I hope that is the case) they are also an opportunity to validate why developing a good financial plan is critical to us all.

Everything that happens to us creates an opportunity to reevaluate what we do and why. Taking that new perspective and applying it to your business can create new opportunities to develop relationships, inspire more meaningful conversations with clients and prospects and often make us much more efficient and prioritized with our time.

It’s not unusual to feel somewhat alone, isolated even disadvantaged when life reaches out and grabs us but as a coach who works with hundreds of financial advisors from all over the country I can confidently tell you that you are NOT alone. We will all be faced with challenging times in our lives, you can allow this to completely disrupt your business and your life or you can embrace the challenge and confidently make changes to your business, your schedule and your life so that you can gracefully learn and grow from the experience.

If your website is like most financial advisors it’s boring and does nothing to help you build your business. I am often asked to review the websites for my financial advisor clients.  They are all basically the same, some perhaps a little more creative than others but I use that word lightly as most of my clients or right brained. 

When evaluating your website the first thing you have to ask yourself is what I want this website to do for me.  You can spend a lot of time and money creating the site but if no one ever visits the site what’s the point? And if they do visit but you don’t capture their information where is the value?

When I started my coaching practice (coming from the financial services industry) I did the exact same thing. I hired a web designer, worked on my message and developed a very professional looking site.  I was proud of my site but it was doing nothing to help me grow my practice. I spent all that time energy and money and all it did was act as a business card.

Over time and by attending some coaching conferences I finally learned what I was missing and it was a lot.

1.  I had no idea when someone was visiting my site, without this information how could I follow up?

2.  I had no way of capturing the information of those that visited my site, my database was stagnating.

3.  I provided no real opportunity for the visitors to experience my value, they came knocking but I never invited them in!

All I had was a pretty website that acted like a business card, something to be looked at once and then soon forgotten; chances are your website is not much different.

6 years later I now have a website that tracks my hits, has added well over 1000 names to my database, has consistently inspired Advisors to become my client and has actually generated new business and speaking opportunities.

As you look at your website ask yourself what you want it to do for you and consider the following questions:

1.  Does my message clearly state what I do and who I do it for in a way that is personal and compelling?

2.  How can I add a short video or audio message that gives visitors a taste of who I am and what I can do for them?

3.  What can I offer as a free gift that will motivate the visitor to sign up so that I can capture their information?

4.  What is my on going drip marketing process to try and generate more interest after the gift is sent?

5.  How can I track my traffic and identify what is the source of traffic (referrals, internet, and associations)

In this world of technology a pretty website will do little to grow your business but an active website can produce leads, elevate interest and inspire new business. So if you’re serious about growing your business maybe it’s time you put some time and energy into creating a website that actually works for YOU.