Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
It’s too easy to make assumption in your sales process. One of the most common ones is emailing a prospect a plan, analysis or proposal, assuming they’ll read it and hoping for a reply back that says:
Looks good, we’re ready to move forward with you and to transfer our funds.
You know what I mean, right?
You have a great initial meeting with a new prospect and they agree to an analysis of their financial situation.
You conduct the analysis (typically for free) and you do a brilliant job making your recommendations into a plan. Then you email it to them. Then crickets, no word back.
You then attempt to follow-up with them, but keep getting their voicemail.
Radio silence.
This common roadblock happens to most advisors.
How do you break this pattern?
Don’t email them the plan.
In fact, you shouldn’t be using email at all in your sales process.
Crazy you say?!!
Consider this instead…
Create a “calendar-relationship” with your prospects.
That means you schedule your next conversation with them at the end of the last conversation…they stay on your calendar all the way through the process.
In this scenario, if they agree to you doing their analysis, you schedule the next session to do that.
Then at the end of that session, you schedule your next session to review the plan with them by saying: “Let’s go ahead and schedule our next meeting together, where I’ll be walking you through the details of your plan, and we can adjust and change it as needed to meet your exact needs.”
If they are the right fit for you, they’ll happily agree to meeting with you again, because it’s common sense to review the plan with them.
Do not send them the plan for them to review, because once they have it, they may feel they don’t need you anymore.
Why is a calendar relationship key to your sales process?
- It protects your authority (hard to get shopped).
- It separates you from the pack (you don’t operate like other advisors).
- It underscores your prospect’s need of a relationship with you (insights get delivered when they interact directly with you, that they could never get any other way).
- It greatly simplifies your sales process by getting straight to the truth.
No more hiding behind email.
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after sales conversion expert for Financial Advisors. His newest book, “Unlock The Sales Game” has become an instant best-seller among financial advisors worldwide – you can get a Free copy of Ari’s book here and, when you click the “YES” button in the order form, you’ll also receive a complimentary client growth consultation with Ari or one of his trust-based consultants. Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, Forbes, INC Magazine and the Australian Financial Review. He is considered a contrarian in the financial services industry and in his book, everything you learned about selling will be turned upside down. No more chasing, no pressure, no closing.
Read more articles by Ari Galper
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
