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In the medical profession, prescribing a treatment without first thoroughly diagnosing the patient’s illness opens the risk of malpractice.
But in the advisory profession, it often feels easier to dispense the “medicine” because you know instinctively how to solve the illness, given your years of experience and expertise.
A prospect has an initial conversation with you and begins explaining their situation, and you think to yourself:
Ah, I know that problem well... I’ve heard it a thousand times before... I know exactly the path to take towards the solution.
Rather than doing a thorough analysis of their issues in the first meeting, you ask some basic fact-finding questions, then head towards your onboarding process to move them forward.
It all seems fine in your mind, until at the end of the meeting, they become indecisive – unable to say “let’s do this.”
Then they ghost you.
Here’s the sequence of assumptions that occurs in your mind, allowing opportunities like this to slip through your fingers...
- You assume their problem was what they told you.
- You assume it was unnecessary to diagnose deeply on the spot.
- You assume prescribing the “treatment” (and dispensing some of the medicine) would impress them with your knowledge and expertise, encouraging them to hire you.
Why isn’t your prospect buying your confidence that you can solve their problem?
Because they’re not judging you based on your confidence in your solution. They’re judging you based on how much they feel you understand them. Read that line a couple of times and let it sink in. Your job is to build deep trust with them, and that comes from them feeling you understand their issues at a deep level – you “get them.” This mismatch plays out over and over in the advisory profession, and it’s caused by the entrenched industry mindset I affectionately call “the expert syndrome.”
Your prospect tells you about their problem, and you attempt to prove you’re competent to solve it. Therefore, it should be a “no-brainer” that you should work together.
That’s the opposite of the doctor mindset, which I call the “trusted authority-based mindset.”
This mindset takes the view that until the patient is ready to own their problem, no prescription or proposal of a treatment is appropriate (or even ethical).
How do you get the “patient” to reach the point of owning the totality, gravity and urgency of their situation?
By focusing only on helping them see the depth of their situation, the underlying problems that have caused it, and the impact of not solving it.
In other words, make the initial meeting a problem-centric diagnostic process, not a solution-centric process.
Think about it...
A doctor primarily focuses on an extensive diagnosis.
After diagnosis comes prescription and then treatment – and that’s their “success” sequence.
Patients routinely accept this process, never questioning it or needing to go away and “think about it.”
If the patient isn’t ready or open to that process, there are plenty of other patients in need (the basic attribute of being a trusted authority, is never having to chase opportunities).
The advisory profession needs to learn from the medical industry’s playbook – because advisors are more than financial experts... they’re financial doctors.
You don’t need to wait for the advisory profession to reform before this shift happens. It will be too late by then.
To learn how to transform your sales process to operate like a doctor, order your 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.
