Selling with Belief

Why do you sell the products that you do? When you meet a prospective client, how do you see them?

Do you look at them and think, “Gee, I think he might need what I am selling. I hope he does.” When they raise and objection, do you think, “Oh well, guess I’ll try someone else.”

Or do you feel, “I’m happy I met this person. He needs me, he just doesn’t know it yet.”. When they raise an objection, do you feel, “Great! Another opportunity to prove how much he needs me!”

Most are of the former type. Very few are of the latter. Who do you think is more successful? Better yet, who do you want to be?

Clients, customers and consumers

Which ones do you have?

Clients are those folks that truly listen to your advice, and act upon it. While they may have moments of doubt caused by external forces (markets, other people’s experiences and stories, the media), they ultimately trust you and will let you keep them from making mistakes due to fear and greed. Only advisors can truly have clients (this extends beyond financial services into any business – my wife just bought a bike from a guy who really is an advisor in the truest sense – and she’ll buy her next one from him as well).

Customers are people who like you and buy from you, but their decision is based more on familiarity or accessibility. You are a comfortable and convenient choice. If you happen to run the only bike shop in town, and people can’t get to another bike shop, they buy from you when they want a bike. Their relationship with you is more fragile that you have with clients. When things become difficult, or a new option enters the market, customers may migrate away from you. Salespeople and craftsmen have customers.

Consumers have no loyalty other than maximizing benefit at a low price. They identify what they need, and shop for the lowest price (something the internet makes really easy).  As long as you maintain value at a low-cost, you are OK. Once either factor changes, consumers go elsewhere. This is the world of dollar stores. No room for advise here – it costs too much. This is the domain of order-takers and self-serve options.

Clients are rare and worth their weight in gold. Customers are good, but take a lot of work to maintain. Consumers are plentiful, but you will need to be a discounter who is not much more than a prospecting machine to grow your income at all.

Who do you want to do business with, and what are you doing to attract them?

Sour Grapes

We all know the fable from Aesop. Crow has grapes. Fox wants grapes. Crow won’t give them over, no matter how fox uses his guile to get them. Fox declares the grapes are sour and leaves (probably muttering things under his breath).

I remember this as a cautionary tale from the crow’s perspective – that people tend to diminish the value of something you have that they can’t (this interpretation has been supported by every elementary school teacher I had).

I’ve realised this is too simple. We need to see it from the perspective of the fox, and become better by doing so.

The fox felt he wanted the grapes, and that entitled him to them. When he didn’t get them, he diminished their value in his mind, and tried to do so in the mind of the crow as well. He settled on cynicism. What if he thought of it in a different way?

What if the fox asked the crow how he might find grapes like those that he could reach? What if he tried to figure out some type of trade with the crow for something the bird would value? what if he simply accepted that the grapes were not his to have, and he focussed his attention and energy pursuing something that he was more likely the obtain?

As an advisor, what do you do when a sale does not happen, or a very valuable prospect does not want to do business with you? Do you essentially call ‘sour grapes’?

Significant, but enough

You discuss your client’s hopes and dreams, analyse their current situation, and develop a course of action that is within their ability to fund. You present the plan to them, satisfied that this will change their lives, and replace worry with hope.

And they say no. Or put one small part into place.

Why?

There could be many reasons, based on your knowledge, their trust in you or both (I’ve written about this previously). Or maybe it is something more subtle.

You have just shown them that they need to put more money into their plan, or make a fundamental change, or both. You have asked them to take money away from their present self to help out their future self (in the case of income planning) or other people in the future (in the case of estate planning).  And you have likely put a lot of effort into showing them that the cost now is well worth the benefit later. You have made it seem cheap to implement.

But to your client, it might be easier for them to go back to ignoring the issues you are trying to solve – after all, they  happen in some potential future. Or maybe they only implement a small part of the plan to make them feel, “at least I am doing something”.

You need to recognize that the premiums or deposits that are required to fund their plan are significant, that they are ‘a lot’, regardless of the ratio of cost to benefit. You need to also let them know that based on your analysis, what you are suggesting is good enough to do what they need it to do – it is not ideal, and others may find small gaps or have different ideas, but your plan, if implemented, will get them there.

Say to your clients, “It is a significant amount, but it is enough”.

(Thanks to Seth Godin, and his recent post on the issues with marketing philanthropy for the inspiration!)

Tick tock

Make clocks.

Clocks are complex mechanisms that serve a simple purpose: they tell the time accurately and consistently. They are built to withstand dust and humidity. They are built to require little from their owner to keep them running, aside from the occasional winding.

Your financial plans and blend of products your use to put these plans into action should be like a clock – they tick along, all of the parts interacting and moving towards a common goal.

But many advisors do not sell clocks.

They pick up a gear and admire it for being made of gold (‘This fund has the highest number of stars!). They pick up another, and swoon at how finely made it is, and how light (‘This policy has the lowest cost for the coverage!’). And they pick up a minute hand, and admire it for the single diamond embedded in its tip (‘This product has a hot feature that I have great marketing materials on!’). They take all of these parts, put them in a bag of velvet, tie a golden rope around it and hand it to their client, declaring it to be a clock.

Are you making clocks for your clients, or handing them bags of gears and expecting them to be able to tell what time it is?