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I spoke with a very experienced advisor recently, a 69-year-old who has been in the game for 36 years.
He told me that although he was financially secure himself, he was still working to get the business in good shape before he passed it on or sold it.
His number-one struggle was (in his own words), “too many tire kickers”.
He had leads coming in, but not enough were becoming new-paying clients. This was placing an immense burden on him, as well as frustrating his desire to be at peace about retiring.
Having enough leads but not enough paying clients is a perplexing problem most advisors face.
The initial conclusion is that the problem must be with lead-generation in general – people are just more skeptical and less trusting these days, which is partially true.
But what if we stop thinking of prospects who don’t commit as “tire-kickers,” and instead view them as potential clients we lost?
That would suggest that the problem is with us, not them.
A scary thought to digest.
Clearly, prospects have an issue they’re looking for help with, but there’s something about us or our process that causes them to remain indecisive.
Let’s examine this more closely.
A lead or prospect (I prefer the term “potential client”) has an initial meeting with you.
You obtain their financial documents and create a financial plan for them.
They come back for another meeting. You show them the financial strategy you’ve prepared, hoping they’ll feel comfortable committing to a paid client relationship with you.
But what usually happens next?
They say: “Thank you, let me think about it and I’ll get back to you.”
It’s as if they see the value in plain sight, but something prevents them from deciding to onboard with you.
Here are some blind spots to consider that could be the source of this problem:
- Waiting for your turn to talk instead of listening
As experts, we often feel we need to prove our credibility to the prospect by asking fact-finding questions. This causes us to interrupt the sales conversation prematurely, making assumptions about the prospect’s situation, not allowing deep trust to be created.
- Educating about solutions, instead of thoroughly diagnosing their problems
Your priority in the sales conversation is to help them “own” their problem by taking them through a diagnostic process (I call it “going down the iceberg”). Unless they fully comprehend the financial impact of their problem, they won’t agree to solve it.
- Building surface-level rapport instead of trust
You’ve been taught to build relationships with your potential clients, but instead, you should be building deep trust. Without that, all that “relationship-building” amounts to is surface-level rapport. A relationship comes after the sale, not before.
- Presenting future benefits instead of quantifying their present losses
Future benefits = something to think about
Present losses = something to act on now
The solution to having too many leads who don’t become clients is not getting more leads; it’s fixing the sales conversion first.
There’s no point in filling the bucket with more leads when it still has holes at the bottom.
Stopping the losses by plugging up the holes in your sales process is the less obvious solution, but it has the greatest ROI.
To get some help with your sales conversion process, order the complimentary book and consultation below.
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 “plug up the holes” 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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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
