Selling versus Trust: The Elephant in the Room

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No one likes being sold and advisors don’t like selling. The selling/sold dynamic, as necessary as we think, makes everyone uncomfortable.

The moment you attempt to use any variation of traditional selling to attract and convert new prospects into paid clients, they sense immediately that you’re focusing on one thing: what you want (the sale) and not what they want (to solve their problem with someone they trust). This can take many forms, from how you come across on the phone (your tone of voice), what you write in your emails (the language that you use), to how you present yourself face-to-face or via Zoom.

Your potential clients can sense, from a distance, when you are attempting to chase them through your follow-up process.

They are extremely sensitive to sales behaviours that make them feel they are being pursued.

There are prospects with significant assets looking for a financial advisor they can trust.

Look at this picture of an iceberg:

The reason you have to chase your potential clients is because you’re not creating deep trust with them (being friendly doesn’t count, more on that below) beyond the surface level of their issues.

The bottom of the iceberg is where the deep truth of their situation lies, and you need to get to their truth to have them trust you.

Most advisors believe the sale is lost at the end of the sales process.

They’re wrong.

It’s lost at the beginning, because they are missing the mindset and trust-based language to get to the bottom of the iceberg.

Building relationships is not the same as building trust… they travel on two separate roads.

Relationships are based on social expectations like when a person forms a friendship with another person and there’s a natural flow of sharing of ideas and experiences simply because they have these things in common.

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And the underlying, unspoken and unconscious understanding of this social expectation is that there’s no monetary value attached to these exchanges… they happen freely and naturally, with no agenda, and that’s what we cherish about them.

But trust in business is based on market norms. Someone has a problem and someone else can solve it, and if they can create deep trust during the sales conversation… chances are they will do business together.

The expectation of a monetary exchange is very clear and people don’t need to be friends for this type of trust to occur. In fact, being too friendly often gets in the way. Are you building relationships in your sales process or are you going down the iceberg?

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 Advisers 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.