A New Mindset to Acquire High-Net Worth Clients
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Forget the traditional sales process used by the advisory profession.
The discovery meeting, waiting for the prospect to send or upload their financial documents, creating a free financial plan, and having another review meeting – is a long and complicated process – and assumes everyone will make it to the final paid step.
There are several reasons why this traditional model is outdated.
High net-worth ideal clients don’t assign economic value to things that are given away for free.
When your sales process is all about giving free value (your time, effort, and knowledge in the form of free financial planning), then it’s hard for your prospect to see the benefit of committing, with a 100% certainty, to a paid relationship with you.
There’s an even deeper reason why the typical advisory sales process is losing its effectiveness. There are two mismatched definitions of value.
On the one hand, there’s you the advisor, wanting to wield your knowledge and expertise.
On the other hand, there’s your prospect, burdened with a problem they’re not equipped to solve and wondering if your agenda is simply to win them as a paid client.
From your perspective as an advisor, knowing how to solve their problem is valuable to you because you’re the one who ultimately has to solve it. And you think that if you can bring them to the same clarity about the solution that you have, then they’ll happily come on board as a paying client.
But solution-based clarity is not what they are initially looking for from you.
How their problem can be solved is irrelevant and even a roadblock to what they’re trying to ascertain about you, which is whether you’re the advisor they can trust.
What they want is trust-based clarity about their problem, not solution-based clarity.
Understanding this fundamental, psychological difference between you and your prospects is the turning point that transforms your sales process from one that’s long, tiresome, and ultimately devaluing and demoralizing – to one that consistently brings in more high net-worth clients, in less time and with less effort.
But the only way to do this is to create a process that goes against the engrained industry norms – those you’re accustomed to and comfortable with.
Instead of a discovery meeting, it should be a problem “x-ray” diagnosis meeting (like a doctor’s consultation), where the medicine is both prescribed and administered after you’re paid, not before.
Instead of providing solutions and free financial planning, show them a “road map” – a simple visual tool that helps them understand your process and what they’re paying for, if they were to commit to a paid client relationship with you.
This simple, problem-centric, prospect mindset-oriented approach to the sale is the key to building the trust-based clarity your potential clients want.
If you are open to shifting your mindset to this way of thinking, you will find you can onboard a new paying client in just one initial meeting.
Does that sound too good to be true?
If you put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and approach the process from their perspective, then it becomes your reality.
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is the most sought-after high-net worth/lead generation expert for financial advisors. His newest book, “Trusted Authority” 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 “get new clients” lead generation consultation. 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.
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